This guest post is from Charm of “I’m Not Charming” fame, check out her blog for pictures of her crafty pursuits and adventures in novelty cake making! If you’re interested in guest posting on CraftBlog and sharing your knowledge with the CB readers as well as getting a little exposure for your store or blog please contact me.

Like many people out there exploring the world of sewing I get quite scared of new techniques and avoid them at all costs! That was until I was shown how to do a French or encased seam and now I haven’t looked back! I’m doing encased seams on pretty much everything I make… just to be sure the seams don’t fall apart mainly I’m a little obsessed by that to be honest!

So here’s a little tutorial on how I get my seams all neat and hidden away!

Step 1

With wrong sides together sew a straight stitch 1/4 inch from edge.

You could use the 1/4″ foot if you like but I dont like having to change feet all the time so i just use the guides on my machine.

Step 2

Using a zigzag stitch (i use the multiple zigzag on my machine) cover the seam to provide additional strength to the seam.

Step 3

Open up and iron seam to one side.

For this project I am ironing this seam upwards into the darker fabric as it will be hidden further in an elastic casing.

Step 4

With right sides together iron seam again.

Step 5

I’m using a left aligned straight stitch but any straight stitch is fine.

Sew along the ironed edge encasing the stitching from steps 1  and 2 in a 1/2 inch seam.

This seam can be altered to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch depending on how confident you are that your original seam in Step 1 was 1/4 inch.

Step 6

Admire your encased seam!

If you’re working on the same project that I am right now (Santa Sacks!) you can look forward to another 6 of these on each present!