Flat Felled Seams – Tutorial

Flat felled seams can be found on almost all jeans. Tough and durable, flat felled seams provide three stitch lines, two of which secure multiple layers of fabric. Vintage apron patterns recommend flat fell seams because they prevent fraying of seams adding life to the apron and a neater, more professional appearance as no seam allowance is exposed. They take a little extra effort but I think they are worth it and I use them on my retro, vintage style aprons.

I hope this simple tutorial will encourage you to think of ways you can use the seam on items you make. A great example is on a tote that you do not want to line yet you want a nice finished look on the interior seams. No need to spend time binding those seams when you can instead use the flat fell seam. Try it on some scrap fabric and see if you don’t agree that it is worth the extra pressing and stitching.

Step 1: Sew the seam with the wrong sides of the fabric together. Press the seam to the back not open.

Step 1 sew wrong sides together

Step 2: Trim the back seam allowance to ¼“ being careful to cut only the front section. Press the seam allowance to the back side.

cut back seam to 1 eigth

I use my cutting guide to lay over the seam to ensure I am getting the 1/4″ and a straight line!

Step 3: Press the larger seam allowance over the trimmed seam allowance, completely enclosing the ¼ “ seam. Press the turned under seam allowance flat since this is how the finished seam will be sewn.

Step 4: Once you have turned and pressed the seam, you want to top stitch the pressed under seam allowance 1/8” from the folded edge or as close as possible.

Step 5: Stitch 1/8″ in from, and parallel to, the original seam along the entire length of the flattened fold. Both finished top stitch lines can now be seen on the right side of the fabric.

Check out the finished product! You can download a PDF printable version of this tutorial by clicking the link under the Tutorials section.

Flat Felled Seams – Tutorial

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