How to Sew Flat Felled Seams

One of my favourite things about designing patterns is thinking about the best way to finish things; pretty guts are very important to me (team #prettyguts). When I started working on the Kelly Anorak, I knew flat felled seams would play a major role. Essentially a sturdier version of a french seam in that all the raw edges are enclosed, flat felled seams are great when the right and wrong side of the garment need to look great, and be strong and durable enough to last a good, long time. They are commonly used on jean jackets for just this purpose and have quickly become one of my favourite seam finishes.

While I've covered flat felled seams before in our Ginger Jeans sewalong, the process for Kelly is slightly different, and I wanted an extra opportunity to fan away the flames of fear some of you may have about trying them. It's essentially sewing a straight seam with a few extra steps, and it is 100% worth your time. If you're feeling lazier and have a serger, feel free to use a flat faux seam which is explained in our instructions. Either way, you'll want to sew these durable seams along the front yoke, side seams and one of the arm sleeves (the other will be impossible to flat fell once the sleeve is assembled in a tube).

SEWING A FLAT FELLED SEAM

The first step is to sew your seam at the 5/8" seam allowance with right sides together. In this example I am sewing the front coat to the front yoke.

Now, depending on which way you want to press and topstitch your seam, one of those seam allowances is going to wrap around the other. In this example we are pressing the seam up, so you will want to trim the yoke seam down to 1/4". You can use regular scissors, but I absolutely love applique scissors for grading seams since the duckbill part ensures you aren't cutting the other seam by accident. If the seam is straight, I often use a rotary cutter for speed and accuracy's stake.

Once the "under" seam has been graded to 1/4", press the entire seam up, so that the wider seam is on the top.

At your ironing board, use your fingers to fold the top seam around the seam you trimmed.  Try to do this as evenly and consistently as possible, and press into place with lots of steam.

This seam now needs to be topstitched into place. You can sew from the right or wrong side of your fabric. If you sew from the right side, make sure you use lots of pins to keep that seam folded in place. If you sew from the wrong side, you can just use your fingers to make sure it stays tucked under as you sew as I did below.

Here it is from the right side once its been stitched down.

Some people prefer to make their flat felled seams with the wrong sides together first. Feel free to try it that was as well, but just keep in mind you will have two visible lines of stitching on the right side: your construction stitch, and the topstitching to seal everything together. I personally prefer to "hide" the folded part on the wrong side just in case my pressing and cutting wasn't 100% perfect.

Hope this helps you make a sturdy Kelly of your own!

The next posts in our Kelly Sewalong series are all about installing grommets and spring snaps. Get the pattern here.