How to Finish a Seam: 9 Seam Finishes

Learn how to finish a seam and when to use it with one of these 9 seam finishes. There are different seam finishes for knit and woven fabric.

To prevent your fabric from fraying as it’s worn or washed the raw edges of the fabric will need to be finished.

1. Zigzag together Sew the seam and then zigzag the seam allowance together. Trim the excess.

2. Serge together Another fast way to finish a seam is to just serge the edges. A serger is a fast machine, but it only does thread wrapped seams or seam finishes.

When a woven fabric is cut on the bias it frays more like fringe instead of like full threads being pulled out. Pinking shears creates tiny bias edges that will only fray slightly.

3. Pinked

4. Zigzag overlock stitch This is a stitch that I learned about during my research for this post. I found it called lots of different names depending on what your sewing machine calls it.

The French seam is great for unlined items and lightweight fabrics. It looks professional and high quality. 

5. French seam

It would be tricky to use this method with really lightweight fabric and would work better with medium weight fabric.

6. Reverse french seam

A clean finish is a classic way to finish a seam and works great with a domestic sewing machine.

7. Clean finish

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More Sewing Tutorials

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My 17 Favorite Free Baby Sewing Patterns

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