Sewing the Front Half to the Back Half
We will be doing another flat fell seam here. Lay the front piece over the back piece inside out leaving the front offset from the bottom by about 1/3-1/2''. | |
Line up the front and back crotch seams.
This is something some manufacturers dont even do very well. |
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Tack the two seams in place by hand with a needle and thread. This prevents them from slipping out of place when you sew the two pieces together with the machine. If you dont do this they can easily slip out of place. | |
Line up the inside legs the best you with the back piece still overlapping. | |
Pin the inside legs in place. It is much easier if you pin both legs at the same time. | |
Sew a row of lightweight stitches with the needle in the left position starting from the bottom of one leg to the bottom of the other. You are joining the entire inside together. | |
Now fold over the overlapping edge and sew it down with the needle in the right position. | |
When you get the crotch seam cut out a little triangle from the inner flap to avoid bulk. | |
The seam should now look like this. | |
Now unfold the pants so the seam is flattened out and press them from the outside along the seam if needed.
Sew a row of stitches from the top close to the outer edge of the seam with the needle in the right position. Make sure your iron isnt too hot for your fabric or you can melt it. I find that in this step pressing isnt usually necessary anyway. |
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Using the first row of stitches as a guide sew a second row beside the first making sure you are penetrating all the layers of fabric in the seam. Again, dont go too far over to the left. | |
The finished seam should look like this on the inside. | |
Pin the outside of the right leg with the pins facing up the leg. | |
Surge down the leg removing pins as you go. | |
The opening at the top of the front pockets should now be completely sealed up. | |
Pin the other leg up from the same side with the pins facing down the leg. | |
Surge up the leg removing pins as you go. | |
Using a dense straight stitch, sew along the outside of each leg just inside the surged stitch. Us a stretch stitch if possible. This is necessary to reinforce the seams. | |
The finished seam should look like this. | |
Turn the jeans around the right way and pin the top of each front pocket in place. | |
Stitch down the top of each front pocket along the top edge. This will hold them in place and out of the way. | |
Keeping the fabric taught at the side seam, sew down the seem. Make sure you sew down the flap on the underside so it is pointing towards the back side of the jeans. Sew close to the edge of the seam. | |
Many manufacturers sew only to just below the front pockets. The reason for this is because it is easier and less time intensive. I however prefer to sew all the way down to the bottom of the legs rolling up the jeans as I go. I think they look better this way and are more comfortable. It also reinforces the seam more. | |
Do the same to the other side making sure the distance from the edge is the same. | |
On this pair of jeans I chose to sew two more rows of stitches until just below the front pockets. I then sewed a little triangle with a zigzag stitch.
If you chose to only sew down to just below the front pocket then you should definitely and a zigzag stitch at the end to reinforce the seam, just like you did on the back pockets. |
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The finished seam should look like this on the inside. |
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