Reference Guide to Different Seam Types

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Seam Definition

In sewing, a seam is a joint where at least two layers of leather, fabric, or different materials are kept intact with stitches. Seams in current mass manufactured apparel, footwear, household textiles, and outdoor supplies are sewn by industrial based sewing seams machines. Home shoe making, dressmaking, knitting, creation; high fashion, and fitting might utilize a mix of hand and machine sewing.

If you are starting a sewing service or even starting a clothing brand, you should know about seams. In dress development, seams are classified by their sort (plain, lapped, flat, and bound) and position in the completed article of clothing (center back seam, inseam, and side seam). Seams are done with an assortment of methods to forestall raveling of raw texture edges and to neaten within articles of clothing.

types of seam

Seams Meaning

The question is remain the same, what is a seam? Well, seams utilized for joining sewn items are load bearing and ideally should be similar in physical properties to the material being sewn. The stitching type and sewing string (thread) utilized will differ with every application. Henceforth, it is mandatory to be comfortable types of seams, their applications, and varieties accessible so you can pick the right seam to suit your sewing and clothing needs. Seam line meaning is that the stitching line along with the seam is called the seam line.

What are the two types of seams?

seam definition

Dressmaking is the craft of cutting and sewing flat pieces of clothes to suit a three-dimensional human figure. The joining of the cut pieces of fabrics is known as seams. The sewing can be made for two pieces or multiple pieces together. Seams can be hand or machine made. To give a perfect and wrinkle free dress, seams should be flat as could really be expected and equitably spread. Contingent on the kind of dress and material sewed seams vary accordingly.

Seams can either be closed or open.

  • A close seam integrates the seams’ recompense inside the seam finish, making it undetectable.
  • An open seam is one where the seam allowance, the piece of cloth between the edge of the material and the stitches, is apparent.

How many types of seams are there?

seam

The popular and most commonly used types of seams are listed in detail below.

Plain Seam

A plain seam is the easiest sort of seam and can be utilized on practically anything. A plain crease is characterized as any crease that connects two bits of fabrics along with some wrong sides facing. The wrong side is the side of the texture that doesn’t face outward when the piece of clothing or thing is finished. The stitch length or sort of stitch doesn’t make any difference, for however long it is one stitch line and it connects two bits of fabric. For instance; in towel manufacturing plain seam is used.

Double Stitched Seam

This sort of seam is very much like a plain seam besides there are two lines of sewing joining the cloth for additional strength.

French seam

A French seam ought to just be utilized on fragile (delicate), light weighted fabrics, similar to organza or chiffon, as the seam utilizes a great deal of material and can get massive with heavier fabrics. Since the edges of the texture don’t show with this strategy, a French seam is likewise perfect for articles of clothing where you need to conceal the seam, similar to an unlined coat.

Bound seam

A bound seam seems to be a French seam on the right half of the texture. There are no noticeable stitches on the right half of the fabric, and on the contrary side, the cloth edges are perfectly encased.

Flat Seam

In these seams (in some cases called Butt seam), two fabric edges, folded or flat, are united and over sewn with stitches.

The motivation behind these seams is to deliver a joint where no additional thickness or texture can be endured at the seam, as in underwear or foundation articles of clothing. The looper thread(s) should be delicate (soft), yet solid and the cover thread might be decorative as well as areas of strength for as. This seam is alluded to as a flat seam on the grounds that the edges don’t cover each other, they will be butted together.

Flat Felled Seam

A flat felled seam is an incredibly strong closed seam that is frequently utilized for things like pants, denim, and jeans. It covers the fabric’s raw edges well and keeps the crease flat. Like the French seam, it is a twofold sewed, closed crease.

Welt Seam

The most searched question among sewing stitching classes students is, what is a welt seam? A welt seam is additionally every now and again utilized for pants, as it is an area of strength for exceptionally, it is less cumbersome than the flat felled crease since it isn’t encased and the raw edge of the texture is apparent.

Lapped Seam

A lapped seam is regularly utilized with fabrics that don’t shred, like fleece and leather. For a lapped seam, the right half of the types of fabrics face up and the pieces cross over, rather than right or wrong sides together.

What are Examples of Seam?

seam fabric

Although we have discussed the popular types of seams above, now let’s see how many seams are there.

  • Taped seam
  • Strap seam
  • Flat felled seam or Run and fell seam
  • Hand stitched seam – with ladder stitch
  • Sheet seam/linen seam
  • Butt seams
  • Mock flat fell seam (also Welt seam)
  • Counter seam
  • French seam
  • Slot Seam
  • Corded or Piped seam
  • Serged seam
  • Mock French seam
  • Hemmed fell seam
  • Faced seam
  • Plain seam with a single stitch
  • Lapped seam (also called Tucked seam)
  • Hairline seam
  • Plain seam
  • Reinforced seams
  • Plain seam with double top stitch

Flat Felled Seam vs French Seam 

The significant distinction as I would like to think is the way the seam looks on the right half of the piece of clothing. A flat felled seam shows sewing on the right side (consider the seams on some pants), while a French seam doesn’t (it is found in many very good quality sheer pieces of clothing). Subsequently, a flat felled crease will, in general, be found in sportier, more relaxed articles of clothing and French one is normally found in costly night garments. The two kinds of seams are incredibly strong and rise up to wear well. Be that as it may, it very well may be hard to get either crease to look perfect assuming the crease is exceptionally curved so I tend to use them for straight or slightly curved seams. So I opt to use them for straight or slightly bent (curve) seams.

What is the Strongest Seam? 

seam style

Flat felled are the most durable and strongest seams and won’t shred as raw edges are covered up. Albeit frequently sewn on thick fabrics, they can be sewn on more slender (thinner) clothes as they produce an extremely perfect completion. A ton of pants have level felled seams, as do some Zumba pants. If you find clothing manufacturers their answer will be the same as ours.

What is Top Stitch Seam?

Cut and sew manufacturers mostly use top-stitching as it is a single or set of machine stitches that are applied to the face side of the article of clothing both for beautifying and useful purposes. Top-sewing is very normal on additional casual things like types of leggings, athletic apparel, denim, and activewear.

The aspect part of top-stitching truly proves to be useful on the off chance that you are attempting to hold specific pleats or abundance seams allowance back from tumbling around within the article of clothing.

Top-sewing is an incredible instrument to use along certain creases for toughness as well as to keep seams remittance level and highlight a specific course. Doing so keeps up with the piece of clothing’s design and requires less ironing of the seams after washing.

Top-stitching along seams is quite basic since you can utilize the seam line as help. It does truly depend upon you and your design determinations how far from the crease you need to top-join: 1/4″- 1/2″ away from the seam is utilized most normally. You can likewise top-stitch on only one side or on the two sides of the crease line. Moreover, it is your decision whether you might want to add a single stitch or a bunch of stitches.

To sum up 

The usage of the seam in the clothing/apparel industry is very significant. Without seam, cloth cannot be imagined as what would be used instead of this?

Glue or stapler?

So, contemplate the types and purpose of seams, we are sure as a newbie in this line you will surely understand the purpose of seams, their kind, their meaning, their types, and what is the strongest one to hold the fabric together till the eternity.