French seams

Cody Lunning

I’m working on the interior of a 91 bronco right now and it has me thinking. I cut apart a seam to make patterns. It was a French seam. There was no backer to the French seam stitches. I’ve seen this on other oem seats before and always wonder but forget when I get around to asking other things. Do you all do it as the factory and just fold over the seam allowance and stitch the French seam, or add a backer? We were taught in school to add the backer so you couldn’t see foam behind the stitch and to also make the seam stronger. So far I always add the backer but maybe I’m just wasting time?

Fred Mattson

@Cody Lunning I would recommend the use of upholstery denim as a backer. Simply pre-cut inch and a half wide strips and they will be thin enough not to cause a bulge, yet strong enough to keep the seam from pulling apart.

Cody Lunning

@Fred Mattson thanks. Glad I went with my gut feeling and was using the backer. I’ll try it with the denim from here on out.

Peter Pittel

Or if you are lazy you could buy twill tape. But Fred's 1 1/2 in width makes it less likely to miss the tape while sewing. http://www.rochfordsupply.com/shop/Binding/Misc_Binding_Tape/Twill_Tape/index.html

Justin L Rash

I do a lot of marine Upholstery and to save time on seams that won’t see a lot of stress, for example a backrest compared to a seat I shorten my stitch length to 4mm. Anything that will see a lot of stress I back.

French seams

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