Quote Originally Posted by Heming View Post
Huh, and I was just about to explain how to do a french seam... Well, now I won't, so there. (insert smiley conveying ironic sulk)
My confusion with the seam was because I kept thinking that all the pleats had to make it differnet. It doesn't, it just adds some confusion, and the hassle of having to deal with twenty feet of fabric.

For those playing along at home, a french seam is one that has two seams close together, with the first seam folded inside the second, hiding the raw edges inside the seam. To make one, you put the fabric wrong side together (which is backwards from normal), sew a seam, then fold the fabric right sides together, and sew another seam. It's a finish not much seen on ready-to-wear clothes these days, as it's easier and cheaper to finish the raw edges with an overlock machine (serger, in home sewing speak). I don't have one, so the french seam. One disadvantage of the french seam is that if you get the seam allowances wrong, the raw edge of the fabric is on the right side of fabric. There's a variant, called the french drapery seam, which uses a slightly different technique (one of the edges is cut longer than the other, and folded to make sure there are not threads poking through to the right side. That's harder, and there's another layer of fabric adding bulk to the seam.

A Hong Kong finish, mentioned by Ted above, is another way of finishing raw edges. It has a piece of fabric tape that encloses the raw edges. It's very often a contrasting fabric, designed to attract attention to it.

Btw, I'm surprised a french seam worked well (as it appears to have done) with duck cloth, it's generally considered a bad idea when working with heavy fabrics. But apparently it works if you press the living daylight out of it!
The problem with french seams in heavy fabric is that it adds a lot of bulk. But french seams are used on canvas tote bags and the like: a french seam has two independent sets of threads holding the seam together, so if the first fails, the seam doesn't.

On the kilt, there's a lump, but it's at the edge of pleat, so I don't think it'll be a problem. If I had an overlock, I'd use it. I considered using a tape finish (I've got some superlight weight net stuff that works well), but I decided against that. (My hope in posting these is that other people copy them, so using strange notions complicates things, and might discourage someone.)