Sewing the French seam?

[Armor Like Fire]

Hey guys viper here!
I understand the consept of the French seam but with 30d silnylon it's hard to keep the fabric in place while tryingmto pin it evenly, so does anyone know what I can do to make a nice looking strong ridge line for my tarp? I herd of ironing but I know nothing about ironing or if I can even iron ripstop nylon. Any ideas? Thanks guys!!

[Ramblinrev]

IMO ironing 30D nylon is an exercise in futility at best. Others will no coubt disagree and that's what makes the world go around. The difficulty is that nylon has an excellent memory. In other words it easily reverts to its original shape. That one reason many no-iron clothes have a high nylon content. In order to offset this memory you need to apply a considerable amount of pressure and a fairly high amount of heat. The heat needs to come close to the melting point of the nylon. Is a picture starting to form here? Melted nylon is no fun to remove from an iron. You can trust me on that score.

The first pass of the french seam is reasonably easy if your edges match correctly and cleanly. After that the fabric is stabilized and should not need pinning to keep it in place. Aligning the second stitch line of the french seam is done by finger pressure with the first stitch line forming the fold line. It takes some getting used to, but it is not as hard as it sounds. Work slowly and meticulously and you will save your self a whole lot of trouble down the line. Cut carefully. Stitch carefully and the rest somewhat falls into place. But like any skill, it takes practice and perseverance to master. If you care. For your own gear it is completely acceptable to slap it together and call it character. If any body judges the straightness of your seams they aren't worth impressing anyway. Of course for commercial stitching you enter a different realm.

[Armor Like Fire]

IMO ironing 30D nylon is an exercise in futility at best. Others will no coubt disagree and that's what makes the world go around. The difficulty is that nylon has an excellent memory. In other words it easily reverts to its original shape. That one reason many no-iron clothes have a high nylon content. In order to offset this memory you need to apply a considerable amount of pressure and a fairly high amount of heat. The heat needs to come close to the melting point of the nylon. Is a picture starting to form here? Melted nylon is no fun to remove from an iron. You can trust me on that score.

The first pass of the french seam is reasonably easy if your edges match correctly and cleanly. After that the fabric is stabilized and should not need pinning to keep it in place. Aligning the second stitch line of the french seam is done by finger pressure with the first stitch line forming the fold line. It takes some getting used to, but it is not as hard as it sounds. Work slowly and meticulously and you will save your self a whole lot of trouble down the line. Cut carefully. Stitch carefully and the rest somewhat falls into place. But like any skill, it takes practice and perseverance to master. If you care. For your own gear it is completely acceptable to slap it together and call it character. If any body judges the straightness of your seams they aren't worth impressing anyway. Of course for commercial stitching you enter a different realm.

Alrighty so sounds like I would probably stay away from the iron since I have mo clue what I'm doing andnthe wana mess up expensive fabric lol. That makes since what you told me and you very much!! and it's not really other people critasising my work everyone says it is great but it bothers me when I know I messed up on something andmitmcould have looked better. Make since? Thanks for the help!

[The Old Boot]

Make a few stuff sacks first so that you get to practice French seams on them and still have something useful afterwards.

[gmcttr]

Out of curiosity, is a French seam what you really want or is it a flat felled seam?

[Ramblinrev]

Out of curiosity, is a French seam what you really want or is it a flat felled seam?

hehehe... I've been around this tree many times both in the forums and PM with people. The flat felled seam and the french seam stitched down are so nearly the same that they can be hard to tell apart when finished. I have found that amongst well experienced and extremely competent stitchers both are used depending on the "school" in which they were trained. Both are very well suited for tarp ridges. Their technical names are different which is important when doing searches for the technique. But for function they are virtually interchangeable.

[Boston]

Honestly, when I did mine I just went slow and aligned everything by hand as it went through the machine. Sew a few inches and then realign the fabric and sew a few more. It's slow, but easier than pining, and then you don't risk extra holes you need to seal later. Just be careful, and keep your excess material under control so you don't accidently sew it into your seam!!

[gmcpcs]

The hybrid flat felled seam worked better for me; also, I tried using a washable marker and a long straight edge to color code the stitching lines. For me that worked better than using pins. I was stitching thicker stuff, 1.9. I used the iron also, practicing on a scrap piece, incrementally adjusting the heat until I hit the "sweet spot". I just unplugged it then. (Could havemarked it with a pen )

The thicker stuff irons better though.

Take it easy,
gmcpcs

[gmcpcs]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1375220901.595484.jpg

Here's the tutorial for the hybrid flat felled, from DIYSUPPLY.

Take it easy,
gmcpcs

[gmcttr]

I just have this mental thing that the hybrid seam leaves a straight path between the two pieces of fabric while the flat felled seam provides a more tortuous pathway. I'm sure it really makes no difference at the high point of a tarp with adequate sealing, but.......