How can you begin when writing about the French seam or seams in general? It is important to describe how seams are done. Seams are ways of joining fabric if ‘joining’ is the right word. Maybe you should say instead that seams are ways of sewing fabric. Thus, seams are ways of sewing fabrics. They complement fabric and design too.

The French seam is a seam that some advise for lightweight fabrics. The French seam and how it is done raises an important question re: fabrics i.e. the right and wrong sides and when designing fabrics, the question of right side and wrong side is important. Should you make the fabric reversible? Still with most fabrics, there is a right side and wrong side and there are ways of telling. Your own style sense is the best guide perhaps. Ask which side looks good on the so-called outside? The right and wrong sides are important to note re: all seams but remember that the French seam is done in a kind of opposite way to the general overlocked/serged or pinked seam.

It is structurally interesting that the French Seam is sewn wrong side to wrong side. This, of course, implies that the first sewing line is apparent on the right side. It means thus that seam lips/allowances are apparent on the right side. This seam is ¼ “. It would be interesting to note the directions for seam allowances in manufacture and it is possible that many details are different. Then you cut the seam allowance to within 1/8” of the stitching line. In manufacture, this can certainly add to time and effort. Scissors or pinking shears may be used and this added use of manual labour may be too much for high bulk work. The question whether 1/8” is suitable is important. Questions like is overall strength of seam affected by cutting too close to the stitching line. This is important of course and when cutting the seam allowance as above, remember that a subsequent step is to fold the fabric right side to right side. This folding must come about naturally in the sense that the inside seam lips must be almost not felt or untouchable as you fold. Before folding, press the seam allowances to one side. This facilitates the folding. Then with wrong sides out, press the fold line carefully. In manufacture, folding is one of those processes which aid in the finished look and are integral in the whole process. Even with normal serged seams, some element of folding happens. The making of a garment involves seaming and then folding to a degree where folding must be considered integral in the whole process of making a garment or accessory.

Now the seam allowance must be enclosed and a seam of 3/8” is sewn with wrong sides out. This seam will be almost invisible because it is so close to the fold. This seam too could be characterised as a strengthening stitch. In a way there are two stitches so that there is apparent strength in the French seam. The French seam can be characterised as a delicate piece of work since the latter stitching is done close to the fold and then there was the cutting to 1/8” in the first seam. Now when the fabric pieces are turned to the right side, you can see the stitching line and the seam allowances are gone and have been enclosed.

Now a quick note on the flat fell seam used in jeans . Flat fell seams are popular with jeans. They are so synonymous with jeans that the question of making jeans without flat fell seam is interesting. In flat fell jeans, there are three stitch lines. In the French seam above, there were two stitch lines. I am not certain whether a third stitch line can be used in the French seam and such a question is also interesting. Flat fell seams are used for durable wear like jeans. One can say, in other words, that such flat fell seams are used for heavy durable fabric like denim. Like the general serged seam, the flat fell seam is sewn right side to right side with the wrong side facing out. A normal 5/8” is then sewn. This is a normal amount for general sewing but again I am not at all certain of manufacturing practice. Then snip or cut one seam allowance to within approximately ¼” of the stitching line. Note here that ¼” is used. Remember that 1/8” was used at the beginning in the making of the French seam. Thus ¼” would certainly be too much for a French seam and we can note that 1/8” or near to this amount is suitable for a French seam in the early stage.

Now press the higher and longer seam allowance over the shortened one. Press carefully. Press on the right side too. Use of cloths are important to prevent damage to fabric when pressing in this way. The aim is to fold the longer seam allowance over the shorter one and thus to enclose the shorter one. Remember that one is working on the wrong side. Now too stitching lines are sewn, the first 1/8” in from the fold and the second 2/8”. It is interesting to note that two stitching lines will show on the right side while three stitching lines were, of course, sewn.

I note in some recent reports that surgical stitches may be a thing of the past. I do not know about the advancements in textile technology re: eventual replacement of seams. Still I see that surgical stitches could be a thing of the past and this raises the question whether fabric seams are comparable to surgical stitches and whether they are replaceable. Certainly not directly, I would think, writing as a layman and with an interest in design and general clothing making. I have no intention of making comparisons. The body re: surgery and medicine is something I would not dare even write about.

Still there may be comparison but in clothing there is an obvious decorative function re: fabric seams. And this decorative function is taken to almost a higher level in jeans construction. There is a note on flat fell seams below. Note too that re: surgical stitches, there is healing involved. The body seems to have a natural way of healing itself. With the new technique, a film-like material which is apparently thinner than the diameter of human hair is put on the wound. I am not sure still about the nature of this film. It's width and length, I do not know but the film is obviously thin. This film is then heated so that the film seals the wound. Note that sealing is important as well as heat and this is obviously too advanced for clothing manufacture. I think this illustrates that it is the fabric itself which is important and which dictates the seam choice. When developing new clothing technology, it is apparent perhaps that you must develop new fabrics. Tulle and organdy, chiffon and silks...french seams may be always a seam of choice in the use of these fabrics. For women's evening wear or certain party-wear, the french seam too is a seam of choice perhaps.

There are different types of cloche hats. One of the important areas of design for a hat is the crown area. Cloches were unique hats of the twenties. They shaped and fitted the crown and they could adorn and accentuate the nape and neck area in an interesting way. The whole area of throat and nape going to the head crown is an interesting design area. It is known that the popularity of cloches were directly linked to the boyishly cropped hairstyles of women at that time. Cloches are certainly not as important as they were but they can be re-styled and the question of fabric is important. Is velvet a suitable fabric for a cloche? Velvet is an important hat fabric. And you can buy velvet hats and cloches for very reasonable prices but you can also find a more fitted cloche hat made of velvet for prices above $100. If a woman has long and curly hair or hair at least nape-length, then the cloche may not necessarily be used to get the 20s boyish look and you can get a cloche for a reasonable price. Still it is perhaps possible to get a cloche for hairstyles that are not cut in a boyish style.

Cloches may not necessarily have to shape the head and give the whole twenties look. If you are not looking for this, then a certain lavish cloche made of velvet is suitable. You can get a wider type of cloche thus. Some cloches as worn by Josephine Baker were pulled to the ear or behind the ear. They had noticeable shape and direction going from the crown to the area of the nape. And the length of the cloche at the forehead was important. However details like this can be overlooked and cloche hats can be found for reasonable prices. If you are not looking for a specifically 20s look, then you can get hats with a general but not a particular or detailed cloche look.

Cloche design is interesting. You may associate cloches with short boyish hair. You may associate cloches too with noticeable fit around the head and perhaps an element of perkiness, boyish girlishness or girlish boyiness. It is interesting that there are cloches for fuller hairstyles I.e. usual feminine hairstyles so that a certain tightness that is usually associated with cloches may have to be relaxed. That is why cloches for women with long hair or hair that is full and perhaps nape length demands a different design. I think that the more fitted cloches made of e.g. velvet with suitable lining and some added detail e.g. fabric contrast is much more expensive than a more general cloche shape of a hat made of velvet. The typical cloche hats worn by Josephine Baker and actresses of the 20s as updated for the modern age would be much more expensive than general cloche-shape hats. Maybe it is because cloches are part of a look. You can buy cloches for reasonable prices but cloches are part of a certain twenties look, a certain jazz-age look and to get that shaped cloche, you would have to pay.

The twenties look as regards fashion is characterised by an emphasis on lines and there is a certain angularity and linearity in its fashion. With cloches, even though these are head accessories, there is a straightness and linearity about them. Perhaps this is connected with the close form of the cloche, the way it moulds the head and in this way you can say there is a closeness, a linearity in the way the cloche moulds and hugs the head. Catsuits are linear in the sense that they mould the body in a certain respect and one can say the same about cloches in the way they mould the head.

The interesting thing about 20s as well as earlier fashions in the use of extras like embroidery and that is why it is perhaps difficult to re-create the world of the 20s as regards fashion for example. It is the same as regards interior design perhaps. Different techniques were used and designers were perhaps pre-occupied with different things. Some twenties cloches have noticeable added design elements such as use of pleating and the brim itself was a noticeable area of design for the twenties hat.