For today’s “Doll Clothes Sewing Chat,” let’s talk about seam allowances. Just in case you’re new to sewing, it’s not a bad idea to start with a quick overview of seam allowances…
DEFINITION:
A seam allowance is a bit of extra room that’s given along the edge of a pattern, to allow for the sewist to include seams in a garment and still have it fit the doll properly.
This is my own definition, but here’s a link to Wikipedia’s definition, just in case that helps.
Think of it like this… When you’re driving a car, there’s a curb (spelled kerb in some countries) that gives you a little extra sway room at the sides of the roadway.
Here’s the car you’re driving as a sewist:
And this is the road you’re driving on:
This curb is called a “seam allowance” in sewing terms, and it gives you a little extra sway room for sewing fabric pieces together.
Now let’s address the question more directly… What is a seam allowance used for?
It’s used to keep the car from going off the road into the nearby field. In other words, it’s designed to give extra fabric at the joining parts of a garment, like you see here:
It’s nearly impossible to join the bodice fronts in the image above with the bodice back, without having a little extra fabric that hangs in between the two joined pieces. See the close-up of the joined area (i.e. the seam) in the image below:
That V-shaped flap of fabric where the front and back pieces are sewn together is a bit of extra fabric that is represented on your pattern as a seam allowance.
So as you can see, the seam allowance gives you room to “drive” your sewing machine needle and foot across the fabric where the two pieces join.
And that’s what a seam allowance is used for, in a nutshell.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
How careful are you with your seam allowances? (Some people use a fabric pencil to draw them in, making sure they follow seam allowances exactly!) Do you ever ignore seam allowance suggestions on a pattern? Do you ever alter the seam allowances? And how has that worked out for you?
Please leave your thoughts on seam allowances in the comments!
I mostly use tracing paper to mark my seam allowances.
How are reader comments accessed? I would like to read what others have to say.
You should be able to see other readers’ comments as soon as I approve them.
I just got home from my day job (school librarian), so I had a couple of comments waiting for approval when I got home. I also enjoy reading what other people say!
Hi, I usually mark my line with a pencil.
My eyes are not good with 1/4”, I always sew too much or not enough.
Sometimes it can help some adjustment. In a 1/6 scale doll, few millimeters can be a lot,
Specially when pattern says: fit also doll XY and at half work you magically discover this is not true!
When I’m really concerned about making seams match, I’ll sometimes mark with a pencil too. But most of the time, I just give it my best guess. That’s terrible, isn’t it!?!
I don’t understand the tracing paper comment? Please explain, thank you