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Do you ever alter seam allowances? And has that worked out okay for you? #SewingChat #SewingVocabulary

Chelly Wood
The thumbnail image shows a purple patch sewn onto a turquoise cloth. The words "doll clothes sewing chat" are written in the center of the purple patch. Floating in a circle around the patch are graphics of various sewing notions, from scissors, to a tape measure, to bobbins, to thread, and more. This feature on Chelly Wood dot com, is an open discussion about a sewing concept. The article will begin with a definition of the sewing concept, and then a discussion question will follow. This is a great place for people to ask questions about and/or give advice on sewing concepts related to making doll clothes.

Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

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Image purchased from iClipart. All rights reserved. Visit ChellyWood.com to find the blog post that answers the question, “Do you ever alter the seam allowances in your patterns?”

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:

Image purchased from iClipart (all rights reserved)

And this is the road you’re driving on:

Image purchased from iClipart. All rights reserved.

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:

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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:

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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.

Visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and sizes.

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!

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