Has anyone intentionally left inside seam edges unfinished?

[allnaturalmom]

Hello All,

I'm making pjs for the baby w/a really soft light cotton fabric. I started to finish the inside arm/sleeve edges w/my machine's overedge/overcast stitch and realized that it just might be too 'scratchy' for baby's delicate skin. If I leave it unfinished I know it will fray terribly, but I just want it to be super soft... the whole reason for searching out the soft fabric.

Has anyone else done this before? Am I going a little overboard here? Please advise...

TIA and happy sewing

[Beth-TX]

If you are very ambitious, you could do french seams. They are really nice for fine, lightweight fabrics. Or, an extra line of straight stitching, outside the seam would probably keep the fabric from fraying too far.

peace, Beth

[hibana]

Agreeing about the french seams- they're worth the extra time spent pressing and turning.

[KariM]

Another vote for the french seams. My mom used this method for all of her sewing. The garments REALLY held up well!

[andiamomama]

I often just finish the edges with a little zigzag. I think french seams might be hard to do on little stretchy pj's.

you might look at the fiber content of your thread... quilting stores carry 100% cotton mercerised thread, which feels nicer than the polyester threads usually recommended for garment sewing.

[funnygrace]

Could you just pink the seams? Sometimes I leave mine raw (not even pinking) because I am lazy or too busy and barring that they are not seen by another sewer thus embarrassing me, they are fine. Some pj bottoms have been through 6 years of the wash--still fine with an occasional trimming of frayed edges. The baby won't fit in them that long!

[EmilyS]

Yeah, French seams are what I do on all the clothing that I sell on etsy becasue I don't have a serger. It makes a really nice garmet that lasts forever. Worth the effort if you are using nice fabric and putting the time into something. That said, I have made many fast pants for my DD without any seam finishing...just to get it done right away...