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Learn How to Favor Seams to Keep Your Faced Edges In Check

Roll them to the wrong side
Threads #197, June/July 2018
On collar edges, try a technique that ensures the undercollar shows only when you want it to. Pattern: Vogue 9170, out of print. Fabrics: cotton shirting, MoodFabrics.com.

In my years of judging regional 4-H Fashion Revues, local county fairs, state Make It With Wool contests and Threads/Association of Sewing and Design Professionals challenges, one construction problem I see again and again is a facing or lining that peeks out where it shouldn’t, along a garment’s edges. To solve this, you need to “favor” the garment layers and roll the seams to the wrong side. 

Two key areas where this problem often occurs are shirt and jacket collars and lapels, and the hem/facing intersection on jackets, shirts, and skirt vents. I’ll show you how to handle these edges for a fine finish.

Defining the term

The term “favoring” is never discussed in pattern instructions and seldom shows up in sewing books. The one definition I found, in Vogue Sewing (Sixth & Spring; revised and updated, 2006), describes favoring as ”rolling one garment section slightly over another at the edge to conceal the seam.”

To effect this rolling, the garment section that will show when worn needs to be made slightly larger than the piece that lies underneath, so it has room to wrap over the edge. Sometimes favoring is needed to accommodate the way the garment curves or folds on the body, as on a lapel. Favoring prevents the lapel underside from showing at the edges, and further ensures that the lapel lies properly when folded back.

Elements of the process

There are two ways to create the ease that enables you to favor a section along an edge. It can be done in the cutting, as with a tailored jacket, where the upper collar is cut larger than the undercollar. Alternatively, it can be done in the sewing process, by pinning and sewing the outer piece so it is eased to the inner…

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  1. sewingpatton | | #1

    Why is the PDF to this article, Learn How to Favor Seams to Keep Your Faced Edges In Check, not working...It says it is not found and I was needing to read all the tips and tricks for favoring a seam...I hope this gets fixed soon...Is there somewhere else I should send this problem to, making them aware that there is a hiccup with this very needed article??? I would appreciate any recommendations or thoughts on this.

    1. carolfresia | | #2

      Hi, Sewing Patton,
      Please try this URL: https://www.threadsmagazine.com/project-guides/fit-and-sew-tops/how-to-favor-seams
      It contains the entire article, rather than an attached pdf. We apologize for the confusion!
      Carol Fresia, Threads Senior Technical Editor

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