Reply To: Trimming and Finishing Seams

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

No, it’s not overkill, in fact, you’re making your stuff more professional and neat looking.   🙂  When I’m doing a full tutorial, you do not see me finish the seams as I’m just trying to keep with the directions of the pattern, but I usually trim and finish them when the dress is finished because it does help with the fraying.  Also, if the dress is completely lined, like the Butterick 5880 dress, I’ll skip the finished seams because everything is hidden anyways.  Sometimes, it’s helpful, after you cut out all your fabric pieces you just finish the edge around the whole piece right then and there.  So, for example, take the your pieces and either zigzag stitch, overcast, or serge around all edges before you even start sewing.  I don’t know if it saves any time, but it kind of just gets it out of the way so when I create a seam, it’s already finished and it also helps control the fraying while I’m still working with the pieces.  But I would say you’re on that path of good habits and I bet your garments look beautiful! 🙂