Dumb question re seam allowances - help!

[Puffinsaresmall]

Hello

I really should know this but I don't

When sewing together a soft toy, I did a seam allowance and hand sewed it right sides together and turned right way round at end to stuff.

Some of the seams are great - you can't see any stitching but others are terrible you can see the stitching and they're all gapey and puckered.

What have I done wrong? Are my seam allowances not big enough? My stitches too lose/tight, too big/small?

Argh! Please help

It can depend on the shape you're sewing....if you're sewing a convex curve, you'll need to snip a tiny slit from the edge towards the seam to allow the material to give a bit, or if it's a concave curve, you need to snip a tiny V towards the seam to take out some of the excess fabric the curve gives

Firstly, hand stitched or machined?

Next, Shesparkles is spot on with her comments about easing on a curve... another issue is if you have included the selvedge when cutting out your pattern (the selvedge is the finished edge of the fabric) and you can ease that by cutting in, this means just snipping at the edge but not in a triangle, just little cut as this releases the tension in the selvedge.

You may be overstuffing, so take some out.

Finally seams vary on everything you make, from 5/8" on a classic seam to a scant 1/4" ... the two important things to remember are if it is fabric press it with an iron at every opportunity and second, if it looks wrong, unpick it and do it again... if you don't it will drive you up the wall whenever you use it, wear it or look at it.

hand stitched.

thank you for your answers, i will spend some of tomorrow practising and see what happens :)

you need to clip the seams - on the curves and corners - that will stop the puckering.
just snip up to about 2mm away from the stitching a few lines.
it's the bulk of the fabric.

and if they're handstitched, you might be making the stitches too loose and too far apart.

and definitely agree to iron at every opportunity (then if it still looks wrong - unpick it)

ok Im going to show my stupidity here even more now. I'm laying the two shapes together, right sides facing, and then handstitching about 1cm from the edges all the way round. What do I iron? Iron in 1cm from all the way round? God Im rubbish at this

iron once you've sewn.
you're basically ironing the shape in.
press the seams back so that they're open - it sits neater.

if they're curved edges, you'll be best to make a "ham" - you can do that by stuffing with cotton a small cotton bag. (like a shoe bag)

Agree with the pressing, but how are you sewing it - running stitch or backstitch? You really need to use backstitch to keep it tight and stop gaping.