Hi! I love your blog, itโs SO helpful! Do you have any information on how seams are usually finished in Hanfu to prevent fraying? especially in the late Han/3 kingdoms period if we even have information going back that far. I know turning and felling is the most common in Western garments, but I have no idea whether thatโs how everyone decided to do it or if thereโs another method more prevalent in Chinese garment construction.
Hi, I'm so glad I've been helpful! Thank you for asking please send me more asks I'm lonely. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, I never get asks and I forgot to check for like five days ;-;
tl;dr: probably french seams and folded hems but dunno for sure
So unfortunately this is pretty out of my depth for a few reasonsโpartially because I do very little actual sewing myself beyond functional prototyping with the worst basting you've ever seen, and partially because in today's hanfu industry/movement this is not something that people pay as much attention to as much as, like, the shape of the pattern pieces and how they go together etc.
The other thing is that when you go that far back, yes we have artifacts, but a lot of them are too damaged to deduce exactly what the techniques for putting them together or finishing seams are. Even from a dig that has like fifty robes in it, often only three or four of them are good enough to even take pictures of, let alone analyze for stitch length etc. Also I know absolutely nothing about western/european historical garments so all of my information comes pretty much purely from a hanfu-related perspective.
L: Serged seam on Cloud9's Regius // R: French seam on Cloud9's Metamorphosis (Song)
For today's hanfu, the methods used are pretty simple: seams are basically all either serged or french seamed. French seams are seen as more 'premium' because they require a bit more time to make (even though they're really not as strong lol); they're usually preferred for sheer fabrics. Some places that serge most of their seams will french seam only the center back seam, and serge the rest, since that one stands out more. Hems are most commonly folded, very very occasionally rolled.
A custom order from last month (full silk Ming Dynasty cross-collar shan top) with ๆ่ฒผ้ internally taped hems
Bias-bound hems are popular for Ming Dynasty single-layered tops and a few select Song Dynasty onesโthis is called ่ฒผ้ / tie1 bian1 / "taped edge" and does have historical basis, especially for sheerer men's garments. It's also usually seen as a premium option, but it can also be used just to save yourself the seam allowance if you're really pushing it with the yardage. The bias tape can either be on the inside or exposed on the outside. This method rarely appears on anything except Ming Dynasty tops though. It's usually applied to the inside of the sleeve cuff, the bottom edge/hem, and the lapel; sometimes the side vents will also be taped.
Han Dynasty-specifically, I scoured the internet for a bit but wasn't able to find much on the exact finishing techniques.
If you're savvy at finding papers and info yourself, your best bet (maybe your only bet tbh) for around this time period is immediately going to be the Mawangdui Han Dynasty tomb (้ฆฌ็ๅ ๆผขๅข / ma3 wang2 dui1 han4 mu4) in Changsha. Limitations include the fact that all of these came out of one tomb in one location at one time, so it's hard to make overarching statements about what the 'standard' was in that era, and also that even though that particular tomb was freakishly well preserved since it wasn't exposed to oxygen for so long, researchers are limited by the fact that their first priority is continued preservation now that the robes have been excavated, rather than intensive dissection of sewing methods, which might further damage them.
I was able to find three tangentially related sources:
้ฆฌ็ๅ ไธ่ๆผขๅข็ด ็ด่ฅ่กฃ็ ็ฉถ่ๅพฉ็น : A recreation effort between the Hunan Museum and the Nanjing Cloud Brocade Research Institute of a sheer robe from the Han Dynasty, the ็ด ็ด่ฅ่กฃ/su4 sha1 dan1 yi1/undyed and unlined silk robe, a full-length robe famous for only weighing 49 grams and fitting inside a matchbox.
้ฆฌ็ๅ ๆผขๅขๅบๅ่ขๆๅๆข: A short paper that analyzed more of the technical aspects of how the clothing was put together
ๆฑๅจ่ณ่ฅฟๆผขๆฅๅฐ่ขๆ็ตๆงๆขๆ: A paper comparing robes from the Warring States period (mainly just the Mashan tomb) and the Han Dynasty (mainly just the Mawangdui tomb)
From these three sources, I was able to deduce from each source respectively that:
The stitch length for the sheer robe was approximately 2-3mm (4-5 stitches per centimeter)
Most of the seams employed a running stitch
The seam allowance for Han Dynasty garments was probably within 1cm
And, uh, that's pretty much all I got.
However, from squinting at pictures I think that it's French seams + folded hems usually. I present, from the Han Dynasty robe recreation report:
Src: ้ฆฌ็ๅ ไธ่ๆผขๅข็ด ็ด่ฅ่กฃ็ ็ฉถ่ๅพฉ็น // L: Closeup of original artifact. To me it looks like it's been folded twice basically. // R: Flat photo of strict recreation. The sleeve connections look closer to french seams than anything else I'm familiar with.
More recent dynasties have clearer/better preserved relics with better photos that you can scrutinize, especially the sheer ones where you can see the seams better, so here's some more from the Southern Song Dynasty:
Src: ๅๅฎ่ณ่๏ผๅจๅกๆกฅๅๅฎๅขๅบๅๆ็ฉ็นๅฑ, ๅธธๅทๅ็ฉ้ฆ // L: Closeup of cross-collar robe artifact "ๆฃ่ฒ็ผ ๆ็กไธนๆๆก็บน็ฝไบค้ข่ข." // R: Closeup of parallel-collar beizi artifact, "ๆฃ่ฒ็ด ็บฑๅฏน่ฅ่ข."
And then some Ming Dynasty closeup ones, these are all available online btw:
Src: ๆ็ฉๅฑฑไธ, ๅญๅญๅ็ฉ้ฆ // L: Closeup of unlined blue sheer robe, "ๆ่่ฒ็ด ็ฝๅ่ข" // R: Closeup of unlined white robe "ๆ็ฝ่ฒๆ่ฑ็บฑๅ่ข"
Anyway, mostly looks like french seams and double folded seams to me! Sorry I couldn't help more, but hope this is helpful at least a little bit :)
