Simplicity 2313 and I am in Love!

I really really like this pattern. DH loves this pattern. I also really really love 100% wool jersey. What a forgiving, yummy fabric. For Simp 2313 the fabric was fulled in the washer and dryer. I did the muslin, got some shoulder pads, and tweaked the fit a tad more. Today I started cutting and am very close to completion and photo time. In the meantime here is a bit of what was involved. First I had to work out my seam finishes. The jersey did not ravel at all but did I want to just have just cut edges for a finish? I pulled out Threads 147. They have a cover article on sewing felted wool jersey by Linda Lee. After reading the article I tried several different edge treatments. My concern was that the center front would not have enough body and other info suggested no  interfacing so what's a girl to do? Here is what I came up with:


To strengthen my edge and add interest as well I decided on a strip of the felted wool run all around the garment hem, CF, and neckline edge. This is sewn down with a triple zigzag stitch. Then one side of the strip is but back to the zigzagging as you see in the 'button" sample. I tried all different sorts of effects but this is what seemed to work the best for what I was trying to achieve. The button I picked is a perfect match to the brick red color but for whatever reason photo's a lighter orange. The left side of the "button" sample is the ruffly selvedge, something you get when "fulling" fabric in the washer and dryer. Hey, its only a sample! When planning on a project like this buy lots of extra fabric. My three yards of 60 inch jersey shrunk to 2 yards and 50 inches wide.

I cut a strip of the felted jersey 5/8 of an inch wide. I then laid it on top of the edge of the fabric, as I would for the edge of the garment. I did a triple zig zag down the center, lining up the edges with a "dam" made from sticky notes.

Another "necessary" is stabilizing seams. Here you can see a satin poly ribbon with absolutely NO give being used to stay the neckline and shoulder seams. I chose this because of the great color match.

This pattern has a wide bias circular ruffle inserted into the princess seam. It also has tucks sewn in which you can see above. The princess seam became three layers of the felted wool. I graded them back with pinking shears. then I put on the edge stitching foot, ran the blade down the seam well, and topstitched to the right. You can see the results above.

Much info out there has you doing flat felled seams all over with this type of fabric, at least in the sewing world. I did a search on RTW felted jersey garments in Images and most have regular old seams. I felt that was what I wanted on the sweater from the get go and the images just validated that idea. Yes, this is a sweater. It is warm, stretchy, comfy and just downright cuddly. I can't wait to show it to you. I should finish the edge treatment tomorrow and then photo time I think I will do the hair and makeup for this one....Bunny