I had a beautiful very loose weave brown fabric in my stash I thought would work for this assignment. Since the fabric was so incredibly forgiving, I did not have the dreaded fold at the side where the fabric wants to become a dart:
And this time, I was able to draft the back smaller than the front so I do not have any excess fabric in the back:
Because it was a loose weave fabric, the edges frayed like crazy when cut. I decided to adhere fusible tape to all of the cut edges before removing the fabric from the pattern which prevented the fabric from unraveling as I worked with it.
I went to Pacific Trim in New York City (38th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) and purchased a separating zipper which they cut to size. They have a selection of zipper pulls so I had them replace the regular zipper pull with a circular one. I love it!
I asked them to give me the left over zipper which I used as trim on the pockets. Given the loose weave and thickness of the fabric, I decided to attach the pockets by hand so as to prevent distortion.
Since the fabric is thick, I was not able to use the same fabric for the undercollar. I instead used ponte fabric for the undercollar. Ponte is a stable fabric but it still has some give to it. The stability of the ponte would prevent the collar from stretching out of shape but it still had enough give to work with the knit fashion fabric of the top collar. To make sure the ponte stayed out of sight and underneath the collar, I used a pick stitch all around the edges to keep it under control.
I initially wanted to attach the collar as I usually do, attaching the undercollar to the neckline and then folding under the top collar cut edge over the seam line and slip stitching it closed. Unfortunately, the thickness of the fabric would produce too much bulk. Instead of folding under the top collar, I just topstitched it in place and used a strip of Petersham ribbon to cover the raw edges. I like how it looks and it has the added bonus of adding some stability over the neckline.
This was the first weekend here in the Northeastern U.S. that felt really cold so this sweater knit cardigan is just what I need right now. It is very warm and comfortable.
Happy Sewing!