Altering seam allowance for jersey knits... Help!

[lagartaroja]

So, before I cut my material, can anyone confirm that what I'm doing is right?

Fabric is jersey knit. Seamstress uses a serger but pattern is written for either serger or regular machine and states a seam allowance of 3/8".

I want to use my overlock stitch on my regular machine so am I right in saying I need cut 2/8" off the seam allowance as I'm not serging my seams?

I'm not going to get any answers, am I?!

Um, I'm no expert in working with knit fabric, but would it depend on whether or not the serger was used with the cutting blade? If the serger was edging but not trimming, my guess is you wouldn't reduce the seam allowance to replicate it on a regular sewing machine...

I think I agree.

I would cut seam allowances as normal & then serge together along the seam allowance - assuming the cutting blade will remove excess as you go.

ah, you're not serging it together...

I'd still cut seam allowances as normal then trim down once stitched I think. Gives you a bit more wiggle room for the odd wonky stitch (if you're anything like me)

If you cut off 2/8" from the seam allowance you will be left with a tiny 1/8". That's unlikely to be enough unless you are extremely careful I'd end up with holes in my seams if I did this.

Can you sew together two scraps of your jersey fabric using the overlock stitch on your machine? Then measure the width of this to work out how much seam allowance you need. You may need to fiddle about with the machine settings to get a good result, and to make sure that the seam will stretch with the fabric. (Sorry if you know all this - sewing knits on a normal machine is hard).

Oops. (I namechanged). Thanks for the replies! I didn't expect anyone to so stopped checking after, well, not very long...

I'll do what you suggested pile of and then decide whether to cut or follow your suggestion lucysmam.

Thanks again :)