Usually I love making anything with a resist but for the nuno felted tunic I decided to work with one of Lizzie Houghton’s designs and stitch up the sides at the prefelt stage. By doing this I would be able to create a 3 dimensional tunic with invisible seams without having to fiddle with cutting out a plastic resist (I am short of time at the moment). As with a lot of my work I changed my mind as the piece evolved! I loved the organic shaped edges down the sides as the felt progressed so decided to continue felting and make these a feature once the tunic was shrunk fully. Now my problem is that because sewing is really not my forte I need to make the decision exactly where to stitch, how to cut or sew the sleeves so that they are deeper and what exactly to do with the sides! One of my ideas is instead of stitching I might punch small grommets along the two sides and lace them up with thin felt cords. Anyone think that is a good idea?? I kind of like the thought that I could wear the top with a little cool section down the sides, not too much flesh exposed but enough of a gap to make it cooler if we ever got a warm summers day here in Ireland!
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles
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Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Nicola, You may want to use scrap felt, cut on the bias, about 1/2″ wide then handstitch it on as bias tape to finish off your armholes. It would give it a clean look and your stitches would be hidden in the wool. .
Lacing the sides would be keeping in the style of the vest, but you can make it more secure by handsewing side seams from the armpit to about 10 inches down, then do the grommets and lacing on the rest. It would help keep it on while you’re wearing it! The grommets and lacing under the armpit might be a pain in the………..armpit! LOVE IT!
Nancy, Nunofelt, eneefabricdesign
Gromets are a great idea, and making the lacing with your rolled tassle like snakes, would totally be awesome. It would solve the reversible issue I asked about earlier. This, of course will increase the dimension of the garment and make it bigger on you.
As to the armhole issue, something that I used to do when I was an avid seamstress but short on time, I would lay a garment that fit me, on top or under, whichever works best, the garment I was altering. Of course, I would use weights or pins to secure the two garments together preventing sliding from each other. Using a waxy chalk (tailors chalk) I would lift the top garment and mark out the armhole. Looking at it, granted, not on you, I would say the armhole needs to go in towards the center more and then down towards bottom more. using curved L shape for a more elegant shape. In case it is not obvious the front is usually deeper than the back.
I recently made a jacket and for the Maryland Wool and Sheep contest (won 2nd prize and the “Fashion Future” award) and contemplated many of the same issues as you are dealing with now – one thing you can do when stitching it is to lay the front side seams slightly over the back and free motion stitch very close the edge using clear Sulky clear poly thread on top with the color of your garment on the bottom – one of the comments from the judges was that they loved this treatment since you can follow the edges of the felt and it looks very organic. If you’d like me to take a close up picture for you I’ll be glad to!
I love all your ideas. Your design is lovely and I think keeping the organic edge is spot on.
The design is quite graphic and the soft edge would contrast perfectly.
Can’t wait to see it done……