Subscriber Center Feature Article
Project # 6 Fun with Faux Fur
January 25, 2007
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Difficulty level: EASY Pattern No pattern needed! Find an old blue jean vest or or re-discover a jeans jacket and and cut ocut off the sleeves! Materials 1/4 yard Innsbruck faux fur, and black thread Tools exacto knife for cutting craft glue as an alternative to pins Sewable Swedish Tracing Paper
The new Innsbruck fabric at Sawyer Brook is downright stunning. Every time I walked past it, I had to reach out and stroke it. The furry side is gorgeous with dark silky fur and the backing is luxurious and suedelike. I just had to make something from it, but I couldn't quite figure out what. Then Colleen brought in a photo from a catalog that showed a denim vest trimmed with fur. It was so cute! My daughter is extra busy in middle school these days, but I want to keep her sewing. When Colleen suggested making the vest in her size, I knew that it would be a manageable project. Rachel didn't have a spare denim vest around so I stopped by the thrift shop one day. I found a denim jacket in perfect condition for just $5. I bought it and ran it through the washer and dryer when I got home Then I cut off the sleeves to create a little vest - perfect background for the Innsbruck trim. It's been a long time since I've worked with faux fur and I was a little unsure how to proceed. The most recent Threads magazine has an article on working with faux fur. So I read it, talked to Barb about her experience in working with it and watched Judy cut the yardage I needed for the project. I learned that working with the faux fur takes a little planning ahead of time. You need to cut the pieces with a nap layout. Additionally, keeping the project simple with just a few seams is easier with a bulky fabric. And you need to trace the pattern pieces onto the back of the fabric with chalk before cutting them out with an exacto knife.
In planning the design, I decided to sew the fur around the armholes (like inside out facings) of the vest and put it on the collar too. First, I needed to make a tracing of the vest armhole, exactly like a facing, so I could use that as a pattern on the fur. I found that my furry armhole could not be too wide because there was a pocket on the chest of the vest. This limited my facing width to about 1 5/8 inches wide. I traced the front and back armhole onto Sewable Swedish Tracing Paper (Birch Street Clothing, P.O. Box 1110, Alta, CA 95701, 800-736-0854, www.birchstreetclothing.com) and added a seam allowance on the top and bottom. The seam allowances would allow me to sew the pieces together into a circle that would fit around the outside of the armhole on the vest. Then I laid out the pattern on the back of the fur and Rachel cut it out with the knife.
The furry facing fit and we pinned it in place to stitch it on. But, we kept getting stuck with the pins which were sinking into the pile of the fur and disappearing. So we pulled the facing off and used a little rubber cement to hold it in place instead of the pins. It was a lot easier to sew on that way. When sewing, we just lined up the raw edge of the vest with the inside edge of cut facing piece. Because of the suedelike backing there are no frayed edges. Rachel sewed the fur to the vest with a zig zag stitch, carefully pulling away excess fur from under the presser foot. She repeated that same procedure on the other edge of the facing to secure it to the body of the vest. Then we cut out the collar and sewed it on in the same manner. To cut down on bulk and save on time, we didn't turn under raw edges or use any seam finishes. I'm pretty sure there will only be minimal, if any, fraying, or stray threads. The result is a cute, quick project using just a bit of a gorgeous luxury fabric. Carole |
layout the
pattern on the sueded side
She seamed the front and back facing together at the top and bottom and tried it
around the outside of the armhole. The idea was that it would like an inside out
facing. The wrong side of the fur fabric was going to be sewn to the right side
of the vest.