I am so excited! Today we are going to begin on our faux fur vests! They are all the rage these days you know. SO, whether you can make your own pattern or use a purchased pattern, here is a FAB tip for you - just lay your pattern onto your fabric and don't pin it, keep it in place with -- weights! I use everyday objects, scissors, pin cushion, empty jars or coffee cups. You can, of course, purchase small weights made especially for this purpose.
First, one must understand that we cut fur on the fabric side, not the fur side. And, never use scissors!! Use a utility knife, box cutter, something of that nature. It's super important to only cut the fabric, not the fur!
Here's our Mongolian Camel Fur! It is pretty long fur and I thought that might make it difficult to work with, but so far I see that the long fur makes it easier to work with. Bonus - it doesn't shed much either! This particular fur is really soft, reminds me of a pretty kitty we call Fluffy.
Here are both sides of the fur. You always want to cut on the fabric side, not the fur side. Why? Because cutting the fur will make your finished product look like it has a bad haircut...
Here's a tool for cutting your fur. This is a simple utility knife available most anywhere. This Mongolian fur backing was a breeze to cut, even curves!
Okay, so we have our pieces cut out, now what? Well, decide first if you are going to line your vest...I have decided not to line this Mongolian fur because the fabric side is softer than you can imagine and looks pretty good too.
Whether you are lining your vest or not, you can go ahead and attach the front to the back at the shoulder seams.
Smooth the fur down as flat as possible. Because this Mongolian fur is so long, that was easy. If you're working with shorter fur, you may need to poke it down with your finger as you pin along the seam line.
So, here it is! Do this for both of your shoulder seams, then, get stitching! I think I might hand stitch this vest. I mean, only hand stitch - no machine!! Therefore, when I am 'basting' my seams, I am going to make all of my stitches close together and finished, just in case. Otherwise, you don't need to be so precise with your basting stitches. The point of basting everything before you sew on your machine is to keep the fur from slipping out of place (and it will)!
Remember that awesome Leopard fur I mentioned earlier, well, here it is with it's shoulder seams done:
Great stuff isn't it? This leopard fur is much shorter than the Mongolian, so I kept poking the fur into the seam while I pinned it together, and again if I needed to while I stitched it. I really didn't need to do it that much.
Nice and neat, even I was impressed. If you want to, you can get a good bit of your basting out of the way all at once. I did. Might as well, right? You're sitting there with the needle and thread anyway so what the heck!
Here's the outside of this leopard fur with it's shoulder seam together. I think it looks pretty nice. If you are going to line your vest, and I am lining this one, here's where you stop! Next step for this vest is to sew the shoulder seams on the lining, then put it all together! I really can't wait for that!
Later I am going to put the side seams together on the mongolian fur vest! I'll keep you posted! Oh, and a super important note: CLEAN YOUR SEWING MACHINE, especially after sewing fur!!!
