Happy Saturday Afternoon everyone!  It's SO cold and windy outside today, luckily I have plenty to do inside!  Well, let's get back to our Mongolian Camel fur vest!!  We are about to put the side seams together.

These are our front and back side seams.  We need to do something about the fur - it's in the way!

Here we go, not as silly as you may think!  Using a wide tooth comb (which can be found locally for a dollar or two) comb the fur away from the edge.  Do this on both the front and back seam edges.  This fur was very cooperative!

Much neater!  Combing the fur doesn't take very long, and works very, very well.

Now both sides have been smoothed out with the comb.  Time to put them together.  Match the front side seam to the back of the vest at the underarm first, and then match up the rest of the seam right down to the hemline.

Lay the entire side seam out straight.  You might have to tuck the fur inside as you go along.  You might not!

Pin the edges together, like so!  YAY!  We're ready to baste our side seams together!

Start stitching at the armhole and work your way down the side of the vest, removing the pins as you pass by them.  After the basting is finished, it's time to run a machine stitch to the outside of the basting.

If you choose, there are several ways to finish the seam - I used my overlock machine to finish the edges off.  No worries if you don't have an overlock machine, once you've stitched it on your regular machine, the seam will stay nicely put.

Here is the outside of the side seam, with the armhole showing at the right.  Can you see our seam?  Neither can I!!  Success!

At this point the vest is in one piece and can be tried on, always FUN!

This vest just happens to fit ME!  So, I put it on and checked it out and showed it off to whomever was in the house!  Everyone liked it!




Okay, we're getting there!  Next we're going to turn the armholes to the inside of the vest and stitch them down.  We'll do the same for the front edges and the hemline.  Then, we'll add the collar!  We are also going to break our first rule of sewing fur - we are going to use the scissors!  Can't wait!