Faux Mink Jacket – Part IV

Since I had some uninterrupted time this morning I decided to put the pockets in. Cutting into your jacket fronts is always scary (especially in a pricey fabric) and I wanted to make sure I had a clear head.

First, I marked the pocket opening on both fronts, making sure they were identical. My hands are small so I made my opening 5.5″ long. I determined a comfortable placement during a try-on.

The next step was to stay the opening. To reduce bulk I used silk organza selvedges left over from another project. Twill tape would be fine too but it is a little more bulky. The stay is attached at the finished edge with tiny fell stitches and then a diagonal basting stitch is used to attach the remainder to the backing (running basting stitch would be fine as well). I taped across the top and bottom of the opening,

and then down each side. Notice that I left a hairline space between the two so that I don’t cut the stay or the stitching later.

Now for the scary part, carefully cutting the slash!

I am using 2″ wide strips of Ultrasuede (gotta love that Ultrasuede stash!) to face the slash. You could also use petersham, real leather/suede, even grosgrain ribbon would be okay (albeit a bit stiff). I cut my strips extra long so that I didn’t have to fuss over the placement. Whipstitch your facing strips to the edge of the slash being sure to catch your stay in the stitching and pushing the fur out of the way with your needle. I opted to do this by hand because I have more control that way.

For extra reinforcement I then zigzagged over the edges with a short, narrow machine zigzag. I know these pockets are going to get a lot of use and I don’t want them to tear out later. Do not use a satin stitch or you will perforate your Ultrasuede/leather/suede! I used a stitch length of about 1.5 mm and a size 14 needle.

Once that’s done, you can turn your facing strips to the inside and attach your pocket bags (I used a sturdy 3-step zigzag for this). Again, sorry for the lousy photos. I am camera-challenged since my adorable granddog chewed the screen on my good camera.

When I was examining the Persian lamb jacket, I noticed that everything inside had been tacked down, including the pocket bags. I did the same and I think it’s so much nicer than having them float around in there. The beauty of working with faux fur is that none of your stitches show on the right side.

The pocket opening is barely discernable from the right side – cool, huh?

I would like to thank the authors of this really awesome vintage Vogue booklet for teaching me this great, bulk-free method (this is similar to the method you’d use for buttonholes in fur). If you are interested in sewing fur you really need a copy of this book! It’s small and thin (less than 50 pages) but loaded with great information that is still relevant 40 years after it’s publication date.

Faux Mink Jacket – Part III

After much deliberation, I decided to cut the collar on the bias. Thank you all for your thoughtful input!

Doesn’t it look pretty from the back? (Lightened to show detail)

I cut and sewed the collar late last night and then padded it with some cotton batting I had left over from my quilt two years ago. When I took apart the Persian lamb/mink jacket on Saturday, I noticed that the collar was padded with lambswool (there is a lot more structure inside a fur coat than I expected!) so I thought I’d do the same. I kept the batting out of the seam allowances to reduce bulk and attached it with uneven and diagonal basting stitches. It seems like a lot of handwork but it really didn’t take long, maybe an hour. With all the handwork I’ve been doing lately, I am considering learning how to use a thimble!

I cut the batting out of the foldline so that the edge wouldn’t be too thick.

The fronts are stabilized with hair canvas and I am getting ready to stitch bits of bias-cut canvas into the hem area. The hair canvas along the facing foldline gives a nice crisp edge.

The backing of this fur is quite stable (it’s a woven) so I only taped the off-grain areas. I will also stabilize the neck edge by fusing stay tape to the lining neckline (less bulky than more twill tape).

Tomorrow, I am going to experiment with pockets as I’d like to finish them before I stitch the fronts to the back. Once they are done, everything will go together quite quickly! I was hoping to finish by the weekend but I am teaching a 2-day fitting workshop Saturday and Sunday and might be too tired to do anything more until Monday.

Faux Mink Jacket – Part II

I finished cutting my jacket out last night and now I’m kind of stuck on the the collar. The pattern has you cut the collar with the nap going out towards the shoulder. The more I looked at it, the more it looked like it was going to fly away! Upon examining the mink collar on my Persian lamb jacket, I noticed that it was seamed at the center back with the nap going forward. So, I cut a new collar tonight (this is why I always buy extra fabric!) and I think I like it better but, darnit, I’m not sure.

I’m going to set the collar aside for now and work on sewing in my interfacing and stay tape. That should keep me busy for tonight while I mull things over. I suppose my other option would be to recut the collar on the bias!

Original collar:

New collar:

Bias collar:

Feel free to offer opinions!

Faux Mink Jacket – Part I

My Tissavel faux-mink arrived from EOS today and, after a couple of pattern modifications, I’ll be ready to cut into it. I tried to photograph the fur but my pictures suck since my granddog ate my good camera. Hopefully, it’ll photograph better on the mannequin than it does laying flat on my cutting table.

I wore my faux fur vest to the movies on Saturday night and decided that I’d like the collar to be a little more exuberant. I lowered the neckline by 2″ in the front and added the necessary amount of length to the collar (which, oddly enough, was also 2″). Here is the paper pattern pinned together onto Ethel, I’m pleased. The red lines are the original cutting lines and the black ones reflect the modification.

I would really like to add some vertical pockets to this jacket so I’m working out how to do that without adding a seam. I guess I could use matching Ultrasuede and make welt pockets. I picked up a vintage Persian lamb jacket at a thrift store on Saturday and it has interesting pockets bound in petersham.

Even though I prefer faux fur I had to rescue these poor little lambs! I originally bought it so that I could recycle the fur but it actually fits me nicely and looks really cute on so I may make a new faux-fur collar for it, something a little more edgy. I don’t think I’m quite old enough to wear Persian lamb with a mink collar, maybe in 30 years!

The first thing I did was rip out the lining, padding and shoulder pads. It is amazing how most of the musty odor is in the fabric components! I put them into ZipLoc bags so that I could refer to them later when I’m relining the jacket. Check out the manufacture date on this piece, it’s in wonderful condition for it’s age. The skins are very soft and supple and there is only one small tear which will be very easy to repair.

The monogram in this jacket was exceptionally pretty. I may copy it!

Fur Collar & Cuffs

I am so glad I went with this fur instead of the longer-haired one because I think it looks so much better with the denim. The collar went together very quickly and easily. I once again used the black stretch satin lining from Gorgeous Fabrics. What a pleasure it is to sew!

Instead of using buttons and loops to attach the collar, I attached it with small snaps (seven in total).

After losing one of the jacket’s original buttons last year, I replaced them with these Paco Despacio sterling and lapis buttons from my stash. I think they still work so I’m going to leave them.

You can see how the diagonal patches at the collar point hide the original collar very nicely.

The cuffs are just straight strips of fur faced with the same lining fabric. I couldn’t use snaps here (they would show if I wanted to wear the jacket plain) so I used large diagonal basting stitches instead. The stitches are hidden inside the turned back cuffs. Notice that I made the cuffs a little wider than the jacket’s cuffs. Fur cuffs should not be wimpy. 🙂

 

D-Ring Belt – A Quick Project

This is my favorite casual belt. It’s a humble little cotton webbing belt which originally belonged to my son.

It works well with a very casual jeans outfit (or even shorts) and fits perfectly around my hips as shown here on my recent trip to the Citrus Bowl (I’m 2nd from right) – ordinarily I don’t have the end flapping around like that, I swear!

Recently, the belt disappeared for a few days so I started looking around for d-rings in order to make a replacement. Have you seen the Dritz d-rings? Ugh, they are so wimpy! Luckily, I found these beefy boys in Lora Lee’s Etsy shop and they are perfect!

I didn’t have any 2″ webbing in my stash to use as a base but then I found IT: some seatbelting swiped from my friend’s shop last year (he keeps it on hand for testing machines brought in by auto shops). I had this pretty ribbon in my stash (from Cynthia’s Fine Fabrics) and fused it to the seat belting with Heat ‘n’ Bond. Fusing – or gluing – is really necessary because otherwise the ribbon is going to scoot along the slippery seat belting as you stitch.

I continued the ribbon around to the back for about 12″ since that side will show while the belt is being worn. Be sure you heat-seal both cut ends of the webbing/belting (I used a lighter that I keep in my sewing room for this purpose) before attaching the ribbon.

Then it was just a matter of edgestitching all around,

and attaching the d-rings. I sewed this on my walking-foot machine with a size 20 needle and #69 bonded nylon thread (not a necessity, I was just too lazy to change it). I don’t think this would be a problem to sew on a regular machine with a large needle and standard thread.

I’m really happy with the way this turned out and can’t wait to make a few more. I’m always looking for an excuse to shop for ribbons and trims!

Seatbelt belts – they could catch on!

Faux Fur Vest – Final

I finished putting the lining in this morning so I’ll hopefully be able to give it a test drive before the weather warms up again. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I hate working with lining fabrics, blech. But I can’t say enough good things about the coat lining I used here. It’s stretch coat lining in black from Georgeous Fabrics and was an absolute joy to work with. I really didn’t want to cut into it because I bought just enough for a short coat but I couldn’t resist so I guess I’ll be ordering some more to have on hand.

Peter had asked if the fur was messy to work with. Well, yes and no. Since I traced my pattern onto the knit backing and cut through the backing only there wasn’t much mess during cutting and sewing, just a few stray hairs. But, since this fur is pretty long, I needed to trim the excess pile out in some areas. I did trim over a wastebasket but some of the mess did get on the floor and my pressing surface, nothing major.

I really had a lot of fun working with fur and I’m happy with the way the vest turned out. But, I can tell you that I would never buy a fluffy, long-haired fur again because, frankly, it’s fattening! But, I enjoyed the process so much that I’m going to keep the pattern out and look for a nice short-haired fur for a jacket. In a short-haired fur, this pattern would go together start to finish in a matter of hours. I bought this particular fur at Fabric Depot in Portland about 15 years ago. It’s very silky-soft, I used the bulk of it to make a faux-fur throw for my in-laws a few years ago.

Faux Fur Vest – Part I

Between Summerset’s adorable, casual faux fur jacket, Tany’s high-fashion jacket with removable collar and the fur vests I’ve been seeing so much of lately I’ve been having some serious faux fur envy! Alas, there isn’t anyplace locally for me to buy really nice faux fur so I had filed that idea away for later. But, last night I was cleaning my sewing room and found a large remnant of pelted faux mink that was taking up quite a bit of space and I thought, why not make a faux fur vest?

I happened to have the same pattern that Summerset used (Burda World of Fashion 12/2007 #122) and I liked the fact that it had darts so I figured I could just omit the sleeves and line the armscye to the edge. I traced off a size 36 and made a 3/4″ FBA and my usual forward-shoulder and swayback alterations. The shoulders on a 36 are usually too wide for me but on a vest that’s actually a good thing so I didn’t narrow them.

So far, I have sewn the shoulder seams and attached the collar. I cut the fronts so that the facing fold line was on a peltline, figuring it would give me a cleaner edge (which it does). If I wear this closed, the CFs will not match. But, I figured that I would never wear this closed anyway so I’d rather have a full peltline at each edge. I have never sewn with faux (or real) fur before so I’m just assuming that the CF would normally be on a peltline – am I right?

I didn’t have enough fabric for the collar so I cut the undercollar from black Ultrasuede. I had dark brown in my stash as well but the black looked much better (the flash makes the fur look lighter than it is IRL). You can faintly see the casing line for the drawstring along the top edge.

I am not planning on putting in the pockets as per the pattern. I had thought about adding in-seam pockets but I doubt I’d ever use them. If it’s cold enough for me to need to use them I wouldn’t be wearing a vest, right?

Embellished Jacket – Final

This jacket really went together very easily and quickly. If you eliminate the trim it would be an afternoon project. Here are the changes I made (or would make next time around):

*Shortened body by 2″ (not a usual adjustment for me)
*Shortened sleeves 3.5″ (I usually shorten 1″)
*Narrowed the shoulders 2″ (they were just too overwhelming on me)
*Raised the sleeve cap 1″ (it was much too flat once I narrowed the shoulder)
*If I made this again, I’d use a fitted shoulder and standard sleeve. As much as I want to like the dropped shoulder, I don’t and think a fitted shoulder would give a neater, slimmer appearance to contrast nicely with the front drape.
*Eliminated the crossover bands. They are supposed to control the drape but I’d rather train the folds (much as you would a drapery or Roman shade) than have to fuss with them. If your fabric refuses to be trained, a few well-placed, hidden stitches would do the job.

All in all, it’s a wonderful pattern to showcase a double-sided fabric or even a bulky sweater knit. I’m very happy with the embellishment. It gives me that over-the-top look that attracted me to the original jacket without being stiff or heavy. I rarely embellish anything so this was a fun departure from my usual work.

Some of you have asked about the hot-fix studs. They are 10mm silver donuts and 10mm grey squares that I purchased from Qiagraphix on Ebay. I highly recommend them! Their prices are excellent and I received my order in two days (from California, no less!). BTW, so you don’t overorder like I did, you need 84 10mm studs (placed close together) per yard, per row.

So, what’s next? Well, I’m trying to decide between the leather jacket and the navy duffle coat…

Embellished Jacket – Part I

I am really enjoying my mini-sewcation and, despite a slow start, actually accomplished quite a lot this weekend. A couple of people had asked about the sizing of this pattern and, yes, it is a tall. I had to take 2 inches out of the length of the torso and I also narrowed the shoulders by an inch. I know they are supposed to be dropped but they were a little overwhelming on my short frame. I haven’t cut the sleeves out yet but it looks like I’ll be taking 2″ out in length there as well.

The body goes together easily and quickly but, of course, I had to make it harder by flat-felling most of the seams. Not only does it look nice inside and out but the flat-felling also adds a little structure to the wool crepe. I can’t remember if I mentioned this in a previous post or not, but I prewashed and dried the fabric three times. The texture is absolutely wonderful but since I have a front-loading washer it is naturally not as fulled as it could have been in a washer with an agitator.

I added 5/8″ to all outside edges and turned it towards the trim side and hand-stitched it down. In the front where the collar turns, the trim/hem must change direction so I staystitched and clipped that spot so that all of the hemming is hidden under the trim.

Speaking of hand-sewing, I did an awful lot of it on this jacket! Normally I do very little handsewing, only when it adds something to the garment. I don’t like to do it as a work-around. In this case, machine stitching the petersham to the garment left it too stiff so I decided to attach it with a hand-felling stitch instead. Many episodes of CSI later, I’m glad I did. I should mention that the pattern calls for 2″ wide petersham and I accidentally purchased 1.5″ (forgot my glasses again!) which really worked out perfectly. I think the 2″ would have been much too heavy.

I shopped around quite a lot for trims last week. Not only did I not find anything that I really loved but, due to the yardage needed, anything decent-looking would have been cost-prohibitive. I was looking for better than decent (more like over-the-top) and those trims started at $50/yd, eek! So, I decided to use hot-fix studs which give me lots of impact, are reasonably fast to attach and quite lightweight. Plus, mitering the corners is so easy (too bad they cover up my pretty petersham miters!).

Tomorrow I will finish attaching the studs and then cut and set the sleeves. I’m pretty pleased with this so far!