WIP: Playing with (Faux) Fur

 Here's a sneak peek at my latest take on the current pink fur trend:

The picture really doesn't do justice to the brightness and softness of this fur

I've been totally inspired by this Versace number and it so happens that I recently managed to get my hands on some (free) left over hot pink fun fur. It was a sign: I had to go bold for my next project, and so, I am.....


Just kidding.


Although I do admire anybody who can pull off something like that and make it work as a fashion statement, (like this lady) I don't think it's quite...me.

So the truth is, I've been working out the muslin for the fur vest in this pattern:

Why bother making a muslin, you ask, it's a loose fitting vest?...Well...Exactly.

It's the only pattern I could find that somewhat resembled the vest I have in mind, but I didn't want to end-up with a boxy, shapeless garment, especially for 40 bucks worth of faux-fur...

So I made a muslin and I'm glad I did.

The back was WAYYY too big. I didn't want to add darts as I was afraid they would create to much bulk. So after playing around and pinning extra fabric here and there, I actually ended up with princess seams.

The back was big enough that I managed to recut all the pieces from that one original piece

The front was pretty straight forward at first. I pinned a horizontal tuck of about 2.5cm above the bust and did a SBA. After that I still had extra fabric at the armhole that looked like it wanted to become a dart. I tried pinning said dart and rotating it to the side seam instead of the armhole but that was a fail (haven't had much luck with rotating darts in the front so far....). So next I tried lowering the armhole, and as I was about to recut a muslin of the front, I remembered that I did, in fact, have some (free) left over pink fun fur from a recent stuffed animal project, so I cut my new front in it.

Once sewn up, the extra fabric and armhole gap were still there but it didn't look as bad as on the cotton muslin. I managed to remove the excess almost completely by doing a sloping shoulder adjustment and taking in a bit at the front side seam just under the armhole.

I'm really glad I had the opportunity to try the adjusted pattern on the fun fur. It worked out great as the nap of the pink fur is pretty similar to that of the faux-fur I'm planning on using (i.e fairly long), so I can expect this to be quite accurate with what the final garment will look like. Also, I wasn't sure if the flaws showing on the cotton muslin would show more with the fur (due to thickness) or less or the same, and now I have my answer: small wrinkles definitely show less, thanks to the thickness, and although main flaws are just as obvious, it was easier to find a satisfying fix with the fur rather than spending more time tweaking the regular muslin.

I've made all the adjustments to the pattern now and I can't wait to actually cut into my faux-fur...

My Vest featured on Burdastyle!

How awesome (and a bit confusing at first) to click on my Burdastyle bookmark and see my vest on the front page! Thank you Burdastyle!

Finished Project: Stripe Vest (picture Heavy!)

This is vest 125B from Burda Magazine October 2010. The pattern has illustrated instructions, which I found mildly useful. There’s always a bit of deciphering involved with BOWF patterns but with a bit of experience and common sense it’s not that complicated.

As soon as I saw it I knew I had the right fabric in my stash to make it.
The fabric is an end of roll purchased back in Paris a few years ago. It’s %100 wool. It's really soft and warm. I originally considered making a long skirt but when I saw this pattern I fell in love. I can’t help it, I love vests….

The lining is a cotton/silk blend also purchased in Paris. I had 3 meters of it so I have plenty left for possibly more linings and maybe a blouse (not sure yet if I would like to wear this on the outside).

I made a muslin for the vest a little while ago. It’s a “petite” pattern and I haven’t had much luck with those in the past (remember this jacket, and the dress from here). But this time around I managed to make all the alterations I needed and I’m very satisfied with the result.

I cut the facing on the cross-grain as I liked the stripe orientation better

I added 2 inches to the length, made a small back alteration, moved the back darts and made a small bust adjustment to the princess seams.
On the original pattern the hem is straight (parallel to the ground), but after sewing the back it still felt too short, so I kept the front a bit longer (only kept 1.5 cm hem allowance at center front), so the sides slant a bit, which I like. I do wish it was a tad bit longer (maybe an inch), but I already love it as is.

Instead of making ties in self fabric as the pattern instructed, I purchased some navy grosgrain ribbon, which brings out the hint of blue in the grey of the fabric.

This project came together surprisingly fast (for my records anyway). The longest part was the cutting: it took me 3 hours because I had to figure out the stripe placement and matching at the princess seams – even though it wouldn’t match everywhere, I wanted to find the best possible match, so I cut all front pieces and facing separately. instead of cutting the collar pieces on the fold I added a center back seam to be able to match the stripes in with the rest of the vest in the front.
Another design detail I chose was to cut the back yoke on the cross-grain so that the stripes would be horizontal and bring some interest to the back.

Buttons are, as usual, from Button Buttons. The second longest part was hand-sewing the front hem, the lining front edge as well as the 13 (!) buttons (12 in the front and 1 hidden on the facing). Once again I went to Spool of Thread to make the buttonholes. Totally worth the $4 spent there (for ½ hour).

When I first put it on after sewing everything together, I noticed some excess fabric along the princess seams between the shoulder and the bust, but even that was super easy to fix.

All together, this project only took about 15 hours total (muslin not included) spread over two weeks. I only took out my seam ripper a couple of times (another record).

So aside from my Sorbetto, this is probably my easiest project to date. And dare I say – it might be my favorite me-made garment so far. This vest just looks so great (to me anyway). It goes perfectly with jeans, which are my go-to pants 80% of the time (and especially with my above $5 skinny Levi’s from ValueVillage!) but I’m pretty sure it would go great over a dress or with a skirt…

This project totally gave me a sewing moral boost. Next up: a spring blouse inspired by this one, for which I might have to do a lot of drafting myself!

Sneak Peek: Vest BWOF 01-2009-124

I'm almost done with my vest ! It is the following pattern from BWOF January 2009:

All I have left to do is finish the bound button-holes on the lining side, sew the buttons on and close the center seam of the lining.

I made a slight alteration to the pattern by redrafting the neckline to be a bit rounder and wider (though looking at the burda photo, the difference isn't really obvisous).

For the lining, I used a piece of fabric that I got at Fabricana. It's was also a roll remnant but I got a larger piece of the same fabric from a new roll with the intention to make a dress.
Using it for lining was a good way to get an idea of how to handle it. I'm not so sure that I want to use the bigger piece for the dress anymore. It's polyester, and it's got major static. It also frays BIG TIME, so much so that I zigzag-stitched all the edges, even though it's on the inside of the lining and won't show, by fear that it would fray up to the seams and the whole thing would eventually fall apart...

The overall construction was pretty straight-forward and din't present any difficulty.
The only tricky part was attaching the lining to the outside. While keeping the center seam of the lining partly open, you're supposed to sew both layers, right sides together, around all the edges and then turn the vest back to the right side by reaching through the lining opening. Sewing the shoulder seams for both the outside and the lining, requires a bit of attention if you don't want to sew the wrong parts together.

This is the shoulder seam from the inside. All you can see is the fraying ? My point exactly...

Also, I realized I really need to get some proper pressing tools. A sleeve board and a few wooden spoons are ok, but not enough to get perfectly pressed seems, especially as you get more edges sewn together and it becomes harder to get anything between the layers. And it's a lot of back and forth between the iron and the machine as you want to press each seam before you sew the next one, otherwise you won't be able to press anything.

I also decided at the last minute that I wanted to do bound button-holes. I followed Gertie's very clear tutorial. The process is very similar (if not identical) to making welt pockets except much smaller. I used scraps of black polyester lining instead of the organza. To figure out the positionning, I cut little pieces of paper of the size of the button-hole and placed them on the vest lying flat, then I pinned them on and put the vest on to check the position on the worn garment. Then I hand-basted around the paper with contrasting thread so that the positioning would be visible on the wrong side.

The whole process would have been way easier if I'd made them before attaching the lining, but like I said it was a last-minute decision. In the end think I did pretty well.
Hopefully by the end of next week I'll be completely done and able to post final photos...