I don’t usually go for the flashy and the fur but I had a chalet theme holiday party to attend, so why not? I went downtown and found myself a half yard of nice faux fur. There are so many not nice faux furs that when I saw this one at a random tiny shop in the LA fabric district, I just snatched it up. A half yard was just enough to make a vest and fur boot covers and I think it was only $15. It was so much fun to wear the fur that I wore the set a second time for another holiday party. I never knew before that fur is really a great addition to a winter wardrobe. It kept me warm and completed the winter chalet look to perfection. I actually want to wear it on non-party days too.
Handling the fur wasn’t too bad but it was a little challenging. I solicited tips on Instagram and did a bunch of research before I got started. First off, you have to make sure you cut everything right side up. You don’t want your fur hanging the wrong way. Then when you cut your fur, you want to be careful not to cut through the layers of fur that are hanging down from the fabric up above. This is especially important at the hemline. Most people recommend using a razor blade to cut fur. I tried it but couldn’t cut easily with my blade. It might have been too dull. I found that cutting very carefully with scissors worked best. I just kept the scissors right next to the fabric and cut a little bit at a time. As long as you don’t move the bottom blade below the hairs, it should work just fine.
For the vest, I loosely followed this tutorial by Sew Caroline. I drafted my own pattern, just estimating the measurements. I initially wanted a crewneck style but after trying it on decided that it was too bulky looking. So I trimmed the front to make a v-neck. I wanted to do as little hand stitching as possible so I attempted to stitch around the neck, front opening and hem then turn right side through the armholes. The problem came at the hem and all that fur. Machine stitching catches the fur that hangs down into the stitching line and it’s really hard to pull it loose. At the side seams it’s easy enough to pull out the extra fur that is caught in the seam line but at the hem it was a major pain in the caboose. I tried more times than I should and wasted a lot of hours. In the end I hand stitched the hem to the lining. Then turned it right side out and stitched the armholes by hand as well. If I make one again, I’d love to have a pocket at the side seam or on the interior.
Here I’m wearing a vintage raglan sleeve trapeze dress that I found at the thrift store years ago. It’s one of my all time favorite dresses. It’s super comfortable to wear but I still feel put together and fancy without being too revealing. The second time I wore the fur set, I wore a different thrift store little black dress and it worked just as well. Come to think of it, I might need to add another LBD to the wardrobe. Did you make anything to wear this holiday season?
P.S. Stay tuned to the blog for more info on the boot covers. I'll post a basic tutorial for those soon. And if you want to stay up to date on all my posts, follow on bloglovin.
