Welcome back! In the last tutorial I showed you how to prepare and sew the fit sample for this jacket using Simplicity 8741. Now let’s fit it! You can watch the video below, or continue past that and read all about it 🙂
So we have our fit sample, and I already know I want to make this a cropped jacket. I want it to hit right around my natural waist. Sleeve length is good where it is, and I can bend my arms with plenty of room in there for more winter layers.
Fitting on yourself is tedious. There is a lot of on and off with the garment to pin and re-pin until you get it right. With the jacket shortened I see the back flares out a lot. I like the oversized look, but the back is too much. I’m going to take it in.
With fittings and pattern alterations there’s always going to be cause and effect. Keep an eye on what else is changing when you make an alteration. When I took in the back I noticed that the center front is laying off-center now. So I’m pinching out a bit at the front shoulder to bring it back to center.
See how it’s laying straight again? But that makes the neck come up too high, so I’m going to put a pin where I want the neck to come down to.
I was going to mark the lines for the stripes on the fit sample, but I’d rather see it in the fur so I decided to do it flat on the table. I cut the green fur into strips and laid them out in different patterns to see what I liked best. I decided on 4” black fur and 1 1/4” of green fur.
Now that we have a plan for the style lines, let’s get back to our pattern. I’m marking all of the alterations with a Frixion pen, so mark where the hem ends, where the front neck is dropping to, mark on both sides of the pin at the neck, and both sides of the center back pins.
The hem is coming up 2.5”, so I can mark that out on my pattern. I know I need a half inch seam allowance too, so I’m only marking out 2” on the pattern.
I pinned out 3.5” at the center back, so I will mark the pattern half of that because it’s on the fold. So I’m taking it in 1 3/4” at the bottom to 0 at the neck seam line, which is a half inch below the paper edge.
Now with the new center back, the bottom hem is not straight anymore, so I’m adjusting it back to a 90 degree angle. Go ahead and cut those pattern revisions.
I measured how much was pinned out of the shoulder, marked that on my pattern to 0 at the shoulder seam, and cut it out. Then I measured and marked where the neck should drop, re-drew the curve, and cut that too.
Since I didn’t draw the style lines when I had on the fit sample, I’m putting my fur mockups on the pattern piece and marking it here. Now I can see where approximately I want the stripes to start, so I can mark them more accurately with a ruler.
I have drawn two lines 1.25” apart, then measure down 4” to draw the next 1.25” stripe.
Continue down the front body and then transfer one of the stripes to the back pattern piece by putting the back on top of the front and tracing where the lines are at the side seam.
Then continue the lines up the body like we did on the front.
On the sleeve I’m folding it along the middle based on the center drill hole because I’m going to make a chevron down that line. Then I lined up the sleeve inseam and the body side seam to mark where the first stripe of the torso is. Then trace the line onto the back of the sleeve, double check against the back pattern piece, and then finish drawing the stripe.
Continue the stripes up and down the sleeve in the same way as the body stripes. At the sleeve cap the stripes get too awkward because of the curves, so those won’t line up exactly.
Before we cut the pattern pieces apart we should cut the lining. I’m using this chevron print satin. Line up the pattern pieces along the grain line of the fabric and cut, notch, and mark drill holes.
On the sleeve I’m adding a half inch at the hem because I liked the length of the fit sample and I don’t want it to get shorter with the seam turned up.
One more thing before we cut the pattern apart is to label or number each section. I like to color code them, so black sharpie for the black fur pieces, and green sharpie for the green fur pieces.
At last we can cut the pattern apart and start marking the fur!
First check your fur and mark the direction of the pile on the back. You don’t want to cut the fur out upside down!
Since I cut my pattern piece at the style lines, I’m making sure to add a half inch seam allowance to each piece as I mark it. I’m marking with a sharpie and labeling each piece.
The sleeve and front pieces need a mirror of each piece so I mark the mirror piece with an X to keep them separated. If you’re using a light color fur make sure the sharpie doesn’t bleed through at all.
When you’re ready to cut the fur, if your fur has a stable backing you can use an Xacto knife like I’m using. It’s faster than scissors and doesn’t usually cut through the pile. If the Xacto knife doesn’t work for your fur and you have to use scissors, just be sure to dig the blade of the scissor under the pile and cut just the backing fabric. After I cut each piece I pull firmly at the edges to remove the loose fur. This helps keep your work area a little cleaner.
Repeat this process for the second color of fur, and third if you’re getting really ambitious!
Finally, everything is cut! That’s enough for today, we’ll sew this fur baby together in the next tutorial.
The first time I worked with fur was to make fur bikinis for a runway show when I was a teenager. It was an odd choice, but it wasn’t mine.
Have you worked with fur before? What did you make? Share in the comments below 🙂
