Hello again, and welcome to the final tutorial in this series about how to make your own striped fur jacket based on Simplicity pattern 8741. At this point we have all of our fabric cut and we’re ready to sew! Watch the video below or continue past it to read all about it!
Let’s start with the easy part – the lining.
I’m using a scrap of the lining fabric to test my stitch length and tension. This fabric is pretty flimsy so I’m loosening the tension and shortening the stitch length until it doesn’t pucker up any more.
Now, just like we did with the fit sample, I’m going to pin and sew the sleeves, shoulders, and side seams.
On one of the side seams I’m only going to sew a few inches at the top, and a few inches at the bottom, leaving a large opening at the side.
Press your seams open, including the side seam with the opening. Now flip the sleeves so they’re right-side-out and keep the body of the lining inside-out. Pin the sleeves into the armscye, matching seams, notches, and drill hole markings, just like we did for the fit sample. Sew the sleeves into the lining and then set it aside while we put the fur pieces together.
I’m going to trim away the pile from the seam allowance of each of the fur pieces. Using a pointed scissor, dig the blade into the fur and carefully cut the pile away, leaving the backing and just a short stubble of fur.
I only cut in 1/4” to 3/8”, I try not to cut the entire half inch seam allowance away because I don’t want to have any bald spots at the seams.
You might be thinking, “Wow, that sounds like a big f*cking pain in the *ss.” Uhh… yeah. It is.
After an hour or two of that, all of my pieces are trimmed and I can sew them together more easily.
Starting with the front pieces, pin two pieces together, matching the stitch line. Notice I’m not matching the tips of the fabric, I’m matching 1/2” down where the stitching is going to be.
Sew the fur pieces together one piece at a time, and push the pile back into the seam as you sew so you don’t sew over it. Well, not as you sew. Stop sewing, do a little tucky, then resume sewing when your fingers are out of danger’s way!
You will probably need to increase the stitch length a little to help it through the machine.
Press each seam open with a press cloth as it’s sewn. I have my iron on the wool setting. Test some fur scraps to make sure they can handle the heat.
When you get to the pieces with a chevron, pin the edges and the center of the points together at the stitch line.
When you sew these pieces together, stop with the needle down right at the point intersection. Raise the presser foot and use a small scissor to snip into the seam allowance of the V, up to about 1/8” away from the needle.
Now you can pivot the pieces and continue sewing.
Then trim away the seam allowance of the other side of the V so you can press it open.
Soon you will have complete jacket sections again, and you can pin the sleeve inseams, shoulders, and side seams. Pin near the start of each stripe to match the seams.
By now the seams are getting pretty thick, so I’m pressing the fabric firmly against the needle plate to try to compress it and help the machine take it in. I also increased my stitch length again.
Press the seams open. Then flip the sleeves right-side out and pin them into the armscye. Take your time sewing the sleeves into the body – stitch slowly and help feed the fabric into the machine without forcing it.
Now that our piles of fur resemble a jacket, try it on and see how you like it so far. I decided the plain sleeve cap breaks up the stripe at the shoulder too much, so I’m going to add a little green tip to continue the stripe.
I’m opening up the sleeve, measuring where the stripe should start and end, checking it against the pattern and spacing from the other stripe, and I’m splitting the difference so it’s not too far off from the rest of the pattern. I marked out the pattern on the sleeve cap, added seam allowance, and cut the excess.
Then I cut the piece from green fur, pinned, and stitched it on each sleeve cap.
I closed the sleeve back up and voila’, unbroken stripe.
Another thing I decided on was to have the center front butt together instead of overlap like the pattern suggests. So I tried it on and pinned the front back until it met comfortably.
I pinned through the fold so I can take out the pins and mark the center front. It’s about 1.25” so I’m marking that on both sides of the front.
Now we can pin the lining into the jacket. Pin along the neckline, center fronts, and hem, matching seams. I taped the front pattern pieces back together so I could mark exactly where the stripes should be hitting on the lining. This way they will line up when it’s sewn.
I’m also marking where I want the hooks and eyes to go. These are fur hooks, they’re extra large so you can find them in your fur garment, and covered in yarns so they blend in.
For women’s clothes, put hooks on your right side, eyes on your left (if the jacket is for a man just reverse them).
I want to insert them into the lining instead of sewing them on top of the fabric, which is something I’ve never done before. Sew the lining and jacket body together. When you get to the marks for the hooks, stop stitching 1/8” before the mark and back-tack. Then start stitching again 1/8” below the mark, being sure to back-tack again. On the left front piece you want to leave 1/4” on each side of the mark because the eyes are larger than the hooks. I didn’t do that, so I had to go back and re-stitch each opening. Learn from my mistake!
Now I can cut away the extra fabric at center front and trim the fur back in the seam allowance, and snip the corners down to about 1/8” away from the stitch line. You can also snip the seam allowances out of the seams to reduce bulk. And snip the seam allowance at the curve of the neck so it can fold back without puckering.
I serged the neck and hem so the seam allowance is nice and tight. I also pushed the lining aside at center front and serged just the fur. I leave long tails from the serger and use a blunt needle with a large eye to thread the tails through the serged edge to finish it.
I like a lot of control on my seams, so I’m going to hand sew the seam allowance of at the neckline down onto the body, and the right center front where the hooks will go.
Now we can start inserting the hooks.
It’s going to be hard to sew the hooks into the jacket, so use some binding tape looped through the hook to make it easier.
Slide the hook through the opening in the seam so that it’s hooking through the lining like shown above. Feel or look inside to position it at the edge of the jacket, and then pin the tape to the fur backing. After they’re pinned you can hand-sew them in place.
On the other side I’m inserting the eye, and then I’m going to hand-tack in the middle through the seam opening so it doesn’t pull back into the jacket and get lost. Then I’m positioning it so it sticks out about 1/4” and sewing it onto the seam allowance of the jacket. After those are sewn, you can sew the entire center front down.
Now let’s sew the sleeve hem. First sew the edge of the shoulder seams of the lining onto the shoulder seams of the fur. Then turn the jacket right-side-out using the hole in the lining. Work it slowly so you don’t pop any stitches. I use my thumbs to push the fabric through, starting from one side to the other. Once you’ve got it flipped, push the lining into the sleeves. Reach your arm into the sleeve and feel the seam of the lining to make sure it’s not twisted. Then fold the sleeve edges of the fur and lining down inside the jacket and reach through the hole in the lining to grab those edges. Pull the sleeve edges through the hole without losing hold. Now pin them together around the sleeve opening. Repeat for the other sleeve and sew them together. Go ahead and serge them too.
Try the jacket on and see how it’s looking. I like to adjust the sleeve length and hem so it’s laying nice, then pin at the seam and hand-sew the seam allowances down like we did at the neck and center fronts.
Now there are just a few little finishing details left.
I want to do a swing tack at the underarm seams, so get a needle and thread, and knot the thread so it’s doubled over. Stitch through the underarm seam on the fur and knot the thread. Then begin another stitch, put your fingers through the loop, and grab the thread from the needle. Pull that thread through the loop and tighten the loop around it, creating a new loop. You’re making a thread chain! Keep pulling and tightening new loops until you have about a half inch of chain. Then put the needle through the last loop to tie it off. Knot this around the underarm seam allowance of the lining. Repeat for the other side of the jacket.
Now we just need to close the lining. You can do this on a machine but I usually prefer to do it by hand. Make little stitches through the folded edges of the lining, overlapping into the machine stitching a little to secure it, then knot it off.
Give the lining a quick press with a press cloth and enjoy your new jacket!
I hope this tutorial has been fun and that you’ve learned a few things from it.
There are so many ways you can customize this jacket further. You can change the size of the stripes so they have a fading effect. You can use three colors, or a whole rainbow! You can change the pattern of the stripe to anything you want.
Did you make a variation of this jacket? How did you customize it? What colors did you use? Share in the comments!
