Grey days ahead: Burda 09-2009-123

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful suggestions last post. Some great ideas that I will explore further.

My neighbour Jenni was right - I really DID want to make myself a faux fur waistcoat. For me, sewing is a hobby - I make pretty much anything I feel like. I can't bring myself to sew anything that doesn't intrigue me in some way: hey, that's what shops are for. Of course, I need to remind myself of this frequently. Because frequently I go shopping and think, "what! a hundred bucks for a merino top, I could make myself one of these for $20." That's when I need to take myself firmly in hand and say, "yes, but you won't make yourself one for $20. You'll make yourself another coat. Just you wait and see." So far I have been right. So far, I have a coat for every day of the week and am steadily progressing towards one for every day of the month.

You know, fun fur is a bit of a misnomer for this kind of fabric, because so far I'd put it top of my list of things not to sew when you're tired and frazzled. The presser foot gets stuck on the bulk and slides all over the show, it also drags on the faux suede side. I had better luck with movement when I switched to a walking foot but I still had a hard time sewing a straight seam.

If I wasn't so proud I'd show you the mess under the collar but I like to maintain the illusion that I am a sewer in control.

I am going to put some rivets to attach the ties to hold it closed. It's just still a little too warm so I'm wearing it open, but the thick fabric doesn't want to lie flat on the body. Here's the technical view which shows the ties: (courtesy of their website)



This is a really fun little waist coat. I can see myself getting lots of wear out of it - at first I was worried that with all the grey in my hair, and my skin which is also losing pigment, that it would pale me out too much. But there's a kind of resonance in repeating the colours of the body, so I think it looks OK.

I did have trouble sourcing the fabric, because although there is a lot of faux fur on the market this time of year, there's not much that also has the faux suede backing, which is necessary for this style.

You can see I diverted the FBA to a dart in the shoulder. I didn't want a side dart, because I wanted to preserve the vertical lines of fur. I thought about converting to princess seams, but as anyone who ever has to make 2 darts because of an FBA will sympathise, sometimes you really just want to make up the pattern as close to the original as possible. I shortened them as much as I could without causing a ridge.



The back: all I needed to do was shorten the darts.



Costings: Faux fur with faux suede backing on special at Smart Dress Fabrics $25, tracing paper $1, thread 50c = $26.50