Hello everyone,
I’ve been excited to post about this make for a while as I made it early December and I’ve been in love with it ever since! I wrote this up for the Simple Sew blog but wanted to share it here too!
To be honest I have wanted a cropped faux fur jacket since my teens – probably since watching ‘Clueless’ and this pattern is perfect for that style! I love the shape and simplicity of it – it’s very versatile and could be made up in all sorts of fabrics but here is my pink faux fur version – with added lining… which, I think, makes it a really fun reversible jacket too!!
Myself and my friend, Claire decided to get together and tackle faux fur and help each other through something that seems rather scary to take on – it’s really not, but having my hand being held through it was an enormous help. I had some yellow faux fur that I was going to make this in but then Claire bought this baby pink for me to use and it was a lot more sturdy and so cute, naturally it went straight to the cutting table!
Claire is very much a fountain of knowledge on all things sewing and she taught me about trimming the seam allowances before sewing – as mine is a fine, short pile I actually didn’t do this for all the seams but I can understand that for any thicker, longer fur you definitely should. We tried mini razors, even an electric one for… ahem… lady parts (!) but actually found that using little scissors were the best for this!
Anyway the pattern sews up so quickly – there are only 3 pattern pieces, front bodice, back bodice (on fold) and the sleeve so it’s a super quick make. There are darts in the bust and here’s my top tip (from Claire originally of course!) – when sewing fur on darts and seams – use an awl to pull back out the fur after then you can’t see the stitching line.
Actually – if you do want to know more on sewing with faux fur – we filmed a lot of it for one of my vlogmas videos:
The only thing I really changed in this pattern is I started by adding on an inch either side of the front bodice so I could join them BUT then when I tried it on I decided that it was much more flattering and ‘me’ to do the total opposite and ended up taking 3 inches off again so I guess 2in off the original pattern! I LOVE it like this!
The other major change was to add a lining – which isn’t in the original pattern but so easy to do for this make. I cut out the same pieces in my lining material (a shiny harlequin poly I’ve had in my stash for years!) taking the extra bit off the bodice and then bagged it out totally, right sides together – leaving a gap to turn it through on the hem. I then sewed up the opening – which I would recommend a slip stitch by hand – but I haven’t gotten round to that bit yet! I had to finish it quickly to wear to a sewing party so I used matching thread on my sewing machine instead… but I WILL unpick this and hand stitch closed at some point as it would look and sit much better!
When I tried it on inside out I totally loved it and that’s why I am calling this a reversible jacket but I don’t expect everyone to agree!! 🙂
Anyway I love, love, love this jacket!!
Hope you do too and it inspires some more Simple Sew Jackie O’ Jackets!
Sew much love,
