Two Tone Faux Fur Playa Coat

Here's my latest faux fur coat, in deep purple and black.  I started with McCalls pattern 5092 (medium), but I altered it enough that I'm not sure you'd consider it the same pattern anymore.  

The purple is much deeper and richer in person; my camera just can't seem to photograph this color right!  It's got two pockets, a wide hood, and two pairs of hooks to clasp the front.  It's fully lined in black and oh-so comfy and warm.  The cut is a full swing coat with dolman sleeves.  Because I designed the hood from scratch, I had to cut the hood three times before I was happy with it.  The first hood was totally the wrong shape and the nap was going straight down which made it look funny in the front.  The second one, I fixed the shape, and I cut it with the nap pointing straight back, which created this funny duck-butt looking seam in the back.  The third time, I finally got the right shape and the nap going down and back diagonally. 

I also sewed the hem twice to get it to drape properly, but in the end, it turned out just as I envisioned it.  I'm shipping it out to it's new owner today.

Fuzzy Hoodie Suit with Ears Horns and Tail

I just finished my first full body suit.  It's made out of faux fur with a polyester cuddle fabric lining. With all of its furry goodness, it reminds me of a cross between an abominable snowman costume and something from "Where the Wild Things Are." It has a hoodie-type hood with horns and ears.   This was a commissioned piece, completely made to order.

I started with a muslin mock up made from Simplicity Pattern 2853, size small, plus I added a two piece hood.   I also lengthened the sleeves and pants to be too long for the fitting.  My client and I arranged for a fitting of the mock up.  With him dressed in the muslin suit, inside out, I added a bunch of safety pins to fit the suit to his build.  I pinned the cuffs and pant hems, I took in the width of legs significantly, and also in the hips, waist and a little in the chest.  I drew on the placement of the side seam pockets and the inside patch pockets exactly where he wanted them.  I also marked where the bottom of the opening should start.  Then he got out of the suit, and I penciled where the seam should be as identified by the pins, removed the pins, ripped the muslin apart into its component pieces, transferred the markings to the paper pattern, added seam allowances back in, and my pattern was ready to go.

With the pattern in hand, I cut out the lining and fake fur, trimmed all of the fur out of the seam allowances, and serged all of the pieces including the lining.  I sewed the fur pieces together and all of the lining pieces together.  Then I added ears, horns, and a tail.

Normally, with a fur coat, I machine sew the lining to the fur, right sides together, up one side of the front lapel, across the shoulders, and down the other side.  This leaves just the bottom hems and cuffs to finish by hand.  However, because the particularities of this suit, I decided to finish everything entirely by hand.  It's more work, but I have much more control when hand sewing, so I could finish all of the corners neatly.  Adding the lining by hand required that I cross stitch all of the hems of the fur around both cuffs, pant hems, and the whole front opening (including hood).  You can see the cross stitching in many of the photos below.  I also added five extra-large hook and eye clasps along the front opening. It took me a few tries to figure out a good way to start adding the hooks, but if you look at the photo below, you can see the first two stitches that are adequate to anchor the hook efficiently.

Here's what a hook looks like after it's sewn, before it's covered with the lining.

I was worried that the fabric would rip at the bottom of the front opening, so I added a patch of flannel (it matches the pockets) with multiple rows of stitching across its width, an a tons of knots.

I also cross stitched down the seam allowance where the hood meets the neckline, under the arm pits, and at the crotch.  I did this to reduce bulk.  This photo shows an armpit.

Then, I added the lining.  In addition to stitching all around the openings, I also tacked the lining to the fur in the bottom third of the arm hole seam, on the crotch seams, and where the hood meets the neckline.  I added my tag and it's done!  Here you can see where the lining meets the fur at the front opening.

Today, the suit's new owner came over to try it on and he let me take photos.  Yeah.  We were both very happy with the fit, and he was amazed that the seams blended right in.  He couldn't even feel them.  I really enjoyed this project and we are both super happy with the results.  I put a little piece of my heart and my best workmanship skills into making this suit, inspired by the vision and enthusiasm of my client.  I joked that it's industrial strength, a family heirloom, so he can stay warm on the Playa at Burning Man, in his new fuzzy suit for many, many years to come.

Crochet Hats and Wristies

I've been having way too much fun lately with my spinning wheel and a crochet hook. I decided that my sweetie and I needed matching hats and wrist warmers to keep us extra toasty on the Playa. I started with two different rovings in lime green, orange, and yellow. The shades of the colors were different in the two rovings, which is how I created these rich color variations. I dyed one of the rovings with Wilton's cake dyes (shown earlier) and purchased the other from Cloudlover69.

I spun four full bobbins of thick-and-thin singles, about 7 ounces total. I used a little more than half for the hat, and the rest for the gloves. I got the idea for the hat from Lexi Boeger's book Intertwined. It's the Urban Hobbit Hat. Lexi's idea for this hat is to assign a different stitch for each color. I used single crochet for green, half double and double crochet for yellow, and bobbles in orange. When I made the gloves, though, I omitted all of the bobbles on the palm of the hand, thought they'd just get in the way.

Here's what the set looks like with the fake fur jacket I made.

My sweetie and I are both quite partial to orange and lime, but I made this set for him. Since he kept claiming I'd wear the hat more than he does, I had to make another set for myself.




This one uses a blue roving from Chimera and an aqua and pink one I died with Wilton's cake dyes that I showed earlier. For this set, I decided to change the texture as well as the color, so I ditched the bobbles, and I instead used puffs in blue and bullions in pink, along with lots of single and half double crochet. I also added some ties to keep it on my head in the wind. To make the ties, I knit I-cord with two stitches in each row, and then switched to a crochet hook to make a big old stuffed bobble at the ends. Now, I need to go back and add ties to the orange hat. What I learned: I finally learned how to make a bullion in crochet. They're super squishy and feel nice. I learned that wristies fit better when you add a few stitches around the thumb before going onto the wrist part. In the orange set, I crocheted back and forth to create the thumb hole, but in the blue pair, I just added a few stitches around the thumb instead. Adding stitches was easier and the glove fits better.

Now for the the artsy shots.



I really love the texture you can get with thick-and-thin singles.