The Peter and the Wolf Vests

***Cough cough*** is anyone out there? It has been a long while between blog posts, hasn't it? I just can't seem to keep my blog-jo going.

I've decided to return to blogland with the three Peter and the Wolf Vests I made for Little M, her cousin L and me recently. I saw an awesome faux fur vest in Country Road and wanted one for myself. I decided to investigate faux fur but couldn't find any nice stuff for a while. Recently I changed jobs again and now work up the road from The Fabric Store on Brunswick St. I happened to go there one lunch (well, maybe every lunch break that week) and found some gorgeous faux fur with a chevron print in the pile. I bought 1.2m and made two little girls' vests and one big girl's vest.

Here is mine:

Mine is an adapted version of this Japanese pattern (I can't remember the name of the book it comes from as I have lent the book to Leith. I lengthened the pattern by 20cm, curved the bottom edge a little more and didn't add seam allowances. I traced the size large - I would possibly go a bit smaller next time.

Here is M's (L's is the same but with different lining):

To make M's and L's, I used Figgy's Lux Vest. I followed Lara's suggestion to print out two of the pattern and join at the CB so you didn't need to cut the fur on the fold. I did this with mine too at the side seams.

Both patterns come together beautifully. A few tips I would definitely recommend when sewing with faux fur are (thanks to Anna for sharing some of these with me!):

• Have your dust buster and vacuum cleaner at the ready. I vacuumed six times over the course of making these.
• Push the fur away from the seam (so into the garment) when sewing. Then pick out the caught strands with your fingers or a pin. 
• Try and cut the underside of the fabric, rather than the fur itself. This keeps the pile intact more and also creates less mess. I wasn't that good at this.
• Don't wear black to sew with a light coloured fur. Let's just say my fave work out pants are still a bit furry. 
• Go slow. My machine handled this fine, but I went pretty slow. 
• Shake the garment out vigorously once you're finished. Watch the excess fur fly!!

I had so much fun making these. My sister has ordered one too - soon I'll have a little furry posse! M is very pleased with hers - asked me to wear mine when she was wearing hers the other day. I obliged, of course. She's too cute for me to get all weird about matching!

P.S. We saw an orchestral performance of Peter and the Wolf recently and wore our vests. Hence the name!