OK, readers, what would you say if I told you I went to the Salvation Army yesterday ("Family Day" -- 50% off most clothes) and found a terrific blue faux fur peacoat in my size for $4.99?
Put on your sunglasses, and behold!
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| Psychedelic plush lining! |
I looooove this coat; and you know how I feel about a bargain. Now lest you think this means I won't be making my own faux fur coat, think again. I'm going to use this one for inspiration and construction guidance. This coat was very simply put together, which gives me confidence.
Did I mention it even has the union label?
Now with this blue coat as a backup, and on a bit of a faux fur frenzy, I returned to the Garment District. I couldn't face the incense (and the chaos) at It's a Material World, and I remembered that the other place with an excellent selection of faux fur was the dreaded Nahir, at 242 West 39th Street. I've mentioned Nahir (which some think should be called Nadir due to its surly owner and questionable prices) before, but I've had success here in the past. Since I was on the south side of 39th Street, I checked some of the other fabric stores there that I generally don't go into, and I couldn't find faux fur for less than $20/yd, sometimes even more. I'm talking about heavyweight, quality stuff, not cheap craft fur.
I spent at least half an hour in Nahir. Their fur was $15/yd but when I told them I needed to walk around the block and think, they immediately lowered their price to $12 (This is a good strategy, imo). I made my purchase and that was that.
Now let me say that some of the fake fur at Nahir is gorgeous -- deep plushy, luxurious-looking minks, leopards, lynx, Persian lamb etc., in all kinds of fantasy colors. But I wanted something a little....tacky.
Voila!
This fur is a cross between sheared rabbit and a ratty old bathrobe and I love it. It has a deep pile and a pink undercoat. The best part of all is that the wrong side is bonded to what looks like ultrasuede rather than just your standard knit. That gives me a lot of options, like doing the sleeves suede-side out, for example.
For the collar, and perhaps the cuffs, I went for something more exotic. I don't know my ocelot from my snow leopard, but this fur, also with a pink cast, looked suitably over the top.
So here's my basic palette:
In my dreams I pull off something like this, but I may just keep it simple first time out.
This is the basic look I'm going for.
Last night I cut out my pattern, McCall's 2979, and today I'll experiment with seams, right sides, wrongs sides, etc. As I mentioned yesterday, I want this done by next Tuesday, so Cathy can wear it to a Valentine's Day party.
I'm good to go, friends.
Any thoughts about which side of the -- let's call it sheared rabbit -- should be outside and which inside? Do you think my choice is "pimpy" (I hate that term but I think you get what I mean) enough? I hope so.
Ready, Set, Faux!
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