Free pattern: Make your own Kate Spade-inspired faux fur pullover!

Well, Selfish readers, you’re in for a treat today because Selfish has a prezzie for you! That’s right, it’s another freebie pattern to download, and all I ask in return is that you sign your soul over to me in the comments. Sweet deal, right? Today’s pattern is for a wacky outerwear garment inspired by the Kate Spade Victoria faux fur pullover. (You can read about my own version in my last post.)

 

The Selfish Seamstress pattern is size XS, but should be quite easy for someone with intermediate skills to modify it for larger sizes by adding the desired amount of additional width at the center of each piece (back, front, sleeve, and collar.) It has a straight, roomy silhouette, raglan 3/4 length sleeves (or actually maybe more like 2/3) with a dart at the top of the shoulder, and a wide funnel collar that can be folded over if desired. It is also fully lined. The Selfish version does not include the front kangaroo pocket of the original Kate Spade, but it should be easy to add if desired.

IMPORTANT TIPS:

• I highly recommend that you read up on how to cut and sew faux fur if you have never done so before. There are many resources available online. I put together a tutorial on BurdaStyle a few years ago that may be of use.
• Note that the seam allowances are included in the pattern, and that they are 3/8″ (1 cm), NOT the standard 5/8″ on most Big 4 patterns.
• The construction on this garment is extremely easy (just 4 pattern pieces!) but I have NOT INCLUDED INSTRUCTIONS. I therefore recommend this for advanced beginners or intermediates.
• Pay attention to the direction of the pile on the fur. For my own version, I have the pile on the body and collar running sideways (necessary for the direction of the stripes) and on the sleeves the pile runs towards the back (i.e. if you had your arms folded across your chest the fur on the forearms would be running downwards.)
• MAKE A MUSLIN AND TRY IT ON FOR FIT. You will be sad if your expensive faux fur garment does not fit. And yes, it’s a roomy pattern, but most faux fur does not stretch and the garment needs to be big enough that you can pull it on and off over your head, unless you plan to add a closure of some sort. (I don’t recommend sewing a zipper to the fur as the pile is likely to catch in the teeth unless you have some sort of buffer between the zipper and the fur.)

For my version, I used:

• About 1.5 yards of faux fur, 60″ wide
• About 1.25 yards of silk twill for the lining, 45″ wide

You can find good quality faux fur on Etsy, including Tissavel, and this brown faux mink with channels that looks from the picture a lot like the original Kate Spade fur (note: I have never purchased this and cannot vouch for its quality or texture). Gorgeous Fabrics and Emma One Sock often have nice quality faux fur as well. I got mine on eBay but it’s now sold out. You could stick with basic brown to be true to the original, but I could also see this garment working in a bunch of colors and textures, like a shaggy gray or cream Mongolian lamb (fun!), a silky black mink (classic!), a dusky gray-blue (edgy!), or leopard (trendy!) I mean, it’s a fur shirt.  Don’t take it too seriously :)

Ok, so, for those of you who are drooling over the notion of having your very own fluffy-chic Kate Spade Victoria-esque pullover, snag it now or head over to my Downloads page for this and other free patterns! It prints onto 18 sheets of US Letter or A4 paper that you’ll have to tape together. And again, I request payment in the form of souls, so please transfer ownership of them to me in the comments. Happy sewing and come back and show me what you make!

IMPORTANT: This work is my creation and my intellectual property, protected under a Creative Commons license. You may not use it for any commercial purposes, claim it as your own, or resell it (I’m looking at you, Geraldine/Lorriange.)

The Selfish Seamstress Kate Spade-Inspired Fur Pullover Sewing Pattern by The Selfish Seamstress is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Make your own Envy Scarf

The Envy Scarf is now complete and wrapped deliciously around my Selfish neck twice, but you’re going to have to wait for pictures. In the meantime, apparently the idea of knitting an entire scarf in fingering weight yarn appeals to some of you (clearly bored loners, much like the Selfish Seamstress herself). So to relieve you of your scarf envy over the Envy Scarf, or perhaps to inflict upon you the same mind-numbing boredom that I have just endured in making it (oh sorry, knitters, I meant “relaxing” and “therapeutic” means of “unwinding,” geez.), here is the very classic feather and fan pattern:

Cast on 78 stitches:

Row 1: K
Row 2: P
Row 3: K3, * (K2tog) 3 times,  (YO, K1) 6 times, (K2tog) 3 times. Repeat from * until 3 stitches remain. K3.
Row 4: K

Repeat all rows until desired length is reached. Bind off loosely.

For my scarf, I used a 4.5 mm circular needle and about 1 and 2/3 skeins of Lang Jawoll Magic in shade 99 (Greens), but you can use whatever you want, not only because gauge isn’t important, but also because… well, did you honestly think I would care?

Free pattern: Ballet skirt for grownups

[Note: The weather here just keeps getting colder and colder, and yet my outdoor photo shoot outfits keep getting skimpier and skimpier!]

The Selfish Seamstress has been described as “nitpicky,” so as you can imagine, ballet suits her just fine as a hobby.  She is therefore also very picky about her ballet skirts. If you have a perfect ballet body with perfectly long toothpicky ballet legs, you can get away with wearing just about anything to class. The Selfish Seamstress, however, has the short, squat muscular legs of a gynmast and therefore has experimented quite a bit to get the right flattering grown-up skirt for ballet class (for stage, anything goes.)

A ballet skirt for grown-ups can’t be too long – once it starts approaching knee length it it cuts the leg line making you look shorter and prevents the teacher from seeing what you’re doing with your turnout.  Also, the privilege of wearing a long skirt is often reserved for the teacher herself.  Unlike a ballet skirt for little kids, it can’t be ruffly or gathered or elastic waist.  For the Selfish Seamstress, the classic ballet wrap skirt is the only option she’ll consider. And it has to have minimal flare, again to lengthen the lines. So basically it has to be clean and simple and all business, but still pretty and elegant.  I’m even skeptical of the floral pattern I used in the skirt pictured above and would much have preferred solid black, but that’s all I had in my stash as I’m not much of a chiffon stasher.

A ballet skirt is just about one of the easiest things you can make (provided you can bear to work with sheers) – one piece and some ribbon and that’s just about it.  Nice since they usually run about $25 in a dance store (and never fit and hang the way I want them to!) If you’re going to make one for yourself or for the special dancer in your life (sigh, because some people will never learn), take my advice: polyester. Ballet clothes may look all dainty and delicate, but they are hardcore athletic gear that have to stand up to the rigors of ballet class, which means sweat and a lot of movement.  And it’ll be balled up in a ballet bag afterwards with dirty dance shoes and other sweaty clothes, so you want to be able to toss it into the machine or at least do a vigorous hand wash. Silk is a not a good idea.

The pattern for my simple ballet skirt for grown ups is available on my downloads page.  It’s tapered to be slightly longer in the back than in the front. It should fit most people, but ballet large is not the same as regular people large so I’ve specified it for XS-M to be on the safe side.  If you’re not sure, you can add a few inches through the center and it’ll just wrap a little more. So, here you go, dancers and people who sew for dancers – a pattern the perfect ballet skirt for grown-ups.  At least according to the Selfish Seamstress’s nitpicky standards.

P.S. Sigh. Since you asked, yes, you could make this for kids and teens too.