Faux Fur Shrug

Back in November, I resolved to make a shrug from this vintage pattern (Advance 6184).

Now, the finished garment!

I did not originally intend to make this jacket so… fluffy. But then I found this fabric, and I couldn’t resist.

It’s an exceptionally soft and cozy faux fur, and it makes me feel over-the-top ridiculous in the best possible way. If you squint really hard, maybe you can imagine Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe in something similar (only real, obviously), accessorized with long white gloves and some sass.

Grace Kelly, Hola Magazine | Source
Marilyn Monroe | Source

Production Notes:

• Working with vintage patterns is sometimes tricky on account of what the heck are they even talking about. So I did what I usually do in such cases: I cut out the pattern pieces and put them together in the way that made the most sense to me.
• The fabric was mildly inconvenient to work with—it disintegrated a bit with every cut. I still might be inhaling fabric shreds.
• In this case, using a traditional lining fabric seemed completely counterproductive to me. Why turn the soft, warm, faux-furry goodness outwards towards the elements, only to place a shiny, cool-to-the-touch shell next to my skin? Crazy. Instead, I used the faux fur to line the shrug too. So much cozier this way!

I’m quite pleased with how this turned out, and I wore it—happy and snuggily—to a couple of black tie affairs that I attended in December (I know—la-dee-dah).

But it is also the kind of thing you can really only get away with around the holidays, when everyone goes about in a spiced-wine-induced haze of Good Will Toward Men, and velvet and lamé suddenly become acceptable life choices.

Glamour personified. If you squint really hard, maybe you can imagine that I’m not such a goober.