4 essential tips for sewing faux fur

Yesterday I highlighted the 7 stellar features of the Oliso Pro TG1600 Smart Iron – the new love in my quilting life.

Today I have 4 great tips for sewing with faux fur. I have a simple yet stylish project for you later this week, but before I start, there are essential tips I need to share with you, because, spoiler alert, I’ll be using faux fur this week! I’m sure these tips will help you achieve professional results without any wild panic attacks and without turning your quilting space into a furry mess.

For my special project, I used Fabric Creations Mink Faux Fur. I love the soft texture, and it’s so easy to create with. I tested the faux fur earlier this year while demonstrating how to add a zipper in a previous post. Even after several months, including kids’ pillow fights and accidental pop spills, the faux fur still looks fantastic. But do keep in mind it’s made of 22% acrylic and 78% polyester; you’ll need to hand wash your project in cold water and hang to dry.

Now here are my 4 tips when working with faux fur:

1- Beware when opening the package. You’ll find loose fur when opening the package, so be sure to open it in an area where it won’t be difficult to clean. I like to open the packages and shake the faux fur over the bathtub to make it easier to clean.

2- Find the direction of the fur. It’s helpful to mark an arrow on the back for the faux fur fabric to ensure that you are cutting the pattern and sewing it together correctly. Making a pillow for a first faux fur project is a great idea as there’s no stress if the fur is going in the wrong direction, but it will be problematic in tomorrow’s project. Marking is a cinch since the backing is an extra thick knit, which means that using any marker won’t show through.

3- Cut faux fur with scissors. It’s likely the only time I will tell you to leave your rotary cutter behind! I like using my medium-sized KAI 5’’ scissors. They provide precision when making small snips on the backing while avoiding cutting the fur. It takes a little more time compared to using a rotary cutter, but you’ll have a nice fur pile extending around the seams of your projects.

4- Sewing faux fur. You have two options when sewing faux fur. In both cases, I recommend using Wonder Clips instead of pins, as the thickness of the fur will distort your fabric when pinned. I also recommend using a walking foot to ensure both pieces move smoothly under the foot when sewing, and also use a heavier needle and thread. I also recommend placing painter’s or masking tape along the back edge of your faux fur before sewing to prevent the knit fabric from stretching while being sewn.

Since faux fur edges won’t fray, you can opt to stitch along the edge of the fabric using a wide zigzag stitch or use a ½” seam allowance with a straight stitch. Because of the fabric thickness, ensure the stitch length is set at least to 3.5 in either case.

If you sew along the edge with a zigzag stitch, be sure to tuck the fur pile away from the edge. If you have a seam allowance, you’ll have to finger-brush the fur pile to make it go as naturally as possible, then trim the fur as close to the backing as possible within the seam allowance to reduce the bulkiness.

If you need to trim excess fur, I recommend using strong tape to cover the seam allowance before you start to cut. This will make it less messy… you’ll thank me for it!

I hope you’ve found my 4 tips to sew faux fur helpful. Now go and get your own Fabric Creations Mink Faux Fur and practice making a stylish pillow. I’ll be back tomorrow with my special project. I can’t wait to show you!

This is part 2 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 1: What’s so hot about the Oliso Pro TG1600 Smart Iron

Go to part 3: DIY shaggy tuffet in a day!