pamela powell : How do they do this? Faux fur

Shiatzy Chen is a Taiwanese based luxury fashion house who is referred to as the Chanel of Taiwan. They describe their style as “neo-Chinese chic”. The house has a flagship boutique in Paris and a growing number of stores though out China and Asia.

When I visited the Paris boutique I was inspired by all the beautiful silks,furs, embroideries, cut and finishing details. When I got home I wanted to sample as many different finishes as I could remember.

shiatzychen

Dress up, ladies. Let’s take a day trip to Paris 🥖with @kiwileehan

About the same time I visited the Saga Fur trunk show in NYC, where I saw this technique of fur striped with fabrics such as lace and organza.

I decided to work half scale and use a faux Persian Lamb or Astrakhan woven fabric mixed with a silk organza and Bemberg lining.

The first design detail was the pleats at the elbow of the three quarter length one piece sleeve, pleated at the elbow over the under arm seam . This was a technique used in the mid to late 1700's.

pleats over under arm seam

Top of the sleeve

First step is to recreate the sleeve using paper.

Cut the sleeve in two down the center line;
taped the under sleeve together and created
the pleats on the elbow line, the add one
above the elbow line and one below
the elbow line.

The finished sleeve pattern will look something
like this depending on the depth of the pleats .

Using a technique of striping the fur with organza to -
1, make the fur go further
2, to reduce the weight of the coat.
3, to create an interesting design detail.

Decide the width of the fur stripe and the width of the organza stripe. Mark these stripes onto the pattern pieces; label all the pattern pieces before cutting the pattern pieces along these lines; add seam allowance to all the cut lines.

Cut out the fur and organza fabrics. Sew the stripes together alternating the fur and organza stripes.

Sew together the body of the coat. Press the seam allowances towards the fur. Fold the seam allowance down the front edge of the coat to the wrong side and baste stitch to hold in place. Make and attach the Mandarin collar.

Roll under the seam allowance on the organza down the side seams and under arm seam of the sleeves. Hand stitch in place using a small slip stitch.

Cut out the lining fabric only using the fur pattern pieces. Press the seam allowances to the wrong side of the lining. Hand stitch to the back of all the fur stripes. Attach the sleeves and bind the seam allowance to finish