Ooh, faux fur!! A super easy tutorial to freshen up your décor

Ooh, faux fur!! A super easy tutorial to freshen up your décor

• 11.07.2013

We're all aware of the fur trend, right? Faux fur vests, furry throws, faux fur holiday décor... it's super fun!! I've been a fan of the plush white fur look for a while now... tossed over elegant chairs and ottomans in Elle Décor home tours... siiigh... Here's just a few examples:

Source: Rue Mag via my Pinterest

Source: The Everygirl via my Pinterest

Source: The Glitter Guide via my Pinterest

I could keep going through my inspiration pins, but I really ought to write the rest of this post. :/

So yay faux fur throws, right? But what if you could DIY?? 

I got this white faux fur that WholePort sent me ages ago, because I was into the trend and knew I wanted to do something with it for our home. I ended up folding it on top of the trunk under our console table, just to admire it at first, but then I realized that was a great place for it! But, it was just yardage, and had raw edges if you unfolded it, and I was worried about fuzzy pieces flying off if we moved it. And it's not like it was usable.

So, I decided to finally sew something with it, and here's the tutorial for you! So out of that fur, I made... a fur blanket!!! It's a super easy and fun project, but I need your help at the end!! You'll have to advise me on the last (optional) step. I could use some inspiration.

Faux Fur Throw Tutorial

This project is super easy and involves almost no cutting. You can do it on your office floor, like I did! Bonus!

You will need:

• Faux fur (WholePort sent me mine, 1.5 yards of 66+" wide. You could do up to 2 or 3 yards though!)
• Backing fabric (either the same width or wider as your fur, in which case you'll need just a tiny bit more yardage, or, if it's narrower, get twice as much and piece a strip like I did)
• Sewing machine, scissors, pins, the basics.

1. Lay your fur out and the backing fabric on top. Cut the lining fabric at least 1" larger on both sides to allow for stretching and pulling, and you can always trim off extra if needed (do as I say, not as I do in this picture! I could have used an extra inch or two). Snip at the center fold of the backing fabric.

2. Cut or tear the backing fabric. Now you should have two panels, the backing slightly longer than the fur, but possibly narrower.

3. Unless your backing fabric was as wide or wider than your fur (I think the furs are often super wide), you'll need to piece the back. This is easy--just cut or tear a panel only 1" wider than the gap you have (see below, I allowed a little more than 1" overlap for a 1/2" or 5/8" seam to join the pieces).

4. To "piece" the backing together, sew right sides together along the selvage edge and the new piece.

5. Press seam open. Now, you have two pieces almost exactly the same size: fur and backing.

6. Pin the selvages together on one side of the throw, right sides together.

7. Sew right sides together; you can use a large stitch. My backing puckered a little since it was on the bottom. If you're worried about this, try sewing with the fur on the bottom, or use a walking foot or freeze your feed dogs to lessen the pull.

8. Do this on both sides (selvage edges). You'll then have a tube, as long as the fabric yardage was, with raw edges at top and bottom. On both the top and bottom edges, mark your centers with a notch and line them up (still right sides together.

9. Sew along top and bottom edges. At "bottom" edge, whichever you choose for that, stop sewing about 3-4" from the center notch and pick up again 3-4" after. This opening will allow you to turn the blanket right side out once you've closed all the other edges.

10. Snip all four corners; turn blanket right side out through the 6-8" opening you left.

11. Use a corner turner to make the points pointy. It's hard to iron the backing because the iron will melt the fur, but using the turner will help make the corner sharp, at least.

12. Close the 6-8" opening, however you please. Hand-sewing a whip stitch would work, or I just pressed under 1/2" on the backing fabric and folded over the fur 1/2" and machine top-stitched. (I switched to a qhite bobbin first, to blend in with the fur.)

See?

Okay, the blanket is "done"! No raw edges, totally usable as a throw, but... I have a question for you on the next (optional) step.

Here's where I need your help. The blanket is usable, but the backing is loose and I wonder about ways to bond it to the fur piece, like how a quilt is quilted. I toyed with the idea of giving the wrong side of the fabric a light coat of spray adhesive, but I could only imagine the terrible mess of fur pieces and perma-stickiness on my hands and, inevitably, the floor. No good. And who knows how that would hold up. I also thought about just top-stitching around the entire thing, all four edges; I mentioned it's hard to iron because you don't want to melt the fur, but a row of top-stitching would hold the backing in place at least at the edges. There's also tie-quilting, or maybe just tying tiny knots in white thread that would blend in on top. I could do that starting at the middle, hope that the fabric is cut straight enough not to pucker!, and add several rows.

It's going to be hand-sewing season soon (winter, dark out, movies, you know the drill), so I may actually get to it soon! What's your recommendation? Have you ever done this kind of thing before with success?

In the meantime, it's back in its happy home, but much more presentable with no raw edges! See?

(Other DIYs in this shot: the Louis XV chair on the left and the gold starburst mirror (aack! Why isn't it centered?! Must fix this weekend...). And the books and the purse? Temporary storage. ;)

So, what's your vote to settle the layers and make it an even more usable throw??