Disco is dead, but long live the shag…

When Hancock Fabrics was going out of business, I shopped there regularly as the prices fell. I had my eye on this shaggy faux fur. Every week, I’d see it there on the faux fur table in all its shaggy glory.

Apparently, nobody wanted it. I imagine they had no clue what to do with it. It looks like something you’d make a pillow out of, for a college dorm. But me? As soon as I saw it, I wanted to make a coat out of it!

So, I did. I used Simplicity Easy to Sew 1108, which is basically a kimono pattern.

But, naturally, I had to change everything. First, this pattern, for some bizarre reason, has a center back seam. Why? I guess it might help the garment hang better, because that was certainly an issue for me when I took that seam out. But working with fur, the fewer the seams, the better.

Instead of using bias tape on all the raw seams, folding them over and hemming them, I trimmed the front seam with a black ribbon.

I serged the sleeve and bottom hems and was planning to turn them up and hem them. That worked fine for the bottom, but the sleeves somehow came out too short for my liking.

So, I created cuffs by folding a length of the fabric and sewing it to the edges of the sleeves. This also took care of the too-wide at the hem problem. Kimono sleeves are boxy and it didn’t look right with this fabric. So I made the cuffs smaller and gathered up the back sides of each sleeve to fit. Worked like a charm.

Overall, I like it. But I’m not sure about the ribbon trim around the neck; it doesn’t lay as nicely as I’d like. And it could really benefit from pockets. But what a pain that would be.

So, here it is. My Seventies shag coat. 

The main problem with working with this fabric was the shedding! Now that all the seams are serged up, the coat itself won’t shed. But there are bits of this shaggy faux fur all over the house. Any time I worked on the project, I’d end up covered with it. I even found it floating about in the kitchen while I was trying to cook a meal!

I still have some left and I’d love to use it for something else–if for no other reason than to get it all sewn up and out of shedding commission. So, what to do with the remainder?

I don’t think there’s enough for a top, but I’ll give it a look-see. I don’t wear vests, so no on that. I suppose a big, shaggy bag could be interesting. I guess I’ll just have to figure it out.

So, yeah, I grew up in the Seventies. I had some bell bottom pants that were so huge it was like wearing a ball gown on each of my calves. My parents had black shag carpet, just like that fabric!, in our family room. It was pretty amazing. Remember Pong? And Tang? And Tab? And Disco!? Remember DISCO??

I was a disco queen! I really was. Dang, I miss disco.

Did you know that disco, literally, died the year the I graduated from high school? That’s right. And what killed it? This song killed disco:

That’s right. “My Sharona” killed disco in 1979. This led to the Eighties! I enjoyed the Eighties, too. In the Eighties, I wore these button up shirts that were as long as coats, the shoulders heavily padded. And boots with those skinny stirrup pants. Frizzed hair. Enough makeup to smother my face.

I don’t even know who that girl is anymore. Maybe she’ll return a bit when I wear my shaggy coat. I’ll let you know…

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