TrapperHat No1

I bought a fox fur coat from a friend. It is unpractical design. It is in relatively good shape but demands a huge work to turn out to be something else and useful according to FashionNOW. Now it has lost its 1st sleeve. 

I designed and made trapper hat for Him. It is a traditional design with updates. It do has padding inside but as a lining fabric I have used mulesing-free merino wool. 

Usually you see trappers hat bind up on the top of the head. We use it in this way: bind at back. This way is perfect in the cold climate where you still need to protect your ears but can open the side flaps a  bit.

The front side fabric is 100 % wool and twill woven. Traditionally we use here leather for it. I used these materials to create breathability to the hat. He do has 2 extra warm traditional trappers hat. That's why this is made a bit differently.

I think it looks great and He loves it!

StrollerSleepingBag

I designed and made this beautiful stroller sleeping bag for arctic outdoor. We have one but it is 28 years old and I wanted to make a new one. The old one and this new one are both made of old fur coats.

The sleeping bag has woolen fabric cover all around it. It also has a beautiful traditional Sámi decoration of my siida. 

The sleeping bag has two full length zippers. That makes the bag open proper. When it opens with full length on both sides it is so much easier to use when putting in or taking the child out. Also, if it turns out too hot, you can open it to get some cool air in.

It is very warm. Everything else except the zippers and glittering decoration ribbon are made of 100% natural materials. The fur is up-cycled. It is FashionNOW stroller sleeping bag!

FurSlippers

See how beautiful fur slippers I designed and made. I used old fur coat so the slippers are actually recycled and very environmental friendly in many ways and part of my sustainable life style. Only new thing for the slippers are the decorative ribbon and sewing thread. I used the same ribbon for example for my padded sewing case. Because we are living by the arctic in an old house and want to save the energy to save the nature, we need something to keep our feet warm when walking on the chilly floors on the cold season. Recycled fur slippers are an excellent choice for that.

Many people are against the fur these days because of the animal rights. And that is quite right thing to do. It is important to understand animal rights and fur are part of my indigenous Forest Sámi culture. I grew into it since I was born. As a small child I learnt to re-use and recycle because it is a strong part of my Forest Sámi culture. We kept on doing so despite of the modern disposable culture "shop, use & throw away" where things or relationships are not meant to last. Already as a child I learnt natural materials last longer than a human life. So does fur coats which are today excellent material for sustainable lifestyle to protect oneself from the cold.

Last Saturday we had again the annual Earth Hour (25.3.2023) which importance is to raise awarness for the issue. You know I've been talking about the environmental issues every now and then and shared some energy saving tips last autumn because of the energy crisis. I must tell you iron stove fan and tiles have worked better than I've expected. It feels warmer with the less fire wood. It gets warm faster. Because of the tiles the warmth stays longer. I warmly recommend this option to those who have a change for it. 

New&Old

Last December I bought new winter coat for me. It had no faux fur around the hood. Which is only good 'cause faux fur is useless here where I live so it is just a waste of nature resources and supports only oil industry. If a coat has a faux fur I always need to take it off and throw away.

My old winter jacket is still doing just fine. It has lost a bit of its warmth but is still very usable and I wear it weekly. That's why I could not re-use -again- its fur for the new winter jacket. And that's why my mother-in-law gave me a fur collar from an old coat she didn't need. 

The shape of the old fur collar matched quite well to the shape of my new hood. That's why I decided to put it rather inside than just around the hood's outer edge. 

You can't just pin anything made of leather or skin/fur. Pinning makes permanent holes, pierces, to the skin. That´s why, if you need to make it stay, you need to use some kind of clips. Anything does just fine as long as it opens wide enough so that you can attach it. 

This time I decided to sew the fur from its one edge to the hood by my sewing machine. For it I needed leather needles.

The other edge I sew by hands -as usual- to fasten it into the lining of the hood. So, both edges of the fur are attached to different places of the hood. So, this is made differently than in FurHood -tutorial.

At the end, the fur turns inside the hood (instead of rounding the hood from its outer edge around the face) Some consider this warmer. It might be that but after using this and other styles I am ready to say that in my use I need it to be done rather like in FurHood-tutorial than like this -turn inside. It is because I have over 30 years old -bad- frost bites in my cheeks. When you compare these two styles you can notice how much more and better "the old style" covers my face.  I need -most of all- the fur to be a wind breaker. In that way it creates like a tiny hut for my head hidden in the hood. Of course the pattern of the hood determines a lot too but a fur around the edge makes it deeper anyway.

Anyway, this style I used now works good enough and is pretty enough. So, I let it be and protect my cheeks with extra collar. See how beautiful moose horn button my father-in-law made for me for my birthday for my Sámi belt!

Recycled FurHood

Do you remember my FurHood -tutorial? Three years have passed by and dear MrW's old snowboarding jacket has become to the final end... after me using it for 3 years and him using it at least 5 years. Now it has been taken to there were all our waste is: to the factory that burns it all up turning the waste to heat energy for arctic living. 

That's why I had to buy a new outdoor jacket for myself. It came without the fur around the hood. Which is great because the faux fur is an environmental catastrophe. I took off the fur from the hood of the old jacket and sew it to my new jacket and here we go again. This is the 3rd jacket it is on and it still looks like new. 

Pay attention on the hood and the fur. In this jacket I sew it actually inside the hood. In that way it warms up even better because the fabric edge of the hood blocks out the wind better. In this way the fur settles down closer to my face even when the hood is not on.

FurHood -tutorial

I definitely am against fur farming in the meaning clothing and beauty business produces fur. (I even am against wool business because of animal rights at some points & areas where the faults do exist.) But I do accept and use wild fur which means the hunter catch wild game. The cold fact just is in my environment & climate that real natural materials are needed if you are living life style I am; going out a lot.

Oil drilling is a problem in clothing business when producing so popular faux fur. If we talk only about oil drilling it doesn't harm animals straight away or immediately during the action; always & often. But oil drilling causes many damages to the nature and the animals live in the nature; not to mention about the catastrophes transporting oil can cause when facing an accident.

But it is your choice and up to many cases. Is there wild fur available? Can you afford it? What ever you choose the point is to recycle. That is why I made this tutorial.

Here I use so called "silver fox" fur. It is just a shade of normal red fox (Vulpes vulpes). I got 3 skins 22 years ago. I still have 2 untouched and 1 partly used. These silver foxes are from fur farming and left over skins. But fur is everlasting if you keep it right.

You can take a look how to cut fur if you don't have recycled one for a hood. If you have recycled one, remove it carefully from the old hood by unpicking the seam.

When YoungLady was just a TinyToddler I placed this to the hood of her winter outdoor overall. The overall has been gone for ages but the fur has been stored. You need approximately as long piece of fur as the edge of the hood is. The good width is just 4 - 6cm: it depends on the length of the hair.

Here I have used cotton ribbon to make transferring the fur from a coat to another easier. First sew the ribbon to one edge and then to the other.

Then sew the fur from the cotton ribbon to hood edge; from the middle to the both sides (from top of the head to left and right, you need to measure the central points)

At first it seems to be all visible.

But when you shake and gently groom it a bit the seam hides away.

This is actually MrW's old outdoor jacket for snow boarding. He overgrew from it and I got it. Only fault with this old recycled jacket has been that I don't grow hair at face (yet) like MrW so I needed to do something about it.

WarmUpYourFurCoat -tutorial part 3

So, how are we all? Hope well and fine after Mid Summer Celebration. Now the daily life is back to normal and we are ready for the 3rd and last part of WarmUpYourFurCoat tutorial.

You should have your brand new lining finished by now. Hope you have not been struggling with it if you didn't wait for me for the tutorial part 3.

With tutorial part 1 you learnt to remove the old lining. With tutorial part 2 you learnt how to make new one. And with this tutorial part 3 you learn how to fasten the new lining to your vintage fur coat. Notice that these instructions do just fine with every coat; especially vintage and tailored ones.

You need approx 4 cm wide strip on lining fabric; as long as the front - neck line edge is. You do pretty fine without this strip but it may ease your later sewing. Fold the strip by sewing.

The length I needed for my coat was a bit under 3 m so I needed to continue the strip. When you sew the continuation seam in 45 degree angle it settles in better.

In my coat the strip was placed 4 cm far away from the edge. Take a look at your coat to find out how it is done there. This 4 cm extra is the facing that will be turned underneath.

There are 3 seams you sew. 1st is to fold the strip, 2nd is to fasten it to its place and this 3rd one to fold the facing permanently.

This is how it looks when finished.

Then you need the inner belt (if your coat had one). Pin it well to make sure the slipper satin stays as it supposed to when sewing.

After finishing, fasten the inner belt to its place by sewing it to the new lining. Usually to the right side edge; approx 10-15 cm under the arm pit.

Now it is time to pin your new lining to your vintage fur coat. Don't hurry and use proper time in doing this. If it feels it's not perfect; start it again. Careful work must be done. (Notice the inner belt under the right arm pit.)

Then you need to have leather hand sewing needle. Watch out your skin! It pierces it out easily because that's what it is designed for.

Start fastening from hem. It is straight seam and easy to work with. Usually you don't need there that extra strip for folding.

Use small stitches to tack it there.

This is how it looks out with folding strip. When the coat is in use, the strip rises up and hides the stitches.

Last thing to fasten are the wrist lines. Pin it all in again. I pin it in this way; front side up. When you pin it; duple -perhaps triple- check it out the sleeve has not twisted up!

Then I turned it outside a bit...

...and tacked it all.

New lining and inner belt is now placed there; inside my vintage Karakul fur coat.

At old times -and sometimes still today- they make secure stitches at least in arm pits. It means that they stitch arm pits from lining through padding to the fur / front side. They are made to keep the lining on its place.

I have made many winter coats and overalls for children too and for daily outdoor use. I have created the padded lining in this way showed here. I never used these secure stitches to fasten the padded lining on its place. It never has slipped way. I think it is because modern proper padding fabrics make the lining more thicker so it keeps up its form better. Especially when the padding fabric is stitched to lining fabric to create those air pockets you learnt to do in tutorial part 2. If your vintage fur coat had ones you for sure can make them do. I didn't.

The inner belt is useful to close up the coat better.

When it is closed up nothing can be seen. Really? Take another look....

There is nothing reprehensible in my Karakul fur itself. I found no faded shade nor worn or scuffed fur; not even a single hair. But the padding and lining were useless.

On the left side picture the fur coat is open but it still fits in the pic very well. In right side it is closed up with its new lining and padding and hardly fits in the pic. Still you really can see -not to mention about the feeling- the difference. Just take a look how the coat dangles with old lining and stands supportive with its new padded lining.

WarmUpYourFurCoat -tutorial part 2

So, did you already went to fabric shop and bought new lining for your old fur coat? Have you followed WarmUpYouFurCoat -tutorial part 1 rules? And you have now all your pattern parts cut and pinned? Yes, good, now we can go forward.

The next thing to do is to create more warmth and solidity for the new lining of your vintage fur coat. You do it with sewing decorative padding lining.

With my BlueBerryPie & VanillaCream PotHolder -tutorial you can learn how to sew exact square decorative padding.

This decorative sewing is actually able to be made by decorative random padding too. You can take a look at this method at According to Tone Finnager where I used random sewing method when sewing the basket to store the tissues.

Here I use the optional extra equipment which usually comes with the sewing machine to create decorative padding. This method is not so exact as you learnt before with the pot holder tutorial. But this is exact enough for the need we have here. I promise, no one will notice you did it a bit easier way.

At the end it doesn't matter which method you use to fasten the cotton wool fabric to lining fabric as long as you fasten it. Fastening creates more air pockets which store even more warmth in. Creating the pockets is the point, not the way of doing it. Whilst you create the warm air pockets you happen to make the new lining more solidity. It looks even more luxurious; despite we aim to recycling.

So, I sew 10 x 10 cm squares.

The back side looks like this...

...and the front side looks like this. Not exact but good enough to get along and get hidden later.

I did some extra decorative design for upper back part. I just did free hand drawing on a pattern paper, pinned it on its place and sew along.

Then I gently rip the paper away and cut of all the thread ends.

And now, when you have done all your useful decorative sewing, only now you sew all your needed folds to the pattern pieces.

After sewing the folds heap up the pieces like you'd be sewing a simple coat. It doesn't matter the padding creates the seams a bit thick. The thick seams make it all just stand and keep up its form better.

Now it is finished: the new decorative padded lining for your vintage fur coat. In the next the 3rd tutorial part we fasten the fur coat and new lining together.