Muff Making
A few months ago, I took a trip down the mountain to hang with my mom and we went to the NAIA Pow Wow in Long Hunter State Park. It was a freakin beautiful day and I had lots of fun because not only did I get to hang out with my family, but we met up with one of my best friends and her husband. Good times were had! Anyways, I ended up buying some rabbit fur in various colors and I was debating on what to make with it first. I wanted to buy some fur last year, but I ended up being sick and couldn't go, so this year I was determined to get some.
A note on ethics: I know, I know. Fur is bad. I don't know where the NAIA sourced their fur from, but I read an article about a New Zealand company called Lapin (french for rabbit) who uses rabbit furs in their fashion. They call it responsibly sourced 'Eco-Fur' because in New Zealand, rabbits are not native. They get their furs from wild pest rabbits, not rabbits being bred specifically for their fur. The methods they use seem very humane and the rabbits do not seem to suffer, rather they die instantaneously. So by eradicating their country of a pest, they can use the furs for sustainable fashion made by local tailors. I am going out on a limb here and guessing that is not how these furs came about, but hey you never know.
Another point I like to, um, point out (hehe) is that faux fur is made from a variety of plastics and synthetic materials, none of which are good for the environment. Rather than using petrochemicals and who knows what else to make something that looks like fur, why not use real fur, which is biodegradable. And I am not out to make a crazy Cruella de Vil puppy coat. I just wanted some fur accents on things to remind me of how beautiful fur can be. It is lovely! Eventually I want to make a collar and/or cuffs for a coat and maybe a hat, but for now I will settle for a muff.
The reason I chose a muff was because I am always freezing at work. It is mainly my hands. I can wear dresses or skirts and its no big deal, but my hands are like ice and its hard to keep them warm while typing away. You think they'd stay warm with all the typing, but no. Anywho, I bought a Handy Heater at our local thrift store and it helps keep the room itself a bit warmer, but the problem still lies with my hands. But no more! This thing is toasty and soft and old fashioned and I love it! I know, its still real fur, but I don't care. When I use it, I can imagine being back in a time where fur was needed to keep warm and it makes me appreciate nature even more, as odd as that sounds. My office is all the way at the one end of the house, so it pretty much stays cold. But instead of turning up the heat cause that shit's expensive, we like to bundle up and drink hot tea and do the old school warm up stuff. This muff works beautifully for keeping my hands toasty warm.
I ended up using 2 skins for the muff. I bought 3 different colors of fur and I bought 2 pieces of each because they are small and I know it would be another year until I would be able to purchase more. Anyways, I took them both and drew a rectangle on the back of the largest usable parts and carefully cut them out. I then sewed them together on the long sides and took some fleece in a dark blue and cut the same rectangles, but slightly smaller as they would be going inside. Once I had them all sewed together on the long sides, I sewed one end of the fur to one end of the fleece with the right sides together and then I turned it right sides out. I stuffed a couple of layers of batting in there that I had also bought from the thrift store and then slip-stitched the last short ends together.
The insides. Its not my ideal color for the inside, but its not bad. And this is my first go anyways. The next one will most likely have a black lining.
That color, tho! Not my skin color... that shit is pale. But that fur has such a lovely multi-color to it.
This thing is so lovely and I use it just about every day while I'm working. I am so psyched that it turned out so nice and I cannot wait to use some more of the fur. I have this coat I am working on from a vintage pattern in a lovely light green and I think the darkest fur would look so stunning on the collar and maybe also some cuffs to match if I have enough. I cannot wait to work with fur more!!
A note on ethics: I know, I know. Fur is bad. I don't know where the NAIA sourced their fur from, but I read an article about a New Zealand company called Lapin (french for rabbit) who uses rabbit furs in their fashion. They call it responsibly sourced 'Eco-Fur' because in New Zealand, rabbits are not native. They get their furs from wild pest rabbits, not rabbits being bred specifically for their fur. The methods they use seem very humane and the rabbits do not seem to suffer, rather they die instantaneously. So by eradicating their country of a pest, they can use the furs for sustainable fashion made by local tailors. I am going out on a limb here and guessing that is not how these furs came about, but hey you never know.
Another point I like to, um, point out (hehe) is that faux fur is made from a variety of plastics and synthetic materials, none of which are good for the environment. Rather than using petrochemicals and who knows what else to make something that looks like fur, why not use real fur, which is biodegradable. And I am not out to make a crazy Cruella de Vil puppy coat. I just wanted some fur accents on things to remind me of how beautiful fur can be. It is lovely! Eventually I want to make a collar and/or cuffs for a coat and maybe a hat, but for now I will settle for a muff.
The reason I chose a muff was because I am always freezing at work. It is mainly my hands. I can wear dresses or skirts and its no big deal, but my hands are like ice and its hard to keep them warm while typing away. You think they'd stay warm with all the typing, but no. Anywho, I bought a Handy Heater at our local thrift store and it helps keep the room itself a bit warmer, but the problem still lies with my hands. But no more! This thing is toasty and soft and old fashioned and I love it! I know, its still real fur, but I don't care. When I use it, I can imagine being back in a time where fur was needed to keep warm and it makes me appreciate nature even more, as odd as that sounds. My office is all the way at the one end of the house, so it pretty much stays cold. But instead of turning up the heat cause that shit's expensive, we like to bundle up and drink hot tea and do the old school warm up stuff. This muff works beautifully for keeping my hands toasty warm.
I ended up using 2 skins for the muff. I bought 3 different colors of fur and I bought 2 pieces of each because they are small and I know it would be another year until I would be able to purchase more. Anyways, I took them both and drew a rectangle on the back of the largest usable parts and carefully cut them out. I then sewed them together on the long sides and took some fleece in a dark blue and cut the same rectangles, but slightly smaller as they would be going inside. Once I had them all sewed together on the long sides, I sewed one end of the fur to one end of the fleece with the right sides together and then I turned it right sides out. I stuffed a couple of layers of batting in there that I had also bought from the thrift store and then slip-stitched the last short ends together.
The insides. Its not my ideal color for the inside, but its not bad. And this is my first go anyways. The next one will most likely have a black lining.
That color, tho! Not my skin color... that shit is pale. But that fur has such a lovely multi-color to it.
This thing is so lovely and I use it just about every day while I'm working. I am so psyched that it turned out so nice and I cannot wait to use some more of the fur. I have this coat I am working on from a vintage pattern in a lovely light green and I think the darkest fur would look so stunning on the collar and maybe also some cuffs to match if I have enough. I cannot wait to work with fur more!!
Comments
Post a Comment