White Queen: Fur Stole
So, anyway, I decided to do the fur capelet part of the costume out of real (rabbit) fur for a few reasons. For one, it just looks a lot better than fake fur. I've yet to find a fake that looks close enough to real to fool me. And, hey, if I'm going for lambskin, might as well go all the way. Secondly, I've never worked with real fur and was curious as to how it would go...
Anyway, I started by finding a bunch of pelts on eBay for around $8/each and started by mocking up what I wanted with muslin.
The problem is, rabbit pelts (or any pelt) are natural, so they're not necessarily already in the same shape as fabric. Once I realized this, I knew that I'd have to sew a bunch together to get something vaguely fabric-like.
Sewing rabbit is fairly easy. It's maybe like a cross between fake fur and leather. Yeah, you only get one good shot at it as more needle holes weaken the skin. You also have to pull fake fur out of the seam. (And if I was being super careful, I'd shave one side.) But...it's not really that bad.
The worst part, really, is the mess. You know how much dogs shed? Imagine shaving an entire dog in your house. That's kind of what it was like. Every time I'd cut the hides, fur would go *everywhere*. And not small amounts. Like...entire chunks of fur. It lined the floor, my clothing, everywhere! This wasn't a huge issue during sewing, but a little did end up caught in the machine. (Just not enough to drive me crazy.)
After a point, I had this long strip of rabbit hides, that was big enough to wrap around my shoulders.
I trimmed the edges so that it was, ahem, less organic and more rectangular.
Then I added lining, three darts, ribbon and...voila! A rabbit fur stole!
It's actually pretty cheap and easy. I think this required maybe 5 hides (at around $8/each) and perhaps two hours. So all in all, it was a pretty simple project and cheaper than buying a stole would have been. Go figure...
Anyway, I started by finding a bunch of pelts on eBay for around $8/each and started by mocking up what I wanted with muslin.
The problem is, rabbit pelts (or any pelt) are natural, so they're not necessarily already in the same shape as fabric. Once I realized this, I knew that I'd have to sew a bunch together to get something vaguely fabric-like.
Sewing rabbit is fairly easy. It's maybe like a cross between fake fur and leather. Yeah, you only get one good shot at it as more needle holes weaken the skin. You also have to pull fake fur out of the seam. (And if I was being super careful, I'd shave one side.) But...it's not really that bad.
The worst part, really, is the mess. You know how much dogs shed? Imagine shaving an entire dog in your house. That's kind of what it was like. Every time I'd cut the hides, fur would go *everywhere*. And not small amounts. Like...entire chunks of fur. It lined the floor, my clothing, everywhere! This wasn't a huge issue during sewing, but a little did end up caught in the machine. (Just not enough to drive me crazy.)
After a point, I had this long strip of rabbit hides, that was big enough to wrap around my shoulders.
I trimmed the edges so that it was, ahem, less organic and more rectangular.
Then I added lining, three darts, ribbon and...voila! A rabbit fur stole!
It's actually pretty cheap and easy. I think this required maybe 5 hides (at around $8/each) and perhaps two hours. So all in all, it was a pretty simple project and cheaper than buying a stole would have been. Go figure...