Fur ruff for antarctic style clothing

[Moondog55]

Does anybody here have any experience or advice for sewing leather and fur?
I have found some nice fur stoles from the 1950s at the local Op-Shop and paid $14- for both of them
one is rabbit and the other I cannot identify but looks like dog of some sort [ much finer and shorter staple than winter fox]
I want to make the ruff as detachable just in case I want to wash the parka at some time and I have no idea on what backing fabric I should use and whether or not the ruff should be stiff or soft as I have seen both styles in use

[highercountry]

Velcro tabs?

[Moondog55]

Buttons as I have plenty and Velcro is hard on the hands in cold weather.

[andrewa]

Um....leather needles...?

Leather sews quite nicely, and fur shouldn't be any different. Moisten the fur so you can keep it away from the seam .

I actually use leather needles for any heavier outdoor sewing application. An 18g leather needle will sew several layers of webbing quite easily. Obviously not the go for silinylon or sleeping bag type fabrics.

A

[Moondog55]

You are right, no problem swapping back to the #16 needles
I just waxed the inside of the rabbit skins to give them a little protection
Now to sew on a backing fabric then attach the buttons, I've been doing some reading. some people pad the fur ruff and others do not; anybody think the padding is important?
If it is I'll use some of the LW polyester fleece
I am assuming that the stiffer canvas backing is better for heavier furs so I'm going to use some of my LW nylon or poly/cotton for the rabbit

[andrewa]

Haha. something I have no opinion about Have never ever considered sewing any fur to anything. Any fur hitting this household goes into the fly tying collection.

What's wrong with taking a cat? Ours drapes quite nicely around a neck.I seem to recall some old piccies of a MYO tent wood heater on this forum, where there was a cat in the background...?!

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[Moondog55]

Haha. something I have no opinion about Have never ever considered sewing any fur to anything. Any fur hitting this household goes into the fly tying collection.
A

I'll be trimming the other stole to shape later.
Do you want the trimmings? There will be enough to tie quite a few trout flys, I'll even toss in some bonded nylon from a ruined cone

[Moondog55]

Jensellite ?
Can anybody tell me what this stuff is?
My Google-Fu has failed me.
It is mentioned in several Canadian fur sites where ruffs and parkas are made as a preferred substance for lining ruffs with

[andrewa]

Thanks Ted. If it's rabbit, then I have plenty. If it's some more exotic fur, or dark brown, then I'd love the trimmings. The cat's getting tired of losing it's fluff!

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[Moondog55]

PM mw your address and I'll pop an envelope in the mail
I don't know what it is except it isn't rabbit
I suspect dog as it does look like a Pomeranians coat same reddish brown and mixture of under fur and guard hairs
I usually toss the fur from the cats brush into the compost myself, now I know where to send it.

[andrewa]

Reddish brown sounds great, thx. Cat #2 only has a few small brown patches, and unfortunately they are in an obvious position.

Hopefully some exotic, like beaver......or mole...

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[Moondog55]

Well I do have the Arctic wolf here but I'm not ready to cut that yet
Road kill is a great place to collect fur, next dead sambar I see I'll stop and get some for you

[stry]

I think I remember reading somewhere that dog fur was preferred in this application because of its resistance to freezing, or somesuch ?? Or maybe that was for gloves ?? Wouldn't be keen on wild dog skin, even if you could get some - likely to be too many nasties on board.

Plenty of feral cats around, so cat skin/fur would be easy to get, but I don't know how well it would work. I'd forget about sambar - thick leather and bristles rather than fur, although it obviously works for the original owners.

[Moondog55]

Sambar for Andrews trout flies

[Moondog55]

This is even harder and I can see why good ones cost so much
A few pix of my progress so far with the cheap rabbit. While we were on Phillip Island I found some Silver Fox which is much admired in Canada and Alaska as ruff material but I did not have the $100- spare
I used some spare polyester wall insulation as the batting to give the ruff some body to stop it collapsing
When I start of the next one i have a spare ruff backing piece from the Fishtail parks and I will use that as my template
I'll try and make the next one with a combination of buttons and a zipper too

[andrewa]

There's a bit of chocolate hiding in the background there!!

Some sambar would be great if you find it, thx.

Deer hair is actually pretty soft. The fibers are reasonably rigid, and quite water resistant. The thicker ones are hollow, and float very well, which is useful for fly fishing, but perhaps less so for a ruff!

It wouldn't be at all daft making a ruff from deer hair. The hairs sit out from the skin at about 45 degrees, so provide plenty of insulation, even when wet.

There goes my potential fly tying material!

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[Moondog55]

Not hiding at all, at all Stashed in plain sight
Some deer hair is quite soft Sambar hair is not, very stiff and very, very tough and Sambar do not have much of an under fur except in the very middle of winter
The Boss did no allow me to stop and pick-up road kill so it will have to wait until I'm on my own
Talking to Canadians and Alaskans on other forums it seems as if the preferred fur is Wolverine followed by Timber-wolf then silver fox then red fox then coyote then dog even if the parka is made from Caribou/Reindeer
Wolverine because the guard hairs are so much longer than other animals plus a very dense fur
Wolverine ruffs start around $600- AUD at the moment