sagebrush
New member
my wife has a fur sewing machine (TOTALLY different from an ordinary sewing machine) and she makes fur coats, vests, etc, as a hobby. she learned the “trade” by taking years of courses from an old-time norwegian furrier who made custom garments in seattle. i can assure you there is a huge investment of time in each garment.
the first step is to select more or less matching hides. one year, she bought 5 or 6 prime coyote hides from a furrier at around $100 each to make a coyote parka. these luxurious hides (far superior to coyote hides i've seen “on the hoof” around here) were from canada and had fabulous color and very long guard hairs.
you don't just "sew hides together into a coat." the hides are first cut into many long narrow strips and then sewed back together into a big flat "blanket". sewing these strips together is very tedious, very time-consuming, and not nearly as fast as sewing cloth together. all the while attention needs to be paid to making sure the the grain and the hair color and pattern match up to make the finished product look good.
after the pelt "blanket" is made up, then the coat pattern pieces are cut out of the blanket and then those pieces sewn together on the "fur machine" into the coat.
then the coat or parka must be lined with satin, silk, or some kind of cloth, and the finish work done (pockets, zippers, buttons, trim around the parka hood, etc, etc, etc.).
one christmas i bought her a mink "blanket" that she turned into a gorgeous, long mink coat; the cost of that "blanket" still makes me shudder; it was 6 or 7 feet square.
after watching her make numerous garments, i can EASILY understand why retail prices of "fur coats" are so high, even considering that pelts are no doubt shipped overseas to cheap labor locations to be cut up and then sewn into those blankets.
as you are hunting, and then skinning and putting up your coyote pelts, i hope this bit of information adds a little interest to your process.
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the first step is to select more or less matching hides. one year, she bought 5 or 6 prime coyote hides from a furrier at around $100 each to make a coyote parka. these luxurious hides (far superior to coyote hides i've seen “on the hoof” around here) were from canada and had fabulous color and very long guard hairs.
you don't just "sew hides together into a coat." the hides are first cut into many long narrow strips and then sewed back together into a big flat "blanket". sewing these strips together is very tedious, very time-consuming, and not nearly as fast as sewing cloth together. all the while attention needs to be paid to making sure the the grain and the hair color and pattern match up to make the finished product look good.
after the pelt "blanket" is made up, then the coat pattern pieces are cut out of the blanket and then those pieces sewn together on the "fur machine" into the coat.
then the coat or parka must be lined with satin, silk, or some kind of cloth, and the finish work done (pockets, zippers, buttons, trim around the parka hood, etc, etc, etc.).
one christmas i bought her a mink "blanket" that she turned into a gorgeous, long mink coat; the cost of that "blanket" still makes me shudder; it was 6 or 7 feet square.
after watching her make numerous garments, i can EASILY understand why retail prices of "fur coats" are so high, even considering that pelts are no doubt shipped overseas to cheap labor locations to be cut up and then sewn into those blankets.
as you are hunting, and then skinning and putting up your coyote pelts, i hope this bit of information adds a little interest to your process.
--------------------
You drive, and I'll spread for a while.
Close This Window
Ultimate Bulletin BoardTM 6.2.0