The Original Jackets
My client, Anna, brought me her whole collection of fur garments, some spanning back 3 generations, to look over and remodel into something new. She had a huge collection of about 20 vintage furs, so I started with pairing together colours and these 2 jackets came from the lighter colours.
For this throw, I took her vintage cream rabbit jacket and a peachy musquash jacket. After lots of mulling over I came up with this two tone block colour idea, it’s a style I hadn’t done before but I absolutely love how it turned out. Anna didn’t want a patchwork aesthetic, it’s always helpful knowing the style you like (or don’t like!) as a starter when reworking pieces.
Here are the deconstructed jackets laid out on the table as I figure out the layout of them. You can see the pockets haven’t been closed on the musquash and the cream rabbit has it’s sleeves laid on top of it.
Repairs and Reworking
There were quite a few repairs that needed done to both jackets before I was able to work on making them into continuous larger rectangles. I don’t buy any new pelts so all the repairs were done using the fur from the original jackets. I usually use the sleeves as they tend to have lots of wear on them meaning there are only small parts of the fur that are usable, which are good for repairs. This can present challenges though as ultimately you are left with very small pieces of fur to work with when repairing items.
The musquash needed a fair bit of work to make it the same width top and bottom, as there was a bit of swing to the jacket. The rabbit was in better condition so it didn’t need as many repairs. I decided to put the cream rabbit part on the bottom half of the throw so the longer hairs would be along the throw edge instead of in the middle, which I think accentuates the fluffiness of the throw.
The Finishing Touches
Anna opted for a cream velvet lining which I think adds to the lightness and opulence of the piece. This fur throw turned out so beautiful, it was a colour combination I hadn’t worked with before and I wouldn’t necessarily put together, but it turned into the most beautiful soft peach and cream two tone throw. I call this piece “Custard and Cream.” The two photos below of the throw are of it unlined, you can see the raw edge along the top of the peach musquash fur.
Below is a photo of Jules and Ginger watching over me as I cut the velvet lining, my chief quality controllers! One thing I would love to explore more of is working with natural fibres for the backing of my throws, or at least not buying new synthetic material for the backing. The velvet I use is a synthetic but it wears very well compared to a cotton velvet, it also comes in a huge array of colours so it’s easy for my clients to choose from.
I have got my eye on some wool remnants which I’d love to experiment with as a throw backing, watch this space! I am also open to using other materials as backings sourced by my clients, they just need to be of a similar weight to the fur pelt and they also need to be a high quality fabric to match the quality of the fur.
The finished throw with a close up of my labels. How gorgeous does the cream velvet look with the softer palette!
If you are interested in having your vintage fur remodelled into a throw fill out my contact from here. To keep up to date with my latest makes follow me on instagram here.
