Watch the video here: Eric's Checkerboard Throw

Eric generously sent me three beautiful furs to work with. The collection included one elegantly soft white rabbit coat, one luxurious gray full-length mink coat, and one exquisite brown mink shawl. He expressed a desire for a large throw to enhance his living space. After some consideration, we decided on a classic checkerboard pattern, incorporating the rich brown mink as a stunning border. The hood of the gray mink was quite substantial, allowing us to utilize the leftover fur to create two matching pillows, each measuring 18 by 18 inches. The final measurements of the throw came to 54 by 65 inches, making it a perfect statement piece.

Watch the Video here: Cindy's Mink Stole Transformation

Cindy's Mink was repurposed into a Jointed Teddy Bear. The bear measure 14 inches high. Lining was used to make the collar, foot pads, paw pads and inner ears. There wasn't enough fur left over to make any additional items, but I did make a mini heart!!

Bear Pattern: Sebastian

Watch how here: How to Make a Plush Bunny From Fur

A customer asked if I could use her Mink sleeves from a Mink Coat to make a bunny. The bunny came out so cute! What do you think? Watch the how to above.

See the video here: June's Project

This transformation was a challenge. The amount of fur to work with was limiting, but I was able to do what the customer wanted. The throw was 45 by 46.5 inches with the Fox border on top and bottom. I was able to make one 18 inch pillow and one 12 by 14 inch pillow, also mirroring the design on the main throw. What a joy it is work on a well maintained fur! Boy was this fur coat filled with sawdust!!

See video here: Mary's Mink Transformation

Mary's Mink coat was in wonderful condition. She used her own lining for the backing and preserved the monogram. Final Size: Approx. 54 by 58

Watch the video here: Mink Coat Transformation

Larry’s coat was in great condition. A custom backing was created according to the specification of the customer. Final Measurements: 46-51

See Video here: Ellyne's 4 Beautiful Furs Transformed

The customer sent in five fur coats to be transformed into throws and possible pillows. Before I started the project, I contacted the customer and described what we could do with each and every one of the furs. While reviewing the furs the customer decided that she wanted to hold on to her Silver short waisted mink coat. It was absolutely stunning!!!  So, it does not appear in the video. The first throw that I worked on was the full-length Beaver coat.  From this coat, I was able to make a throw as well as an 18 by 18-inch pillow. The next fur that I worked on was the full-length fox. It was a light-colored fox. I have a love hate relationship with fox. The fur is soft and luxurious to touch, but the fur flies everywhere! The next project that I worked on was a combination of two short waisted coats. One of those coats was a darker fox as well as a white mink coat. I offered the customer several design variations. The customer chose to have the white mink in the center portion of the throw and the darker fox around the outside border of the fur throw. I had enough smaller pieces to make a 16 by 16-inch pillow. The inside portion of the pillow was a combination of the darker brown fox as well as the light-colored fox from project #2. On the outside of this pillow, I used the white mink trim that went all the way around the collar area. Unfortunately, the leather portion of the white mink trim was slightly damaged and dried. I used a specialized oil to help soften the leather. And for the majority of the fur, it worked, but there were portions that had to be taken out because the leather was just too dry and brittle. I used an additional leather stripping on top of the old leather stripping. And on that pillow, I also added an additional leather stripping all the way around the border of the pillow. And then I hand sewed the white mink trim onto the additional leather stripping. Here are the following sizes of the projects mentioned above:

Beaver throw: 51 by 55

Full Length Fox throw: 52 by 55

Short Waisted Fox and Mink Combination: 51 by 53

Beaver pillow:  18 by 18

Fox / Mink Trim Pillow: 16 by 16

Watch the video here: Beverley's Beautiful Mink Transformation

Beverly's Mink was made in the 1990's. It belonged to her mother. I love being able to take a loved one's beloved item and turn it into a family heirloom. The original lining was use, but the monogram was left out. A copper brown silk crepe was used on two of the outside panels on the lining. Final Measurements: Throw: 52 by 54 Pillow: 14 X 14 with pillow and zipper installed.

Watch MJ’s Mink Transformation here: MJ's Video

The customer wanted to make a throw and a teddy bear from her mink coat. The coat had both sheared and unsheared fur. The unsheared fur was used in both the bear and the throw's border. The total measurement for this throw was 43 by 47 and the bear is 12 inches tall. Bear Pattern used: Funky Friends Factory ~ Melody Memory Bear Lots of cute animal patterns there. Go check them out! https://www.funkyfriendsfactory.com

See the video here: Anne's Throw & Pillow

Beautiful Mink Coat transformed into a throw & pillow. Lovely embroidered coat lining used as the backing. Final Measurement 47 by 50 for the throw and 16 by 16 pillow. View Part II on tackling the intricate backing.

See video here: Virginia's Mink & Seal Throws

The customer sent in two beautiful fur coats. She wanted to make a two throws.

The Brown Mink was in rough shape and needed a support material on the side of the throw. It was torn, was repaired multiple times prior. The original lining from the brown mink and monogram was used.

The Black Seal was in great condition and was so soft to the touch.

Final throw measurements:

Black Seal Throw- 44 by 50

Brown Mink Throw - 46 by 57

18 by 18 Pillows made from the leftover fur from both projects.

See Video Here: Denise's Fur Transformation

Denise sent in a beautiful black mink coat. The coat was well made and was in excellent condition. She wanted to make a throw as well as two bolster pillows. The bolster pillows were made from the sleeves. The original lining and monogram was used for the backing.

Final throw measurement: 44 by 52. 

Final measurement for Bolster pillows: 6 inches in diameter and 18 inches in length.

See the video here: Mary's Mink Transformation

Mary's Knee length mink coat was just simply lovely. Mary wanted her mink coat to be transformed into a throw. The coat itself was in wonderful condition and the construction of the coat was stellar. The final size of the throw was 45.5 by 49 inches.

See the video here: Mink Coat Transformed Into A Throw With A Lovely Chevron Pattern.

This mink coat was unique, due to the Chevron pattern on the bottom of coat. The customer was given two choices on how the chevrons could be placed in her throw. She chose the triangular pieces to go in the corners of the throw. Her coat was in excellent shape and the mink was just lovely to work with. Overall size was 42 by 54.

Watch the video here: Mink Jacket & Beaver Coat ~ Transformed to a Throw & Pillows

Fur: Mink, Beaver, Calf & Fox

The customer wanted to transform her Mink Jacket and her Beaver Coat into a throw and two pillows.

The Mink Jacket would make up the main throw, and the Beaver would be used as the border. The Mink Jacket was a short waisted jacket, so the amount of Mink that I had to work with was limited. The throw measures 47 by 48 inches.

The front of the two pillows were made from the Beaver Coat. They measure 16 by 16. I used the bottom Checkerboard Calf that was on the Beaver Coat as an accent to the zipper area of the pillows. The checkerboard Calf on the sleeves was too damaged to be used.  The Fox was not used in the final product and was returned to the customer.

Watch the video here: How to Make a Fur Pillow with a Pocket/Muff

My customer wanted a pillow where she could take her hands and put it in the pillow and give it a hug. I scoured YouTube and the Internet for a pattern, but I didn't find one. I found regular pillows with a pocket for reading a book and I found an old-fashioned Muff, but I couldn't find anything that she wanted. So, here's a little mini tutorial on how I created this pillow.

The pillow is Constructed in the following order starting at the top and working down to the bottom

. • Fur

• Suede

• Batting

• 2nd layer of Fur

• 2nd layer of Suede

• Light interfacing (both sides)

Pillow measures 16 by 16.

Highlights are: • How to cut out the pocket/muff Using a pot lid as a template. • How to properly cut and mark leather and fur. • Using suede as a binding strip • How to sandwich all the layers together and some helpful tips along the way

I received a fur stole, two fur collars, and a suede jacket. The customer wanted as many pillows as possible from the garments that I had. One of her requests was to make a pillow with a pocket so she could slide her hands in and give the pillow a hug. Very similar to a fur muff. A more detailed video will be following on how to make a pillow with a fur muff/pocket.

Watch the video here: Fur Stole to Four Pillows