What does a fox pelt look like when it's stretched?

[Panther10]

I'm about to start making payments on a custom made blue fox and while I was at the furrier and we were going over preliminary details for this coat regarding the fit, the measurements and so on, I had asked them if it was possible to have the coat be around 60" long from the shoulder that way it's ankle length and I'm pretty tall so I wanted to take advantage of my height. They said that they could do it, but had reservations since the pelts would have to be stretched in order to achieve that length. They offered a more conservative length of 58" instead of 60" and while i took the offer, the coat hasn't been constructed yet so I still feel like that there is still a chance I can at least negotiate with them and have a 60" coat made. But what I want to know is, what exactly is the risk of stretching out a pelt? Even if its only 2" longer than a more desirable length? Is there really a risk that the coat could be damaged at that length? What does it look like when a pelt is stretched? Is it reasonable for me to ask them to make the coat 60" long and then if it turns out to be too long and I agree with their assessment, I can ask for the coat to be shortened during the fitting?

[minkme]

Can you still walk around with that long of a coat safely without tearing the hem with you shoes since its ankle length?

[Panther10]

Yes. 60" is just above my ankle bone so in a pair of shoes it's at least 4" above the ground. I don't typically wear shoes with cleats either so there isn't significant risk of tearing the pelts.

[bigfur1]

I don't think they can take pelts that are say 16" long when finished and stretch them to 18" . The pelts are finished with some stretching but then that's it. Even coats made with "let out " skins have a limit, that why some coats made custom for "tall" women have a horizontal band at the bottom. That brings a 51" coat to 55" or so. Longer coats just take more fur unless you want strips of leather sewn between the skins.

[AKcoyote]

The OP's questions are basically referring to the process of preparing the pelts for blocking (wetting and stretching the pelts to remove excess elasticity) not the actual blocking process. The prep process involves cutting and sewing the pelts in a chevron pattern to lengthen the pelts by reducing their width. Unless the fox pelts are exceptionally large, it would be very difficult and labor intensive to obtain a usable 60" length out of pelts that are usually only approximately 26-30" long after the head and tail are removed. [Note: I could be off on my length approximation as it has been several years since I worked around blue fox pelts.]

 

Bigfur1 referred to leather sewn between pelts which is normal for fox furs. Depending on the design being created, the strips can be as narrow as 3/16", but are necessary to prevent a ridge of hair at the vertical seam.

[Panther10]

They didn't mention anything regarding a chevron cut when we were going over the coat requirements. But I will have to absolutely specify that I do not want any such pattern on my coat. I only want vertical pelts with no chevron cut or herringbone pattern. But from what I recall the skins that they had in stock were exceptionally large. Large enough to make a comforter big enough for a king size bed. And when the manager of the store called their headquarters in Indiana and asked if they had skins that were long enough for a 60" coat, they said "yes". But the manager still had reservations that such a thing was possible. I think in the end I am still going to try and shoot for a 60" coat. Ever since I started wearing fur it has been a dream of mine to wear an ankle length fox that is absolutely massive across the chest, hips and sweep, with a huge collar and wide dramatic sleeves and shoulders. But since I never had the funds for a custom fox and I've always been at the mercy of my budget, I could never afford anything other than a 7/8" length coat that I occasionally found off the rack.

[AKcoyote]

I was NOT talking about how the finished fur looks, but how the pelts are worked to obtain the length you desire. The process I described does NOT result in a chevron look, but merely reduces the width of the pelt in order to obtain extra length. It is the same process as used with mink to achieve garment lengths longer than a jacket without horizontal seam lines.

 

The chevron look you apparently dislike (I do too), requires a different procedure that I am not familiar with.

[Panther10]

Good to know! And thanks! I'll take this info to my furrier when we start making payments. I want to make sure that all of the measurements and the style of the coat are locked down pat before construction begins.

[bigfur1]

Panther10 are you in the Chicago area ?

[Panther10]

Yup. I live in the Chicagoland area. I'm having this fur coat made at Elan Furs

[bigfur1]

They have been our furrier for years. Anna thought she had the business sold a couple years ago but the deal fell through. Nice people.

[Panther10]

Yeah they have had a rough couple of years. First they closed the store on Michigan Ave and then the owners of the business almost shut down their Indianapolis location. But sales have been strong for them recently and business is picking up so I'm sure their elated about that.

I'm very excited to get this custom blue fox from them. With a little luck we should be able to start making payments about a week from today.

[samurman]

Here is an explanation from a book titled "The World of Fur":

"The leather side of a let-out fur garment

appears to be made of hundreds of narrow,

diagonal strips sewn together. In reality,

each section originally was a full skin. The

cutting and sewing together of each of these

strips less than ¼ in. wide, constitutes one of

the most difficult forms of fur craftsmanship.

This technique enables the furrier to

lengthen most long-haired furs and some

others (such as gray persian lamb) with a

minimum loss of area, and also to preserve

the coloration proportions on the hair side

without the work showing. The ability to

lengthen the skin enables him to extend the

skin in one unbroken line from neck to

sweep, eliminating cross seams or joinings.

Artistically, this uninterrupted flow has a

slimming, flattering effect on the wearer.

The narrow lines accent height and

minimize bulkiness."

 

And I suppose the attached photo illustrates beautifully how the letting-out process converts a pelt of certain width and length to a thinner and longer strip of fur.

[samurman]

Another way to look at this issue is by comparing a short jacket (about 35"-40" long) with a full length coat (48" long)

 

This is a blue fox jacket/stroller:

 

You must always remember that a fur coat is made from individual fur pelts. In many cases, it is easy to see the pelts. Some italian ebay sellers used to write in the description how many pelts were used to make that particular coat. If I remember correctly, 8 to 11 pelts are used for strollers of this type.

 

Now, I have tried to delineate the pelts by red lines below. I have also tried to show some let-out pieces with green lines. If you look at the photo carefully, you will be able to see lots of those strips like waves running through the coat.

 

The coat below is full length, but is is still made from strips of fur that were created out of single pelts (or half pelts, left or right, if I remember correctly):

 

Since this is a longer coat, it has a larger surface area, so naturally it requires more pelts. And this is achieved by making the strips narrower. Remember, each strip is made from a single pelt.

[Panther10]

Thanks for the tip, Samurman! I'll be sure to pass along this info when I'm at the furrier tomorrow.

[Love for fur]

I'm a big fan of big fox furs, especially with big collars. I would like to see the final result of the coat so please post pictures when it's done!

[Panther10]

You'll have to wait until Mid-Late September since we are paying for the coat in smaller installments.

 

In other news, I decided to stick with the 58" length and even though my heart was originally set on a 60" coat, the staff at the store was steadfastly refusing to push for that length because they were worrying about the pelts being destroyed. They offered to put a yoke in the fur but that would have disrupted the look of the vertical pelts and I didn't want that. Besides while i was at the shop yesterday, I tried on a custom made men's mink coat that was a size 50 and 57" long and it was heavy as Hell. Just wearing it was like giving a full grown human being a piggyback ride. And fox fur is twice as dense as mink so if my coat is going to be the same size and an inch longer it's going to be heavy enough. I don't need the additional weight an extra 2" of fur would bring. Also they aren't sparing the pelts so they pretty much guaranteed that the bottom sweep would be over 100" wide in order to ensure that I don't accidentally step on it or kick up any dirt or snow into the lining. This is going to be a big coat. It's going to make my other two fox coats (which are already quite large) look very small by comparison.

[minkme]

Its going to look great, please post pictures when you get it.

[Panther10]

Thank You. I'm sure it will. I just received an update from my furrier that this fur will indeed be quite large. <--Understatement The pelts used for the body of the coat will be around 4" wide and there are about 35 of them. Some of them will have to be used for the tuxedo collar and sleeves so I should expect that when the coat is finished, around 30 pelts will remain which will make my coat up to 64" wide across the chest and 128" around the bottom. And of course 58" from shoulder to bottom hem and the collar will be 10" wide and the shoulders could be up to 30" wide from edge to edge lol.

 

And just for the record--and also because I don't want anyone here to think I'm just a brick wall with a face-- I should point out that I'm only 6ft 2" and I weigh about 200 lbs and on average I wear a 38 up to a 42 in a men's suit depending on how my weight fluctuates.

[Panther10]

It just occurred to me that I'm going to have to look into finding an extra long garment bag for this new fur along with the possibility of a new contour hanger since this coat will be around 30" across the shoulders and around 65" from the top of the collar to the bottom. That is way too long for any existing garment bag that I have outside of one that was once used for a wedding or prom dress. But that bag is pretty slender in the shoulder area.

[samurman]

It looks like this is going to be a magnificent fur coat, fit for legends! Oh, I am sure you must be helluva lot excited! Please do keep us posted, and if possible, it would be great if you could share photos of how it's made.

[Panther10]

It looks like this is going to be a magnificent fur coat, fit for legends! Oh, I am sure you must be helluva lot excited! Please do keep us posted, and if possible, it would be great if you could share photos of how it's made.

 

That is something that I unfortunately, can't do. Not only is the shop where my fur coat is being constructed nearly 4 hours away from my home, but I don't work for this salon and I'm not a vlogger or anything. So it's not like I'm ever given VIP treatment or unparalleled access to what goes on behind the scenes. I'm sure I'll love this coat and yeah I'm excited as hell! But as I said it's going to be quite heavy to wear. I'm actually going through some physical therapy right now because I injured my abdomen about a year ago while lifting a box improperly, so in the meantime before this coat is put together I'm doing some additional strengthening exercises for my upper and lower back just so I can wear this coat without it becoming a literal pain. To give you an idea of how heavy this coat is, the full length size 50 men's mink that I tried on last week weighed about 20 lbs or so. And blue fox is twice as dense as mink so that means that my new blue fox could very well weigh north of 40 lbs.

[Panther10]

So I was able to try on my new blue fox this past Wednesday. It was absolutely HUGE!!!! its a really gorgeous coat and I can't wait to take some pictures so I can share them with you guys. I would have taken some pictures while it was at the store, but at this juncture the coat was still unfinished. They still have to attach the liner to the inside of the fur, add pockets, hook & loop closures, a monogram, a flexible wire around the back of the collar and finally they have to shorten the sleeves by a few inches. I'm supposed to be invited back to the store in a few weeks for another fitting and by then the coat will be all finished. I'll be sure to take some selfies at the salon and share them with all of you.