Sewing a Men's Coat with Faux Fur or Shearling Trim: Collars, Cuffs and Linings

A trim works best where it frames the face and protects the most exposed areas: the collar, the lapels, the cuffs and sometimes the hem or the front edges. A full shearling or faux fur lining adds warmth throughout, but it also adds a lot of volume, so the coat pattern needs extra ease to accommodate it.

For a first project, a separate fur collar on a wool overcoat is the simplest. It can be made detachable with buttons or snaps, so the coat can be worn plain in milder weather and cleaned more easily. A shawl or notched collar in pile, cuffs turned back in the same pile, and a plain wool body make a balanced combination.

Faux fur is a knitted or woven backing with a pile of acrylic or polyester fibers. The pile length ranges from short and plush to long and shaggy. Short piles are far easier to sew and look more refined on a men's coat; long piles create a dramatic effect but hide seams and details.

Genuine shearling is sheepskin tanned with the wool left on. It has no woven backing, so it does not fray, but it is thick and needs leather techniques: cutting single layer, no pins, and seams that are lapped or bound rather than turned. Shearling-look fabrics, often a bonded suede-effect face with a fleece back, sit in between: they cut like fabric and sew like a heavy knit or bonded material.

For genuine shearling, use weights rather than pins, and cut with a sharp rotary cutter or a craft knife on a mat. Check each skin for thin areas and flaws, and position collar and cuff pieces on the best parts of the hide.

1. 1.Find the direction of the pile by stroking it. On a coat, the pile normally runs downward, so it sheds rain and looks smooth.
2. 2.Mark the pile direction with an arrow on the back of the fabric and lay every piece the same way.
3. 3.Cut single layer, wrong side up, tracing the pattern with chalk or a marker on the backing.
4. 4.Cut only the backing with the tip of sharp scissors or a craft knife, sliding the blade under the pile so the fibers are not chopped.
5. 5.Shake or vacuum the cut pieces outdoors to remove loose fibers before sewing.

A pile collar with a standard seam allowance turned and pressed like wool will be thick and stiff at the edges. Bulk reduction is the most important technique for a neat result.

• Shave or trim the pile out of the seam allowances before sewing, close to the backing, so only the backing goes into the seam.
• Use narrower seam allowances on pile pieces, typically 1 cm instead of 1.5 cm, and trim them further after stitching.
• Make the under collar from the coat cloth or a melton rather than pile, so only the visible side carries the fur.
• Push the pile away from the seam line with a pin or a knitting needle as you sew, then pick the trapped fibers out of the seam on the right side so the seam disappears.
• On genuine shearling, use lapped seams or bind the edges, and avoid enclosed seams where possible.

Pile fabrics cannot be fused; the heat crushes the pile and the glue will not grip a fluffy back. Interface the coat body and the under collar instead. Use a sew-in hair canvas or a fusible weft insertion on the wool fronts, an interfaced under collar in felt or melton to give the collar its shape, and a stay tape along the roll line to control the stand.

Where the pile collar meets the neckline, the collar stand must be firm enough to carry the weight of the fur without collapsing. A collar stand interfaced with canvas or a firm fusible on the wool side keeps the collar upright and lets the fur roll naturally over it.

Use a walking foot or a roller foot on pile fabrics so the layers feed evenly, a size 90 or 100 needle for faux fur and a leather needle for genuine shearling. Lengthen the stitch to about 3 to 3.5 mm. Test on scraps first, sewing through the same number of layers as the real seam.

Never press pile from the right side. Finger-press seams open, or press lightly from the wrong side over a needle board or a thick towel, with the iron at a low setting and no steam on synthetic fur. Polyester and acrylic pile can melt or flatten permanently. A wire pet brush is useful afterwards to lift and blend the pile along the seams.

A coat with fur trims is a winter coat, so the lining should add warmth and let the coat slide over a jacket. Quilted linings, flannel-backed satin and heavy twill linings all work. For a full pile lining in the body, line the sleeves with a smooth satin or twill so the arms slip in easily.

If you plan a full faux fur or shearling lining, the coat pattern needs more ease in the chest, armhole and sleeve to make room for the thickness. Add the extra room before cutting, and fit a toile with a layer of the lining fabric inside it to judge the result.

A detachable collar can be attached with small buttons sewn under the coat collar, with snaps, or with a hidden strip of buttonholes. Detachable cuffs are fixed with snaps inside the sleeve. This allows the trims to be cleaned separately, which matters because many faux furs cannot be dry cleaned or washed in the same way as wool.

Store the coat on a broad hanger with space around it so the pile is not crushed, and brush the trims gently in the direction of the pile after wearing.

A heavy winter coat is a large investment of cloth and time, and the extra thickness of trims and linings makes fit more critical. Minerva Patterns drafts each coat pattern in garment-industry CAD from the measurements you enter, or in a standard size. Choose PDF in A4, US Letter, A0 or one long sheet, a projector file, PLT or DXF AAMA, with or without seam allowances. A pattern without seam allowances makes it easy to add the narrower allowances that pile pieces need.