A fur collar and cuffs give a favorite coat a sumptuous new look. The faux (French for “fake”) furs available now are beautiful, soft, realistic, and they are easy to work with. With the key techniques explained here and a few specialty tools, you can create a gorgeous set of accessories with a high-end look and a designer-quality finish.

It’s much simpler to make a collar and cuffs that are removable than to attach them permanently to the coat, and it makes cleaning the coat easier. You also can use the pieces to accessorize more than one coat.

Fur has nap with an obvious direction, which must be considered when creating an item that curves around the neck, such as a collar, or one that flares in a way. Without specific modifications to the pattern, the fur nap would run in one direction only, disregarding the collar or cuff shape and its orientation on the body. In the case of a collar, the nap always should run perpendicular to the collar edge as it curves from back to front. To achieve this, the faux fur must be invisibly shaped with darts. With this article from Threads #182, Kenneth will show you how to modify pattern pieces to ensure the faux fur nap runs in the correct direction, creating a luxurious faux fur collar and cuff set in the process.