Kenneth D. King, a Threads contributing editor, closes in on the final steps of making a fake fur jacket: setting the sleeves.

Join the fake fur sleeves to the body

Remember that you have cold-taped the armhole seam on the jacket’s body. On the sleeve cap, there is no cold tape. With right sides together, pin the sleeve into the armhole, with cut edges aligned.  Match all notches. The fake fur’s loft makes it easy to handle any ease in the sleeve cap. Baste the sleeve with whipstitching. Then machine-sew with a hinge seam. There is no need to remove the basting.

Install shoulder pads

You can sew the shoulder pad to the fur’s wrong side, and you’ll never see the stitching. Align the pad’s notch to the shoulder seam, with the pad’s edge extending slightly into the sleeve cap. Pin the pad in place along the edges. Then tack the edges to the fur with a large catchstitch. When you turn the sleeve right side out, the pad can be reshaped. Brush over the armhole seam to fluff the fur.

Secure the front facing

Lay the coat flat, wrong side up. Fold back the lapel into its final position, then pin the facing’s bias strip up to the shoulder. Hand-sew to anchor the strip in place. The coat’s exterior is now complete. All that is left is to install the lining.