This fall, I was approached to upcycle a vintage mens full length leather coat lined with mink fur. This type of coat was popular in the 80s. If you come from a northern climate, you will appreciate how warm this is in -30 degree weather when the cold chills your bones quickly and the wind is unforgivable. However, in the mild West Coast climate, this coat is not practical and let’s face it, the design is outdated. My client held onto this coat over the decades since it was a considerable investment, and approached me to see how I could turn it into something practical for the Vancouver lifestyle.
Here is the before and beautiful after.
The brief
The coat is made from high quality supple leather and has a pristine mink lining and collar. The sleeves are lined with Thinsulate and polyester lining.
My first recommendation was to remove the fur lining and collar and shorten the coat. I would then use the leftover material from the bottom of the coat to remake the tailored collar into leather.
With the fur lining, I suggested making it a standalone knee length vest for his partner. This would be a timeless women’s piece that she could wear for decades to come.
Here are the pieces once disassembled:
Redesigning the leather coat
For the leather jacket, I find that a hip length is the ideal option for this coat. I want to make sure it’s not too short since the coat is double breasted and has slanted welt pockets. These are design features more typically seen in longer coats. To replace the fur, I used a heavy weight bemberg lining that I re-attached to the existing sleeves.
For the tailored collar, I used the bottom of the jacket to make the top part of the collar. Since the pieces had seams, there’s now an added detail of seams across the bottom lapel and the collar. I finished the collar with a double stitch to replicate the stitching detail of the front opening.
Upcycling the fur lining
For the lining, I suggested we remove the tailored collar and reshape the front into a rounded neckline for a modern yet timeless look. My client’s partner also wanted to wear the vest with the fur on the inside so this design would work perfectly to make the vest reversible.
The fur lining had a layer of fabric attached to it which I’m guessing was added to reinforce the fur. In order to make the vest reversible, I had to remove the fabric interfacing so we could see the beautiful reverse side of the pelts. I also needed to remove about 4 1/4″ of fur from the centre back in order for it to fit on his partner who was a bit smaller. I reused the fur from that panel to reshape the neckline.
Once the fabric interfacing was removed, I realized that the pelts were attached together with very narrow fur surged stitches. This unfortunately meant that the vest itself was more likely to tear at the neckline and armholes. To reinforce these areas, I proposed we sew a leather binding, using the leftover material from the jacket.
This design feature looked so good, that we decided to add the binding around the patch pockets as well in order to tie the piece together. Because my client’s partner felt that she would wear it mainly on the reverse side, I applied the pockets on the reverse.
Here’s the final look on both sides of the upcycled fur vest
Although a more elaborate and time consuming project, these new pieces can be worn on a daily basis now instead of staying as a vintage coat left unused.
Do you have well loved pieces that are in need of a revamp? Contact me to see how we can turn your keepsakes into practical and timeless pieces.