Repurpose Project

So, a few blogs out in blog land have been posting about repurposing fabric here and here.

This box is just that...When I was in Albuquerque in April, my long time friend asked if I could work on a project for her brother. He wanted to make two things from a heirlom of his Mother's.

What was in the box? A beautiful mink stole. Yes, a mink stole, and I agreed to cut it up and make it into two pillows. Each pillow is to go to each of his children, so they would have something passed on to them from their grandmother and himself.

Can you imagine taking apart something so beautiful and expensive? Yikes, what did I get myself into? I spent about 5 weeks mulling it over thinking of ways to make the pillows. I knew there would not be enough pelts to make two pillows using only the fur. So, I finally came up with the idea of using a base of fabric and stitching on the pelts.

The following are the steps from beginning to completed pillows:

Here is the stole laid out. It contained several pelts all about 3" X 14"

This is the lining, I'll show you later how I used it on one of the pillows.

Here is the "destruction" phase. I had to be very careful in taking it apart, as the pelts were very fragile.

See my orange tool? I use a razor blade as a seam ripper, yes a razor blade! The orange thingy is an excellent way to hold the blade for better control. My Grandma taught me this way, and back then we used a double edged blade! Yikes!

Here it is all destructed and apart. A good size pile of pelts to work with to make the pillows.

Here is the background fabric I used in making these pillows. It is a brocade that I got at 40% off at Joanns.

And here are the finished products!

Here is what I did using a piece from the lining in the stole. The lining had two pockets, with the initials of my client's mother. I also took the manufactur's tag from the lining and sewed it on the pocket. I then sewed the whole pocket on the back of one of the pillows, as a further memento of the mother.

Here is the grouping of the three pillows!