Yes, it's an absolute sin to kill those precious little creatures to create new fur coats just so we can look "glam". But what about all the fur coats that hang in the thrift stores? What about Grandma's fur coat that was handed down to us still smelling a bit like moth balls? What do we do with these items when we are timid about wearing them?
Here's the answer!
In the 1970's, when I spied my first "Value Village Thrift Store" just after moving to Seattle, I latched on to the most wonderful feeling, large fur coat. There it was hanging on the rack.....I couldn't stop my hand from touching the fawn brown fur. The texture, the softness, immediately sent me in to a sort of female "daze" that was hard to describe and that only a woman could relate to.
Decorative
I slipped it off the hanger and slipped myself in to it. It's 1940's styling dwarfed me! It was miles to big for me but at such a bargain price of just .00, I had to have this exquisite feeling thing!
For years I let it hang in the closet. Then one day, knowing I would never wear it anywhere, I decided to re-fashion this mass of fur in to something I could truly enjoy on a daily basis. I cut it up! That's right! I took a pair of scissors to the thing! Can you believe it? But it was the best thing I could have done.
After ripping out the lining and cutting off the sleeves, I bought an upholstery sewing needle and upholstery thread in deep brown and began giving this tired old coat new life.
What resulted were two wonderful oblong pillows (made from the sleeves) that laid on my bed for nearly 20 years. The body of the coat was so oddly shaped that I decided to trim it in to an even rectangle that laid over the foot of my bed to be used as a very warm and comforting "throw".
I enjoyed these new decor items for years. That is, until "Sadie" entered the picture.
Sadie is the "other woman" in my husbands life. A striking strawberry blond with big brown eyes who woos and teases him and demands much of us both. Sadie, of course, is our dog and Sadie LOVED that fur! Being "childless", I think Sadie adopted them as her puppies.
Little by little over the years, she nurtured those pillows and throw as if they were her children. Flea biting them until they lost their fur leaving just the "hide" exposed. Sadly, my fur pillows and throw made it to the garbage can, never to be seen again. But ah, the memories remain of laying on the throw with the pillow under my head, my cheek nestled against it in comfort as I napped and dreamed of mansions.
The fur items added texture to the other, coordinating bed pillows and I enjoyed the comments from people as I would show them the decorating I had done in that room. "Wow!" they would exclaim as they would walk over to touch the fur and run their hands across it.
So if you have a fur coat in your closet that you dread wearing, but also feel that it's much too good to throw away, think about turning it in to something you can enjoy on a daily basis. It creates a feeling of luxury you will enjoy for years.
Recycle That Old Fur Coat into Decorative Home Decor
Victoria Larsen is a professional wall stencil designer and interior specialist. Her products and ideas have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Women�s Day, Craft Trends, Creating Keepsakes, Rubber Stampin Retailer and Memory Maker magazines and The Wall Street Journal. Victoria's website features ideas, techniques, stencils and ornamental wall molds for easy and beautiful home decorating. Visit Victoria on line at http://www.victorialarsen.com. "Decorating with Class on a Budget" Blog: http://victorialarsen.typepad.com.