How to Make a Sheepskin Coat

You can sew a luxuriously warm, artful sheepskin coat of your very own.

By Tom Isgar
Published on November 1, 1973
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by Adobestock/zdyma4

Learn how to make a sheepskin coat with a little patience, a little skill, a modest amount of money, and a few tools.

Sheepskins, interestingly enough, still come from sheep. Most of them, once they take leave of their original inhabitant, get dyed ugly colors–after first being bleached white–and then end up as doormats, teddy bear skins, or bed rugs. A few go to head shops or exotic import places as novelties. And a select handful actually become sheepskin coats which can be admired from a distance, but which are really just too expensive for the average person to buy.

Expensive or not, however, a sheepskin coat will probably sound like a pretty good idea to you when the snow begins to fly and the temperature drops and drops and drops. Well, before winter completely takes hold, you can–with a little patience, a few tools, not a great deal of money, and even less skill–make a sheepskin coat that will be both luxuriously warm and your very own work of art.

First The Sheepskin . . .

You can find sheepskins for sale in most large cities, usually as part of a leather jobber’s stock. If you live in the West, Southwest, or parts of Canada, you may be close to a tannery . . . which is the ultimate source, outside of the sheep themselves. The skins can be mailed or shipped, so you don’t necessarily have to make your purchases in person.

The hides come either bleached white, dyed–any variety of colors–or natural. The naturals, which are neither bleached nor dyed, are most exciting to me because of their varied shades and patterns. You can’t expect a perfect match in naturals, but you do get beautiful skins that will allow you to produce highly individualistic creations.

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