Till today we buy our clothing in the city but the quality these days isn't that good anymore for bush living. We have lots of reindeer fur pelts laying on our furniture to sit on and for the warmth. The quality of the pelts is outstending, they are very strong and warm. Now ive the idea to make also our clothing from those fur pelts beacause the good quality and warmth. Are here some who have experience with alternative clothing made out of fur pelts and special made out of reindeer pelts? Is it worth to make clothes out of fur pelts and how does it wear, is it comfortable to wear fur clothes all day? Quote Reply Report Edit
I have no real experience in the matter , but I'm sure if the pelt from some animals was tanned properly , it could be strong , warm , and quite comfortable .
I do not believe most would want to wear pelt clothing all day unless they lived in a zone where it was cold, really cold. I have a fur coat that I rarely wear because it is too warm most of the year. I think fur booties would be a good think to have. Maybe a fur-lined moccasin would be something you could make and sell. Peoples feet get colder before there torso.
I have worn some leather while buckskinning. Searching "mountain man" patterns will certainly get you some results on making cloths out of skins. As mentioned, particularly in colder climates, pelts rock.
Leather pants are not all that comfortable in an active environment however chaps are ideal . The crotch is the tough part ,sewing it for one thing and wearing and maintaining is another . Then there is keeping them clean and cleaning them too. This is why chaps work out best. As for coats they are great but again provisions for layering need to be considered . If I were building a set of leather clothes I would first make liners ,several of them for each and something that is easily removed for laundering. . Another issue is weight Leather is heavy and wet its exponentially heavier ,water proofing is a must .. During the winter months I wore leathers on the motorcycle and only on the bike ,not while working . it was like putting on armor . For rain I made a set of naugahyde chaps, and coat, and bib, and boot covers, that completely shed the rain and these worked flawlessly . Again it's like armor not like something you want to wear all day long.
We have a thriving industry here for caribou - they are raised for meat. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs...scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=wafi20 Caribou Skin Clothing - Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service) Caribou hide clothing was a thing a very long time ago for the Native prople - now they seem to prefer Down parkas made with nylon....
The Sami people in Lapland Finland traditionally wore clothing made from reindeer leather. They are in a cold Artic region, so it must work. It seems they have been civilized and tend to wear cloth clothing in more recent times. There is no bad weather, just bad clothing.
I think it depends on the type of animal the hide comes from. And the tanning process. For example doeskin from deer when tanned well is very soft. Have never had a doeskin pair of pants tho, but have had doeskin gloves, and moccasins. When they geet wet tho the are very uncomfortable. I had an elkskin jacket years ago tradional native it was very nice, but heavy. Not something you cold wear in the summer. I bought my wife a pair of moosehide mukluks traditional very warm and rugged, go up almost to her knee. The soles were from the heavy skin on the cape. very tough. So many new materials that are more durable and warmer in the old and cooler in the summer. But would not hurt anyone to learn how to make moccasins.
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Thanks for practice information in wearing off pelts. Do you have also practice in wearing reindeer hide pelts? And i know it comes all on good tanning, i have pelts wich laying rond on our furniture they ive bougt from the sami and they have a good tanning procces on a traditional way the pelts i have are now some years old, but they seems as new and the tanning is very soft. Ive reed this book, a lot of times there is good information about making clothing of reindeer fur and it has also good paterrns for clothing. But no information about how does it wear, i read alot on the web and i know they are warm, and i believe warm enough for our conditions ( winter time -35 summer some 8 degrees c ). In the book is also a advice to make these clothing double layerd ( fur inside and fur outside ) but not why. But i think to give it a try to make first clothes for my self ( high dungaree trowser till my armpit and a long hooded anorak till my knees a pair boots and mittens ) and try to wear them. If it wears good than is it a good experiment and i replace all my commercial bought clothes for this, and i will make also these clotes for my husband. and if it's goes wrong it's have been a worse of an experiment. But if it goes good and t,can make cutch clothes and the clothes fits well and wear well it is than also a big step foreward for us to go complete out of civilization.
Maybe this article will help you it is an article about traditional Inuit clothing from Northern Canada. But keep in mind this clothing was fairly heavy. They really did not do a lot of technical things outside in the winter months. Other than the men hunting. The other key thing that was equally important or maybe even more so. Is that they ate pure raw fat/blubber. They eat their meat raw. And their bodies evolved for eating pure fat and raw meat. That was their internal heat source. The Art and Technique of Inuit Clothing
Interesting! Maybe reindeer clothing is heavy to wear, but i think it is also a habituation to wear it, and we must learn to wear these clothes that trough the weigt things goes slower like moving because of the thikness of the clothing. But i think also that the quality and warmth makes it good and its timeless it have no fashion trends so you czn wear it year by year without buying new ones And what i also have understand by reading they wear these clothes 24/7 and this is also what we want and it's also in the way of our goal what we want, total away from human civilization and become more part of the animals, and they have warm pelts and we ant to simulate it in this way. And off the food i think we are cooking all our meals , and with in the cooking some calories lost , and we eat every thing warm and the food cool down inside our body's, so our body's warmth goes a bit up and than cooles down maybe is this wrong and you have some cold after the cool down of the warm food inside the body and is our internal heath source a bit confused in this proscess. The inuit eat it raw so their body's are constante of temprature so the feel not the hot and cold of the body after eating warm food, and in these i think that they have it to fast to warm by wearing such thick fur pelts, and is wearing these thick fur pelts very ideal for us.
