Large covered hooks and eyes are commonly used for fur garment closures. Insert the hook into a small opening in the front/facing seam or, for cut-on facings, make a small slit through which to insert it. On the garment wrong side, secure the hook using a 3" length of 1/4"-wide twill tape under the hook stem. Cross the tape ends under the hook, then pin and whipstitch them to the garment. Secure the facing to the twill tape with small, close whipstitches (6).
If the garment edges are abutted, insert the eyes into the opposite seamline or foldline in the same manner.
If the garment edges lap, pin-mark the eye placements on the underlap with the pin point extending straight up through to the fur wrong side. Use an awl to pierce the garment on each side of the pin. Straighten the eye ends with needle-nose pliers, then insert them into the holes until just enough of the eye remains on the garment right side for the hook to catch. Using the pliers, reshape the eye ends to form open loops (7). Secure the eye using twill tape as noted above for the hook.
Button loops made from braid, elastic, cord or 1/2"-wide faux suede strips folded in half and edgestitched may be inserted in the same manner as hooks.
To make a bound buttonhole on faux fur, mark the buttonhole position and length on the fur wrong side. Pin-mark each end of the buttonhole and slash between the pins. For each buttonhole cut four strips of 1/2"-wide twill tape 1 1/2" longer than the buttonhole. On the fur wrong side, center a strip precisely along each slash edge and catchstitch the tape to the fabric backing (8).
From the fur right side, push the pile away from the slit and position the remaining two strips on either side of the slit. Using a small overhand stitch, sew the strips to the slit edges only (9). Turn the strips on the right side through the slit and use a running stitch to secure the strips to the corresponding strips on the garment wrong side (10).
For button closures, choose shank buttons and sew them in place with heavy-duty button or upholstery thread, adding a thread shank extension if needed.
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