Tail Furring Tips

This guide is meant to share some basic tips on how to finish a Cekay 3D FlexiTail. If you're new to working with fur fabrics, I suggest looking up a more detailed tutorial on YouTube that walks through everything start to finish.

Getting fur

You can use whatever fur provider and pile length you like. Longer pile furs will help to hide your seams, and can always be shaved down later.

I personally use Howl Fabrics, their Luxury Shag fur will look excellent on your tail, and it comes in plenty of colors.

Here's some recommendations on how much for to buy for each kind of tail. These measurements treat each tail as if they were a straight, solid tube with no indentations:

	Feline	Tiefling
Total fur to buy (yd^2)	1	-

Always round up how much fabric you think you need, you'd rather have too much than not enough! Please cross reference these numbers with your planned pattern to decide on how much fabric you need, these are merely recommendations based on patterns I've used to fur my own tails.

Keep in mind that the bolts of fabric you receive probably won't be long enough to cut one piece that runs down the entire length of the tail. For example, Howl Fabric sells their bolts at a 55-60 inches in width, but the nap of the fur runs perpendicular to this direction. Shorten your pattern pieces if needed.

Patterning

In general, my FlexiTails function just like normal foam bases when it comes to creating fur patterns. If you already have experience furring foam bases, you'll feel right at home making patterns for these.

Cover the tail in duct tape and trace your markings onto it. This will make the tail stiff and immobile, but don't worry, your final pattern will still sway nicely.

Cut the duct tape away from the tail using exacto knives or scissors (I suggest using teflon-coated precision scissors to prevent the duct tape from sticking). Be careful not to cut into the plastic fibers on the tail's surface.

Now you're ready to transfer to fabric!

Furring

Our goal here will be to create a fur pattern that doesn't need to be glued down onto the tail. That way you'll keep the maximum amount of motion when everything is finished.

Don't use permanent markers to trace your pieces, it will bleed. I use fabric chalk to trace.

I suggest that you make a test fit using scrap fabric to test the tightness of your pattern. Try to target using 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of seam allowance. For the pieces that rest against the belt loop of the tail, extend the outer edge of the pattern pieces by half an inch to ensure your pattern will be long enough (you can always cut away the excess later).

As you slide the finished fabric sleeve over the tail, it should get tougher to slide as you go. This means you have a good fit! Go little by little, squishing and compressing the tail to inch your pattern onto it.

If you're satisfied with the test fit, move on to your fur. Remember that the fur's seams may be bulkier than your test fabric, so adjust accordingly.

Measure twice and cut once! Make sure each part of your pattern is facing the correct way on the direction of fur. I find that using an exacto knife to cut through the backing of the fur is easiest (don't use scissors, you'll cut too many fur fibers). Wear a mask, you don't want to be breathing fur fibers!

Putting it all together

Doing hand stitching or machine sewing is up to you. However, a heavy duty sewing machine may be necessary to power through fur fabrics.

To keep the fur fibers out of your seams, you may want to brush it all away and stick some blue painter's tape over it away from where you'll be stitching.

Congratulations! You've finished your tail. Go forth and wear it with pride!

Maintenance

Before following this advice, please follow any recommendations that your fur manufacturer provides!

You can hand-wash your finished tail all together, or remove the fur to wash them separately. The plastics and adhesives used in your tail are water resistant but not necessarily heat resistant, so please air dry the tail when you're done washing it.