Design

When I started the coat, the big image I had in my head was a hood, shaped like a seal head, that could come down over the top of the face of the wearer. I also knew I wanted the sleeves to look like flippers, and the hem of the coat to look like the tail of a seal. The first sketch I did is to the left, when I was just starting to play with the shape of everything. In the end, I didn’t change much; the biggest change was the use of a Dolman mantle, a Victorian garment, for inspiration for the sleeves; rather than being full sleeves the way this drawing shows, they break away from the body of the coat at about the elbow, creating a flipper-like effect.

The outfit that went under the coat was actually the hardest part of the design. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do at first; I knew I wanted to take a very fae, not-quite-human route, but I wasn’t sure what that would look like. Eventually I came up with the idea of the clothes being something the selkie might have found in shipwrecks, which can also be seen in this first sketch.

Fabric

Looking for the fur was incredibly difficult; I knew I wanted something thick, with a short pile, that wouldn’t look or feel too much like plastic, the way most fake fur does. Eventually, I found the fabric to the left, which turned out perfectly for this project.

By contrast, the lining of the coat was remarkably easy to find; I actually stumbled on it while looking for fabric for a completely different project, and fell in love with the way it looked like light hitting the ocean waves (pictured below).

Construction

The coat itself was all sewn by hand in a little under a month, as I didn’t have my sewing machine with me at the time. While it taught me a lot about hand sewing, it’s not an experience I’d like to repeat; sewing through several layers of fur by hand is difficult.

Aside from that, though, the basic pattern is fairly simple. The body consists of four panels, which include the sleeves; I wanted as few visible seams as possible, as the fur around each seam has to be picked out by hand to try to make it as invisible as possible. The sleeves and hem are scalloped, as can be seen below, to imitate a seal as closely as possible.

The hood (pictured to the left) was the trickiest piece, and I actually sized up a stuffed animal pattern to make it, which can be found here. Originally, I intended to add in whiskers, but decided I liked it better without.

Painting

When I started working on the coat, the fur was entirely white. While very pretty, I was using harbor seals as my main inspiration, which have spots. I did a few tests for how to create that pattern, and eventually ended up going with an airbrush and acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I combed through the fur to make sure there were no odd clumps of paint anywhere. I also added false shadows in the flippers on the sleeves and the tail at the hem, to emphasize the scallops. The final effect can be seen to the left.

‘Human’ Costume

The costume worn under the coat needed to be simple, to not distract from the coat itself. I also wanted it to have as few fastenings as possible; there’s something very human about zippers and buttons and ties and such, and I really wanted to lean into the idea that, even when in their human form, this character is not entirely like us.

In the end, I decided on a simple grey long sleeved shirt, green trousers, and black shoes (pictured left). I also found some fabric that looked like fishnet, with little sequins in it that look very much like drops of water, and cut that into a sort of vest which can be worn over the rest of the outfit.

Additional Photos

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my mother for taking photos, and to Professor Kiki Smith for advice on the initial design.