Most cosplayers and furries make the entire suit out of the same style of fabric and use 2-3 different colors. If you’re using more than 1 color, make your hand paws, feet paws, and belly the same color. Many people buy their fabric from community members on Etsy, but there are several larger fursuit manufacturers online. You need at least 3 by 3 feet (0. 91 by 0. 91 m) of fursuit fabric to create your paws. If you’re also making feet paws, double the amount of fursuit fabric that you buy. While some fursuit fabrics only have fur on one side, most fabrics are double-sided. You can always shave one side down with an electric hair clipper if you want. Fursuit fabric is designed to be easily shaved.
Get 2 by 2 feet (0. 61 by 0. 61 m) of vinyl fabric for the paws. You’re going to cut some odd shapes out of these sheets, so you need a decent amount of fabric. If you’re making feet paws, double the amount of vinyl fabric that you buy.
The paws can be whatever shape you’d like, but round finger pads tend to be more common. The fingers don’t have to be perfectly symmetrical, but making each finger roughly the same size makes the process easier since you don’t need to track which side the paw pads go on.
If you find it really hard to cut around the finger pads, it will be even harder to cut the fabric out. Consider making a rounder design if you find it hard to cut the template out.
If the fur is really thick, brush it in its natural direction to smooth it down before tracing.
You can use the scraps of your fabric for eyebrows, stripes, or as padding at the end of each finger when you’re done.
When you put the paws together, make sure that the shaved sides are facing one another. Always trim the fur off by moving the clipper in same direction.
When you sew the separate pieces of fabric together to make your paws, make sure that the sides with lining on them are facing one another. Alternatively, you can use hot glue to attach thick, woven gloves to the center of 2 of the paws.
Even though you aren’t going to sew the wrist together, pinning it in place will help keep the fabric still while you sew.
For a cleaner stitch, fold the edges on top of one another before stitching the sheets of fabric together. You can do this by hand if you prefer, but it will take some time to complete. If you want the fabric to look uniform, use a stitching thread that is the same color as your fabric.
Trim any excess fabric that is sticking outside of the stich using your sewing scissors. Alternatively, you can use hot glue to join the loose edges together.
Alternatively, you can use a standard oval for the large pad in the middle of the hand. The shape of the paw pads are completely up to you. Generally speaking, the paw pads should small enough that there is 1 in (2. 5 cm) of fur between the pad and the edge of the finger where you’re placing it.
If the vinyl fabric is really thick, you may need to use sewing scissors instead. Vinyl fabric is typically pretty easy to cut, though.
The paw pads should be the same side on each hand. Tracing the pads is the only way to determine that the pads are all the same size.
If your fur is really thick, shave the location where you’re going to install the paws before adding them. Alternatively, you can sew the pads into the paws. If you do, make sure that you don’t sew all the way through each finger and accidentally join them together.
While your feet paws can be shaped however you’d like, most fur feet have round toes that lead back to the heel. Make the foam base at least 2–4 inches (5. 1–10. 2 cm) bigger than your shoe on each side, although they can be bigger if you’d like. You can use craft foam instead of EVA foam if you prefer, but craft foam tends to be a little softer and may not last as long. Like regular paws, fursuit feet paws typically have 4 digits. You can make a suit out of 5 or 3 toes if you prefer, though.
The shoes must be made of canvas fabric. Plastic and leather won’t stick to the foam you’ll use to pad the feet. To make fursuit feet paws without shoes, use thick, comfortable socks instead of shoes. It’s typically easier to use canvas shoes, though. It is extremely hard to make stable fursuit feet paws entirely from scratch without shoes or socks.
Since your templates are identical, it doesn’t matter which shoe goes on which sheet of foam.
You need at least 3 by 3 feet (0. 91 by 0. 91 m) worth of upholstery foam to complete both feet. Use a bread knife or scissors if you don’t have an electric knife. Hold your nondominant hand at least 8–12 inches (20–30 cm) away from the area that you’re cutting to keep your hands safe. If your foam is kind of thin, repeat this process a second time and glue the 2 cut out portions together for each foot to double the thickness. The foam must be thicker than the height of your shoes for this process to work.
Cutting the foam in half gives you room to cut into the middle of the padding without worrying about puncturing the top of the padding, which must remain intact.
Keep in mind, the back half of each paw only needs to wrap around your heel. You’ll remove more foam from the front half of each paw. Cut out a small half circle where each pad sits over the opening of your shoe to give you room to put your feet inside. This doesn’t need to be perfect. Don’t worry if you remove a little excess foam.
Weigh each shoe down with a heavy, flat object for 3-5 minutes to join the 4 pieces of upholstery foam the EVA foam. Don’t add glue to the outside of the canvas shoe when you do this. You need a little breathing room for your feet.
You can leave the heel as it is if you’d like. Alternatively, feel free to smooth the top out to make the heel lead up towards your leg. There is no right or wrong shape for the toes. Feel free to cut them however you’d like!
Alternate the direction of every other pin. In other words, if your first pin goes through the top of the foot, place your second pin through the bottom of your foot.
You do not need to add fabric to the sole of each foot. It’s perfectly fine if the sheets of fursuit fabric overlap. If you have any gaps or openings between the sheets of fabric, cut additional pieces out.
The vinyl fabric will make it easier to glue to the fursuit fabric to the foam. Without the vinyl fabric, your fursuit fabric may peel off over time. You can use sewing pins if you want to make it easier, but it isn’t necessary if you have a steady hand. This portion of the fabric will be hidden, and you really only need the vinyl to glue the fabric to the foam.
The fluffy fursuit fabric will make it easy to hide any gaps in the upholstery foam if there are any. You can always cut out new pieces and layer them over the gaps if you’d like.
