A little over a year ago I added a removable coyote ruff to my anorak using zipper and velcro, and thought I would share how I did it. Though I modified their methods, I benefitted from Pinecones’ and Pake’s posts which were the only ones I found at the time. There are certain to be easier ways, but I really liked how it turned out and have to say after a full season plus of usage, I would do it exactly the same way again tomorrow.

The Mission
I have a Wintergreen anorak to which I wanted to add a good coyote ruff that would be secure but removable. I wear my anorak regularly all winter and into spring, and I wanted to have to have the option to wear it without the ruff on warmer days with minimal visual impact to the exterior.
The Tools
- An old 1952 Singer sewing machine was used to stitch the velcro and zipper to the Cordura and hood of my anorak. I got it for US$20 on Craigslist.
- Triangular leather sewing needles, also called “glovers”, were used for sewing the hide to the Cordura. They are available at most any fabric store.
-Heavy weight polyester thread for sewing the hide.
-Standard weight Gutterman polyester thread for all machine sewing (heaver weight gums up the stitches).
-A pair of small, sharp scissors from my fly tying kit to cut the hide; I tried a razor but scissors seemed to work better.
-A straight edge to mark the hide.
The Pelt
What started out as my looking for someone to add a ruff for me drifted toward me buying a prepared ruff, but ended up with me buying a whole coyote pelt and doing all the cutting and stitching myself.
I bought my pelt from a fur shop in Duluth, Minnesota. I struggled to figure out how best to cut sections for a ruff, and could not find any clear directions on the web. It looked to me like most prepared ruffs online were cut across the back (like a salmon steak) rather than down the back (salmon fillet). After some consideration, I chose the fillet approach, essentially taking the two loins (right down each side of the spine) which I felt were the best sections of the pelt. I cut each loin to 14 inches long, and 4.5 inches wide at the top tapering down to 3 inches at the end. I was worried that the hairs would naturally lay down as they did on the hide, but I found that after wrapping it around the Cordura and brushing the hairs by hand a few times, this was a not issue for me. While the loins make up the bulk of the ruff, I ended up adding two more short 1 inch by 1.5 inch pieces to the ends to make the finished ruff a little over 31 inches long. I also felt the hairs toward the back of the hood at the very top were a bit thin, so I cut a 5 inch by 1/2 inch strip from the forward section of shoulder which had the the longest guard hairs (this section visible in photo below). In all my finished ruff is 5 pieces of hide, and 5 inches wide at the top and 31 inches long, it is both longer and wider than any I saw listed online. I have ample pelt left to make a second ruff, though not as thick or nice, and parts saved for trimming other gear as needed.
The Sewing
As stated before, I used both a 16 inch zipper and strips of 1/2 inch Velcro to attach my ruff. My thinking was that the velcro would be virtually unnoticeable when I have the ruff off, but I was not confident the velcro would be enough to hold the ruff in position so I added in a zipper. If I went a bit overboard here, it would not be the first time, but I do think it works very well.
The first sewing was to add the velcro strips (the soft side) to the inside of my anorak hood. Two long strips went from the center just inside the hood, down to where it curves forward, and then one or two additional shorter strips were added to reach the zipper in front.
Next I cut a piece of Cordura approximately 3.5 inches wide that followed the contour of the anorak hood. The Wintergreen anorak angles somewhat forward in front of the mouth, and measures 14 inches from top center to closure of the zipper. I stitched the zipper side with the pull thing to the inside edge of the Cordura. Next I zipped the other side of the zipper onto the Cordura side, pinned it in place inside the hood so the zipper was just inside from the velcro. This fixed the position of the zipper, which was then pinned in place and stitched about a 1.5 inches back from the edge of the hood.
Once the Coruda collar was anchored in place by the zipper, I could determine where the prickly side of the velcro should go, and stitched them in place on the Cordura. Notice in the photos that the inside of the Wintergreen hood is black, and the outside is red. Wintergreen used two colors of thread (one on the top and one on the bobbin) so the stitches would not be very visible. I chose to use red thread for both because I wanted the outside thread to match, I also wanted the contrast on the inside so I could more easily inspect my stitch quality (or lack thereof).
Lastly, I folded the outer edge of the Cordura back over the top and stitched in a seem. This created a channel on the front edge into which I could insert or remove a wire for rigidity. The Cordura collar extended a little more than one inch past the anorak hood when this was done.
I marked the inside center of the Cordura collar so I would know where to start sewing the ruff. I started at the center on the inside, with the hide overlapping the Cordura collar by about a 1.5 inches and stitched by hand down one side and then the other. I then folded the fur back over the top and stitched the hide to the outside of the Cordura collar just out from the edge of the hood. The result is that when the hood is up, I have a substantial about of fur both on the inside and outside.
You may have noticed that I mentioned the anorak hood was 14 inches from center seem down to the zipper on each side, but that my final ruff was about 31 inches. At first I had it right at 28 inches, but found that when I zipped up the hood in front, the fur ends did not quite meet. Somehow the Cordura collar changed the circumference, so I just added on two short pieces to the ends. If not zipped fully, they hang a little lose, but cinch up when the hood is fully closed.
The End Result
I’m very please with how it turned out. I’ve had the anorak for about 3 years, and the first time I wore it with the ruff in stiff winds and cold I was very impressed by the dead air around my face. Even when I wear the hood down but zipped up the ruff protects the back of my head, ears, cheeks and chin wonderfully. A few days after completion I was out for 2 days in wind chills in the -25 to -45°F (-29 to -42°C) and never felt my face was at any risk.
Side of anorak with hood up

Front of anorak with hood up
Side shot of hood when on shoulders

Production Photos
Unfortunately while I was working on this project I was pretty focused on figuring out how to make it all work and not on photography. The few shots I took did not end up showing all that much. I later realized, however, that by photographing that steps in taking my ruff off will pretty well capture all you need to see how I did it.
Shot of the hood inside out to show the stitching

Pulling the fur forward away from the edge of the anorak on outside

Pulling the edge of anorak back, separating the velcro

Velcro has been detached and hood edge pulled all the way back, to expose zipper. Note the pully thing is between the Cordura collar and the hood - not dangling in my face.

Ruff unzipped and separate from hood

Hood shown inside out, with ruff off

Hood shown with outside exposed after detaching ruff - no zippers or sticking visible

Hope that helps someone.