This is a pic of the tail I made for FurCon08. I hadn't sewn anything since clear back in high school, but I think I did a pretty good job on it. I didn't use any pre-existing pattern, I planned, cut, and sewed the entire thing pretty much from scratch.

It was a lot of fun to wear this around FurCon, and I really felt like I fit in because I'd say 50% or more of the furs there was wearing some form of a tail.