Identifying a material

[Marauchettes]

Hey there, first time posting and hope you can help me out

I've been looking at this guys work recently and was wondering if anyone here could give me the name of the material used on his clothing.
https://www.etsy.com/people/divamp?ref=owner_profile_leftnav

He simply calls it a "mirrored polyvinyl" and the only things I'm finding on eBay are vinyl film wraps for car body work.
From what I can tell both side of this material are the same, unlike the sticky sided vinyl wrap I've come across and also looks able to hold it's shape unlike typical fabric

 

[JFcustom]

I'd say it's basically made from a flexible silver mirror, usually sold in roll, and sticky on the backside. Cut in strips, sewn on the fabric.
To get both same sides, stick two half rolls back to back. This way it also allows to hold a curved shape, for example the piece of mirror on the inside of the curve being shorter than the one on the outside.
But I may be wrong.

 

[Genonono]

I can definitely see a lot of potential in this kind of material.

 

[Marauchettes]

Looking at the neck pieces it looks as if they are single strips capable of holding their own shape to some extent and from what I can see the edge of these pieces don't look two-ply.

I've got a sample roll of the sticky-backed wrap coming however so I will experiment with that and see what kind of results I get, there will be some parts of the costume I'm making where the sticky back stuff will work fine and it will be on top of a structure base but I was hoping to have a more organic futuristic metal quality with flexibility in some areas, will keep you guys up to date.

 

[Marauchettes]

Here's the sample I got, wanted to see how the textured sheets looked up close, the second image is two pieces stuck back to back, the third is on 2mm foam.

gonna get some smooth non-textured sheets posted asap before I make any decisions, still unsure if this is the same stuff used in the clothing above but I guess we'll see when the next batch comes

 

[the_batdemon]

I don't think the strips are holding their shape by themselves, bit rather the cut of the lining pattern and some stabilizer in that is keeping the shape.

The material looks like a heavier gauge Mylar.

 

[mdb]

It's probably sequin sheeting. Sequins are either made of PVC or PET and so that fits. I got some from here:
Sequin Film & Mesh
I have it in cornflower blue but they have gold:
Gold metallic sequin film. 5m roll

The stuff I have in hand is thin enough to cut with scissors and I could probably machine sew like that- I have those embroidery stitches seen in the collar.

I think the stuff I have is 0.3mm, if not thinner. You can get sequin sheeting by the 25kg lot from wholesalers and funnily enough I was going to see if I could get some to do some armour with as well! I was going for clearer "rainbow crystal shine" or "crystal shine" and glue it. SOme sequin film is made by laminating foils and clear plastics for a more permanent shine.

There are some pieces made from PVC/PU coated fabric but I think the rigid material could be sequin sheeting. I know I was about to go mad looking for alternatives for my Elsa bodice.

And I am impressed by the sewing. Much of it is a wide and short zig zag which I have done on silk and PVC and near drove myself insane. If you are going to use the same techniques invest in a teflon foot. I don't have one. Wish I did.
Also if you want to glue the stuff scuff up the back really well first. Just like any plastic really.

 

[Marauchettes]

I think we have a winner

Sequin material seems to fit the bill in my head, gonna order some to do tests on but the slight rigidity and thickness seem to match, I'll let you know how it turns out and fingers crossed we've found the right stuff

 

[mdb]

Another search term is sequin film though after a few months of hunting I have only found the above, wholesalers or wholesalers of material used in quilting which really is soft like mylar.

The only other option I found was Iridescent Acetate 22cm wide sold by the metre which is still soft but... I don't know if this only comes in clear rainbow as I was very specifically looking for an aurora finish.

 

[Marauchettes]

Very quick cut out of 2 Sequin film layers and the sticky back textured pieced glued to foam.
will go on to experiment with adding fake screws etc. and a few weathering techniques

Huge thanks to user mdb for sourcing the material!

 

[mdb]

Nice! Funny thing, your piece reminds me of my SWTOR in game gear It's that shade of pale metallic purple and then I also have a lot of flat yellow and silvery white. It could be an option to laminate the heck out of it with this stuff....

And no worries I may hoard my "this takes hours of pinning repinning and more pining" or "hours of taking off clay putting clay back on.." methods (mainly because you can't do a tutorial really- tired, failed) but materials,.. I think it only fair to give the manufacturers as many customers as possible!