Update: Sewing the Gloves/Arms
I have sewn the gloves and arms. The gloves are definitely the hardest part. I did one with an attached thumb, per my print's design. I found it to be more trouble than it's worth with stretch fabric, so the other hand I did with the thumb attached. I've also attached the arms, shoulder, and neck. Would have done the zipper if I didn't totally break it (shed a single tear for that one) and now I have to get a new one.
GLOVES
1. I traced out my hand with a Mark-B-Gone marker that dissolves in water, super useful!
2. Baste like your life depends on it.
3. Tested my hand it the basting. I found that the glove will look awful if the finger is wider than its opening, so try to taper it down toward the finger tip.
4. I found it was easiest to sew from the side of fingertip to the joint, switching from overlock-stretch to a straight stitch as a got to the joint.
5. Then I went back and did a round seam on each fingertip.
6. Then I tried it on again. Sewing the joint moved where my fingers ended, so I marked the ends with my marker, cut where needed, and sewed the fingertips again.
(sewing along the edges separately was helpful, since it didn't ruin my stitch when I cut the fingertips off for adjustment)
7. Fitting also helped show where my seams were too close to the edge and left holes.
8. I went over my seams again just because my suit is so small and tight that I know I'm gonna have a lot of tension in my fingertips.
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9. That extra thumb is a pain in the a** to sew. It's helpful and looks really nice, but took me forever to figure out (novice sewer). You have to fit both the thumb length and your palm width for it to sit correctly and I abandoned it for my left glove.
10. I only chose to do it this way because lycra is stretchy. I think it looks much cleaner this way and will design my next print for it.
11. I also decided I didn't need wrist zippers since I can basically scrunch my hands to the size of my wrists.
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ARMS
1. So you'll see there are sharp points where you cut and attach the end of the arm to the palm. I did that first.
2. Then I actually started sewing at the armpit because that's where my webbing is, and I needed that to line up. Pretty much nailed that!
3. I didn't take pictures of attaching the arms to the body, but it's pretty self-explanatory. I lined up the armpit stitch to the body's side-stitch and sewed outward from each side. Just baste well and double check before accidentally sewing the wrong arm to the wrong damn side...
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SHOULDERS
1. So the shoulders are also really easy. I turned my print into a detached mask, so I'm not sure how construction works if it's attached, but I assume similarly.
2. Started with the bottom short piece and stretched slightly while basting because mine was a little shy of being wide enough.
3. Then I basted and sewed the side parts, going from the top of the neck down to the shoulder (I found this helps make a sharp corner better)
4. I'll add a close-up of the shoulders later. Here is what I have so far, though it will look like it fits better when I get a zipper in there!
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I wish I didn't have work tomorrow, since there is SO much left to do and I have no idea how to do the hood pretty much, lol.
