WOW! Your first post and it was to comment on my simple garment!? Undoubtedly, kind madam, I feel more than flattered!
Guys, I was e-mailing Nick (NuRF), and I decided to post this so you guys could see a short explanation of the blue parts of the suit, at least.... if anyone wishes, I didn´t say anything about the belt, the gloves, the boots or the midsection, so please if you guys didn´t figure it out, ask away!
His e-mail to me was concerning material and how did I figure out the cutouts, the seams and whatnot, and he asked if it was all trial and error or I had a method. So, here´s my reply to him -
"OK, as far as fabrics go, I used a synthetic fabric that is not all too different from the coverings of convertible cars. Its plastic-like qualities and fabric-like look would lend themselves to what I´d THINK it´d work. The thing is - I do have a method, after 22 years doing this I should have, but mostly is gut feeling, and I felt that the fabric I was about to use would lend itself to what I actually did with it.
SO... It was much harder than sewing an actual set of pants (which, by the way, I loathe to do), but I had a friend lend me one of his pairs and upon folding it in half - leg with leg, not on the knee, mind you! - I had a tentative pattern for a leg, and I placed it upon the fabric, folded the fabric accordingly and just cut it around the set of pants. Adjusted to make the difference between front and back, and presto, I had a first leg. Then it was just a matter of inverting it , putting it onto the fabric and cutting the other leg.
Now..... how the heck would I do those details, my sewing machine being a very low-end one?
AAAH, THAT is where the plastic-like quality of the fabric was put to good use. So I sewed it in a pants-like shape, it worked, my buddy could come in and out and move in relative grace (not too much, he´s kinda clumsy), but it didn´t hinder his movements, which was the main goal anyway. After that, I cut the hexagon-shaped parts, hemmed them with that double-hem clearly seen in any picture and GLUED them on top of the pants, with Cyanoacrilate glue! The results were fantastic, they seemed like they were always sewn there, and again, nothing hindered my buddy´s gait.
The same fabric was then used to the torso. It wasn´t exactly a walk in the park for my sewing machine, but I could quilt it to make the parts over the shoulderpads, and after breaking about 12 or 14 needles (I buy them in bulk, luckily), it was DONE. Then I made the outer parts of the shoulderpads, making a sandwich of - Fabric - EVA foam cutouts - EVA foam base - Fabric again. Once it was all glued, it looked quite professional, and then it was a matter of adding the grey belting material, and presto, shoulderpads.
Again, since it glued so well, I thought - the chest will be a walk in the park.
Weirdly enough, it WAS! I made a sort of chestpiece out of a single sheet of 12mm EVA foam, tested it and then once it felt right, I covered it with the blue material, again, with the seams being glued, and it looked terrific, it is resistant and he can wear it in about 10 minutes, tops!
I made the belt from scratch, as well as the boots, gloves and the.... well, everything, really
So I can tell you it was a really fair balance of method, guestimation, sheer luck and some clever design
You know, I think I´m going to post this on the RPF! Seems like a good tutorial, if I ever wrote one!
"
Sure enough I did post it
Yay!
