My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build: Underjacket Completed!

OzytheHaystack

New Member
For those who are curious about the shield build, go here: https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=291865

*cracks knuckles* Alright, here we go! After two failed test runs, I've finally started the journey of making a Captain America: Civil War suit for my husband.

For those of you joining me on this journey, hi! My name is OzytheHaystack (I go by Ozy), and I'm the wife of Clanleader16. Because we are both nerds (and because I love him), I will be making him the Captain's suit. I have 5+ years of sewing experience so I'm no stranger to most of the techniques used, but hoo boy...

I started off initially wrapping up my husband's torso and arm ALA brutuswayne's method and had everything marked out beautifully, only for the tape to unstick from the shirt and stick to itself, wrecking the seam lines with no chance for repair. :cry Then I took a blue collar worksuit from Marks Work Wearhouse, had my husband separate the top and bottom via seam ripper, then sewed up the front and installed a zipper in the back to see how everything would sit. The results were so embarassingly bad that pictures promptly caught fire and turned to ash. :p Flummoxed, I was still planning out my next attempt when Manfred Kinn entered into our lives.

Manny Kinn 1.jpg

He likes to go by "Manny".

Can't figure out why this picture won't turn rightside up after multiple save attempts so I give up. :p Anyways, My husband found this mannequin, along with over a dozen of his brothers and sisters, being given away on Kijiji for free, so I ran to the local megamall (and I mean megamall, it's the WEM for those who know what that is), and promptly dragged this guy with me through the very crowded shopping mall while all the other shoppers cracked up laughing at the sight of a 5" 6' woman carrying a naked 5"8' mannequin out the door. :lol

Anyways, from there I taped up my husband's torso and arm again, cut him out of it, then put the results on Manny.

Manny Kinn 2.jpg

Nice!

Next up: Re-drawing the seamlines and buying spandex and headliner foam.

Bonus: How I brought Manny home:

Manny Kinn 4.jpg
 
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Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Hi Ozy & Clan,

welcome to the RPF.This thread is friggin funny from the get-go :lol thank you for that breath of fresh air !
Wishing you both good luck on your Cap-quest and I will be reading the thread as it develops :thumbsupfingers crossed !
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Hi Ozy & Clan,

welcome to the RPF.This thread is friggin funny from the get-go :lol thank you for that breath of fresh air !
Wishing you both good luck on your Cap-quest and I will be reading the thread as it develops :thumbsupfingers crossed !

Thanks George! If you couldn't tell, my wife is much more of a writer than I am! :p
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Hi Ozy & Clan,

welcome to the RPF.This thread is friggin funny from the get-go :lol thank you for that breath of fresh air !
Wishing you both good luck on your Cap-quest and I will be reading the thread as it develops :thumbsupfingers crossed !

Thank you George for making my day! :) You too SMP Designs!

After taking care of some ongoing business this week, I drew out the pattern pieces on the shoulder, upper arm and forearm in a three-hour stretch. Gotta love getting into a focus streak! Also figuring out the seamlines for the forearm was a bear, haha.

Lines 1.jpg

Lines 2.jpg

Lines 3.jpg

I have to tidy up some of the lines a bit, but otherwise this is probably the best I'm going to manage without risking the tape sticking together again. I also added in the shoulder seams, side seams and prince seams (like princess seams, but for a dude) to get a better, less restricting fit. The first result fit like a straightjacket on my poor husband, so I knew one piece across the front was not going to cut it. Also, I will be taking a page from brutuswayne's playbook again and making the base sleeve with spandex, which we grabbed tonight before seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp(yippee!). The scribbles are to differentiate not-armour spandex.

Next up: Cutting out the pieces and flat patterning everything, then testing a mockup.
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

While my wife is working on the main suit, I've decided to divide and conquer and work on the accessories. I started on the gloves this past Saturday. I cut the tips off of some old leather gloves I had lying around, then tore the stitching apart to flat pattern. This is my first time doing any sort of sewing or patterning, so wish me luck! :)

IMG_20180714_144031.jpgMVIMG_20180714_150010.jpgMVIMG_20180714_151314.jpgIMG_20180714_162435.jpg
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Wishing you luck,CL :thumbsup
And adding to that; sometimes looking at a 3d model from all sides can provide you with insights you wouldn't get from pictures,so here's Cap in all his glory :lol:

https://www.models-resource.com/mobile/marvelsfuturefight/model/15300/

I hope it comes in handy.You may even derive some templates from that in pepakura designer 4,although I am not sure whether you can apply papercraft-/foam templates to sewing fabric,but that's something you experts might know.Good luck once more,both !
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Thank you for the model, George! :)

Got a LOT done over the last several days. All the pieces have been cut apart, flat-patterned and cut out of paper.

Pattern1.jpg

Torso!

Pattern3.jpg

Elbow patch!

Pattern 2.jpg

Upper arm!

Pattern4.jpg

Forearm!

Testing has now begun. Thus far I've tested half-inch foam for the shoulder guards and 1/8 inch batting for the rest of the suits, So far the results are quite good,

Mockup1.jpg
Rough batting piece.

Mockup2.jpg

Rough shoulder piece. It looks like a pillow now, but in it's original fabric, it will look AWESOME.

I sewed a mockup of the torso, but the armholes are way too tight and the seam allowance is too big so I'm going in to refit everything tomorrow.

That wasn't the only excitement to happen to us though! Clan decided to buy his own sewing machine so we wouldn't be fighting over Lady (my machine...yes I name everything) for sewing time. He found this beauty on Kijiji. Meet Tank, everybody!

Tank.jpg

Yes, it does indeed come with it's own desk. I think it's previous owner was someone's chain-smoking Grandmother at one point, because at first that's all you could smell coming from the wood. However, once we got it up the stairs (and almost died in the process; as the name indicates, Tank is really heavy) and Clan attacked it with Lemon Pledge, Tank was a new machine-desk thing. Tank was clearly made to last; produced in the 1960's, it still runs like a charm (another reason for the name). In honour of Clan's new work station and sewing machine, I couldn't resist writing the following as a true 90's kid would. Sing along, if you know the tune. ;)

The Lady and the Tank,
The Lady and the Tank,
One purrs like a kitten
and the other's a crank!
They're good at sewing stitches
but can be a bit malicious
'Cause they're Lady,
They're Lady and the Tank, Tank, Tank, Tank, Tank!
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

If I may make a suggestion - I use headliner foam for most of my projects. It’s about 1/4” and is fabric backed and comes on rolls by the cut yard. I cut it to the pattern, then use Super 77 to adhere it to the fabric (adhere the foam side of the headliner to your fabric - then you have the fabric side to sew on, almost like a lining) and then cut the pieces and sew them together. It’s very stable and provides great structure. It might give you sharper contours and lines than batting, which can be a bit “fluffy”.
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

If I may make a suggestion - I use headliner foam for most of my projects. It’s about 1/4” and is fabric backed and comes on rolls by the cut yard. I cut it to the pattern, then use Super 77 to adhere it to the fabric (adhere the foam side of the headliner to your fabric - then you have the fabric side to sew on, almost like a lining) and then cut the pieces and sew them together. It’s very stable and provides great structure. It might give you sharper contours and lines than batting, which can be a bit “fluffy”.

This sounds like a FANTASTIC idea and I'd love to use it, but, unfortunately for this build, Clan and I live in Canada so we've had no luck trying to locate anything quite like that. :( Our local fabric stores only carry foam in 1/2 inch and up widths, and to go thinner you're forced to switch to batting. :( That said, I was wondering about possibly using glue to finish the shoulder armour pieces, so your suggestion of Super 77 glue was quite timely. :) Thank you so much!
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

If I may make a suggestion - I use headliner foam for most of my projects. It’s about 1/4” and is fabric backed and comes on rolls by the cut yard. I cut it to the pattern, then use Super 77 to adhere it to the fabric (adhere the foam side of the headliner to your fabric - then you have the fabric side to sew on, almost like a lining) and then cut the pieces and sew them together. It’s very stable and provides great structure. It might give you sharper contours and lines than batting, which can be a bit “fluffy”.

I've been searching high and low for headliner foam in our area, with zero success :( What are your suggestions for a possible alternative? do you think getting some dense craft foam and attaching some interfacing with spray adhesive would work? The shipping costs to get some delivered to us are insane! The best I've found is about $30/yard for the foam, then $16/5 lbs for shipping.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, no automotive upholstery places I've called will sell the foam to us directly.
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

I've been searching high and low for headliner foam in our area, with zero success :( What are your suggestions for a possible alternative? do you think getting some dense craft foam and attaching some interfacing with spray adhesive would work? The shipping costs to get some delivered to us are insane! The best I've found is about $30/yard for the foam, then $16/5 lbs for shipping.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, no automotive upholstery places I've called will sell the foam to us directly.

This is my usual source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/271989375999

I don't know what the CA price difference or shipping would be.
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

I checked, shipping prices would put a single roll at CA $79.74. :cry That said, I will be bookmarking that shipper for future references, so thanks for the link! :)

I'll have a quick update posted shortly on this last week's escapades, but we've run into a bit of a more painful roadblock in that the local suppliers we've used in the past are completely out of 1/2 inch upholstery foam, and since they're going through inventory, they won't be receiving any more at all until the end of August. :( I've got three more places to call tomorrow, but after that locally we are out of options. :/ Figers crossed that a solution appears soon!
 
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Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

I checked, shipping prices would put a single roll at CA $79.74. :cry That said, I will be bookmarking that shipper for future references, so thanks for the link! :)

I'll have a quick update posted shortly on this last week's escapades, but we've run into a bit of a more painful roadblock in that the local suppliers we've used in the past are completely out of 1/2 inch upholstery foam, and since they're going through inventory, they won't be receiving any more at all until the end of August. :( I've got three more places to call tomorrow, but after that locally we are out of options. :/ Figers crossed that a solution appears soon!

Sending you a PM.
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Why yes, yes I do! That's why I did for all my raised areas, but with less steps. I just glued the foam to the underlayer, and sewed the top layer right around the top.

https://i.imgur.com/Xw8ngqx.jpg?1

Thanks so much Drew! Your Infinity War Cap looks amazing! :D I'd love to do one myself in the future, but I can't grow a beard to save my life, lol. I'd be a scraggly mountain-man Cap. :p Where did you get your belt buckle from?
 
Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

Fingers crossed,Oz & Clan !

Apparently your finger-crossing worked because WE FOUND FOAM! :D A local upholstery business sold us some of theirs, and the lady who owns the business was very amused when I told her what we were using it for.
To quote her the second I left my car, "How in the world did you get roped into doing this costume for your husband?" :lol She gave me her business card, so I'm going to send her some pictures of the suit once we are done.

In any case, this has been a pretty productive last week and a half so far!

shoulder pad take two.jpg

For batting being batting, these actually turned out amazingly well for my first time! I know that the elbow patch looks wonky, but once the sleeve is pinned the miracle of spandex does its work well. :)

Sleeve.jpg


The shoulder armour turned out pretty ok after a couple of attempts, but I'm still not 100% satisfied so I'm going to redo it now that we have foam again. This is a bit annoying because this thing broke not one, not two, but three needles in its assembly. Rrrrr. In any case, the fact that this looks like an invisible blue shell from Mario Kart in it's current incarnation amuses me. Maybe I'll make another one when this build is over and attach some wings on it. Then I can throw it whenever a bad driver does something stupid on the Henday.:lol

Base jacket.jpg

Finally, I wasn't completely idle during our hunt for foam, and manage to get the base of the jacket fitted and done, taking the zipper from back to front. The fit is good, I could take it in a bit at the side but for now I'll leave it. I can't wait to attach the sleeves to this!

Next up: The upper arm and shoulder. (Ulp).



shoulder pad take two.jpg


Sleeve.jpg


Base jacket.jpg
 
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Re: My first Captain America Civil War Suit Build

THE SLEEVES.

ARE.

DONE.

:D:D:D

Shoulder assembly front.jpg

Upper sleeves, assemble! (And on a side note, LOVE working with a high-quality pleather! I'm stoked to use it again on the chest part of the suit!)

Finished shoulder assembly .jpg

What the back looks like with the shoulder pieces added. Next up, just need to glue in the padding (third time's the charm!)

Front shoulder .jpg

Front view with the padding glued in!

LOWER SLEEVES REDUX.jpg

There were some fit issues the first time Clan tried on the lower forearms so I cut out a larger spandex sleeve, added a bit more padding detail, then reattached everything, including the little elbow patch. The end result was a much better fit on the forearms!

I didn't get a lot of pictures of the process of attaching the sleeves and shoulders to the base jacket, but I will say that the underjacket is FINALLY DONE! :D

Sleeves, assemble!.jpg

And, for the most part, it turned out pretty awesome, although it would help if navy blue wasn't so STUPID HARD TO PHOTOGRAPH AAARGH :rolleyes :facepalm. Oh well. :lol

Show the upper sleevc.jpg

Upper sleeve, including shoulder ring. Looks slightly funky here only because Clan is not wearing it. He'll likely post some shots of himself here once we have the whole getup assembled.

Left sleeve bottom.jpg

Detailed shot of the lower left sleeve, Out of the two of them, the left sleeve turned out the best, which actually works out perfectly because the shield sits on the right arm and covers up most of the minor boo boos I made on that arm. :lol I'd go back and fix some of the issues, but at this point I have to move on if I want to finish this suit in time to debut it at Expo. I'm a few days behind schedule now but I'll live.

NEXT: Patterning out the chest. :D
 

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