Pretty cool concept, and excellent start using newsprint/sheeting pattern. Thats what my mother does for costumes and I can honestly say (with bias of course) that she is the best seamstress I know.

Wow, very nice job so far with the undesuit. I'll definetly be watching this thread and coming back to it when I start my undersuit. Out of curiosity, what program did you use to do the sketchup? Cant wait to see more!

This is looking really promising O_O Can't wait to see more progress! There aren't enough seamstresses on 405th ^_^
It might be a little cheeky to ask at this point..But do you plan to share your pattern when you are done? :O

-Phi

I'm going to keep an eye on this build. The patterns look spot on to the game. Nice to see more people doing custom undersuits.
Goodluck!

Impressive! I am really looking forward to the results! I see you have a "light" and "heavy" texture fabric on the first picture, have you come to any ideas for what kind of material you would use?

Thanks guys for all the positive feedback...it definitely helps to keep me motivated!!

It always seems mothers are the best at sewing

Glad to contribute some undersuit info . I'll keep an eye out on your thread to see how yours goes. I did the digital sketch in Corel Painter X with a Wacom. Photoshop is awesome for rendering, but I like sketching in Painter...it feels a little more natural to me.

Thanks! There's a lot I don't know about sewing, but I have done it before so hopefully a can help contribute a thing or two to the general 405th knowledge . I'm not sure what I'll do with the patterns yet, but it'll have to wait at least until this project is done. Prepping patterns for shared use would be quite a task in itself! Plus, it may only be minimally helpful unless someone is my same size.

I used some screen shots (and Google, of course) as reference. Screen shots are in the Reach Reference Thread if anyone needs 'em!

Thanks! I'm still deciding what fabrics to use. For the heavy texture I'll probable use something like marine vinyl (pleather-ish). For the light texture I want to find something more breathable, but I'm still working that out. I might wind up overlapping a couple of different things. I'm still a ways away from the final, so we'll see how it goes!

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Hurray for Updates!

I've started putting together the prelim white model using muslin. I've got the main pieces together, but still need to add the zipper and the stomach/back details. Muslin is the fabric of choice because:

1. It's super cheap ($1-$2 a yard...and even cheaper if you sign up for coupons at JoAnn's...hurray!)
2. It's a light color (the better to mark up with any changes I want to make...and the easier to see my black thread in case some seam ripping needs to happen)
3. It doesn't have stretch (I plan on using non-stretchy fabric for the final)




A couple of sewing tips I find helpful:

>> Cutting is boring, but clean cuts on your pattern pieces make lining things up easier.

>> Before pinning/sewing, always double check your pieces are going together in the right orientation, with the right sides facing each other. Having to rip out your seams and re-sew is always a bummer and can get frustrating the more complex a piece is.

>> PINNING IS YOUR BEST FRIEND! The better you pin, the cleaner your seams turn out. But don't sew over your pins...that can lead to bent pins and broken needles (bent pins are annoying and nobody wants a needle in the eye). You may get away with it when using thin fabric, but once you go thicker or start layering up, it will become a definite problem. I am obsessed with excessively pinning. I like to use pins with big heads because they are more visible and easier to pull out as you go.

>> One more thing on pinning: don't just pin from one end to the other. More often than not (even if you have perfectly fitting pieces), the fabric won't line up right. Use the rule of halves: put one pin in each end, then one in the middle. From there, continue inserting pins at the halfway point between each already inserted pin. Also, pin perpendicular to your seam, with the pin heads sticking out over the edge.

>> Ironing is also your friend. Iron your fabric before you trace your pattern, and iron your seams after you sew.

Still a long way to go (and some tweaks to make before the final), but I'm excited to be started! Hopefully I can get the zipper in soon so I can see how it actually fits on me since my dress form is a little bigger than I am. Things may slow down a little during the week due to work but I'll try to keep pluggin' away!

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Next up: Wrap up on those pesky remaining pattern pieces!

Not a ton of progress, but I finished off the rest of the pattern pieces for the torso and got a zipper in.



Definitely needs some tweaks before the final...I feel like the fit isn't quite what I'd like. I think I'll probably try a few other things for the padding, too. We'll see.

Thoughts/input are appreciated!

looks super rad!

This is really really sweet! Ive always said that I love all the projects and armor that people build on here but I have the look of the flat under suits, they just dont pop like they should! Cant wait to see more!!!

woah this is coming out fantastic! cant wait to see updates!

Awesome work with everything thus far. Man I need to get myself a sewing machine and try my hand at this.

Nice that you have a mannequin. Those are quite handy.
Yay! Another seamstress! And you're building the game version. I guess with our two builds people can watch both kinds of under suits. haha.

What's your fabric choice for the final undersuit?

Nice work. Very well explained too. You give very good tips too. Keep up the good work.

It could use some adjustments only if you are going for a neoprene-ish super tight fit, but like you said, such tweaks are coming. The pattern is coming along well, I am not sure how you are transfering this pattern to darker fabrics though, but then I'm no seamstress, so that will be interesting to see when the time comes. Great work so far, I may be picking your awesome brain when it comes time to make my undersuit!