We’re rapidly approaching the
three months remaining mark in our countdown to
Gen Con 2014, so, since we can’t
obsess over the event catalog yet, it’s about time for a costume update. I
mentioned a few posts ago that the cosplay lineup for Gen Con is pretty full,
which I’m downright giddy about. There are three costumes that will (hopefully)
be making their debut during the Best Four Days in Gaming and all three of them
utilize the basics of what will be covered in this entry. What do all these
outfits have in common? All three use some sort of form-fitting bodysuit as a
foundation.
Single piece suits that fit
snugly to the wearer’s body are extremely common in the iconography of various
nerdy properties. You see them frequently in movies, in video games, all over anime, and just
about everywhere in comics. While that ubiquity sometimes
curries agitation, it’s
not likely that the garment is going to disappear from our collective purview
any time soon. So, when considering a cosplay of any number of characters, the
question of how to go about making this particular piece of clothing springs to
mind. Fear not though, for it’s actually a highly surmountable challenge.
Before we get down to the fabrics
and the sewing, let’s go over the various members of the bodystocking family. You’ll
often hear the terms bodysuit, bodystocking, catsuit, or unitard used interchangeably,
but each of those terms actually refers to a specific garment. What’s the
difference? The table below lists the distinguishing characteristics of each.
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Bodystockings cover the wearer’s torso and legs
and may, but does not have to, conceal the arms. It differs from its siblings
in that a bodystocking is usually made from sheer fabric and thus typically
can’t be worn on its own.
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These look a lot like their cousins, leotards.
The primary differential between the two is that bodysuits are essentially
onesies for adults with snaps or hooks in the crotch to allow the wearer to
pull the bodysuit over their head.
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This is what usually comes to mind when people
think of one-piece garments. Catsuits cover both the wearer’s torso and legs,
but frequently encase the arms as well. What they tend not to cover are the
wearer’s head, hands, or feet.
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A unitard functions almost identically to a
catsuit in terms of what parts of the body are covered. However, a unitard
will always have sleeves of some kind and will never feature a zipper (versus
catsuits, which almost always need structural devices for closure).
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From the Japanese for ‘whole body’, this garment
has characteristics of both catsuits and unitards, but goes a step further
and, as the name suggests, encapsulates the entire body of the wearer (even
the hands, feet, and face). Zentai occasionally go by other names including
RootSuits, BodySocks, or MorphSuits.
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This post focuses
primarily on making a catsuit, but only a few modifications to the steps below
are needed to make a bodysuit or a unitard instead. One of the biggest deterrents
that sends would-be cosplayers skittering away from catsuits is having to work
with stretchy, unforgiving fabric. While stretchy fabrics merit some special
consideration and, potentially, some specific tools, they’re far from
impossible to work with.
The first thing you’ll
need to decide is which type of fabric you’ll need for your costume. All elastic
cloth falls into one of two categories: 2-way stretch and 4-way stretch. As you
can probably guess, these categories describe the axes along which the fabric
will extend (e.g. 2-way will only stretch either on just the horizontal or just
the vertical axis, while 4-way will stretch both ways). These two types of
cloth are not direct substitutes; it’s rare that you can successfully use 2-way
fabric on a project that calls for 4-way, but you can usually use 4-way in
endeavors that recommend 2-way. The
pattern you’re using for your specific project should explicitly list which
type is needed for your garment.
Aside from
stretchability, you’ll want to choose a fabric that has the right weight for
what you intend it to do. Lightweight stretchy fabrics are great in that they
add almost no bulk to your finished piece, but they are notoriously difficult
to feed into a sewing machine. Heavier fabrics are more cooperative, but lend a
definite solidity to your garment (which may or may not be what you’re going
for). If you do select a lighter weight cloth, you can tack tracing paper or parchment paper to
the edges with straight pins to keep it from sliding around your work space.
A little while back I mentioned that one of the
three costumes that will be making its way to Gen Con is Mera of DC and
Atlantis/Dimension Aqua fame. While I'm still plugging away at making a
scalemail version of her gorgeous green scaly body covering, I want to have a
solid backup plan in case that design doesn't turn out as planned, runs behind
schedule, and/or I run out of scales. The other portions of the Mera
costume, namely her crown and trident, will be covered in another post.
Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, there is a
diverse selection of fun fabrics and versatile patterns available for your
costuming needs. The base of my catsuit is
this holographic spandex in kelly
green and I used
Kwik-Sew #3052 as my primary template. Not gonna lie to you
guys, the pattern is borderline vintage and can be tough to track down.
Kwik-Sew
does have some excellent patterns for this purpose though (2722 and 2108 are excellent) and, since it's the
same company, all the pieces of their patterns can be interchanged so you can
make them modular if there's no one pattern that meets your needs. If you're
keen on making your own catsuits,
this site offers a variety of patterns that
you may find useful or even better than the Kwik-Sew.
This site is also an
excellent resource and offers free patterns (these can be easily adapted for
both male and female wearers).
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| My inner 12-year-old can't get enough of this fabric |
Ok, so we have fabric and a pattern. Other things
you'll need for this costumey undertaking are: 2 tape measures, fabric
scissors, pins, needles, a zipper that matches your fabric (if you're making a
catsuit or a bodysuit), and matching thread. The vast majority of stretchy
fabrics are made of synthetic materials, so it's a good idea to pair up like
sources and use synthetic/polyester thread. I like to add excel to this list,
since there's a bit of math on the immediate horizon and, as someone who does
math for a living, I find it immensely helpful to have a reliable way to keep
track of all my calculations. Hey, I never said there'd be no math. Also, if
you use excel for the next step you won't have to re-do any of the attending arithmetic
unless the proportions of your body change significantly.
Where are you going? Was it the threat of math?
Ok, what if there was a tool that would do all that for you? Fortunately, Tim
over at Stretchy.org has fashioned
this java-based, unit agnostic interface
that will spit out customized ratios, circumferences and other necessary data points
for you. Most modern patterns will also provide guidance as to what
measurements you need to take and how to scale them so your fabric will stretch
to the desired shape at the end. The single best part about working with
stretchy fabric is how forgiving it is. If your calculations aren't perfect or
you can't get a full set of measurements it's ok. Obviously you don't want to
omit whole measurements, but there's a considerable amount of wiggle room at
your disposal.
Take
your measurements, then, after doing the
necessary conversions (or using Tim's site to help with that), alter your
pattern as needed. Unfortunately, these conversions are dependent on the type
of fabric and specific pattern you're using, so I can't offer specific guidance
on the exact steps you need to take. If you're using the very same pattern and
fabric that I've specified above, I started by taking all the measurements Tim
recommended, then scaling them to be 85% of what they actually are. That 85%
figure came about by laying my t-square on the floor, then taking a foot (30.48cm)
of my scaly fabric and stretching it to various lengths. I found that I liked
the way the fabric looked when stretched to 13.75 inches (34.93cm) in length,
which is just about 15% longer than my starting length. 15% stretch translated
into the pattern needing to be 85% of its original size. Special note: many
newer patterns will do this for you; make sure you read all the instructions
that come with your pattern before proceeding to the next step.
Once your pattern is set, tack it to the
unpatterned side of your fabric with your straight pins and cut the fabric to
match. Before assembling the cloth panels, check the manual of your sewing
machine, as many manufacturers have recommendations for what settings to use on
stretchy fabrics. You'll almost certainly want to use a zigzag stitch (which
makes the seams even more forgiving) and spiked or textured feeder 'dogs' (the
little feet that feed cloth into the needle of your sewing machine).
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| What I've got so far (please excuse the cat hair) |
Be patient with yourself and remember that you
don't have to be perfect with this project. If you'd rather not deal with any
of this sewing business and just get a catsuit, there are plenty of places to
purchase one.
Milanoo.com is an excellent resource for good quality catsuits,
unitards, and zentai for very reasonable prices. The site also offers custom
tailoring for a nominal fee on some of their suits. One thing to keep in mind
with Milanoo though is your desired timeframe, as it sometimes takes more than
a month for them to process and ship your order. If you wanted to go a little
higher end, there are several Etsy sellers that specialize in custom suits.
AliciaZenobia is a particularly reliable and all-around excellent seamstress
who takes individual commissions.
Oh yay! The event catalog should be out any minute now. Time to indulge
in another type of excel mayhem!
Post Con Breakdown: This was, by far and away, the most comfortable costume I've ever done. The suit stayed in place all day, the crown did an excellent job of taming my otherwise unruly hair and
the trident was a big hit. I will definitely wear this again!
