too lazy for mockups
A little entry about the new plugsuit, though there's nothing too spectacular to report about in it. The design is much more simple to make than her original suit, since this one is basically just a skintight suit, and it doesn't have all the plugs, nodes and 3D tidbits that one has.
After making the previous suit fully from 2-way stretch I was set on getting 4-way for this one. And whoa is it so much better! Not using the 2-way again for anything like this again. The old suit is pretty much 'worn out' and that's mostly because the surface of the vinyl splits when it's stretched. Other than that there isn't really anything wrong with it though. I'm kinda thinking still wearing it updated with the damage at the beginning of 3.0 paired with the hoodie and cap. We'll see.
I saw a lot of people using vinyl for the purple leg-parts too, and I admit I was tempted to do so as well, but in the end I decided to go with a thicker scuba-lycra instead to get the contrast with the shiny stripes and matte legs. First time ordering fabrics online went ok, though I was a tad disappointed the fabric was a bit more purple than in the picture. I would've preferred a bit more blue and less saturated shade. The white parts are also scuba-lycra, the black parts normal lycra.
The wig is old, and this was the fifth costume I used it in. It was never bought to be an Asuka wig, so even though I kinda like the way it looks, it's impossible to style the right way and I'm going to have to order a new one just for Asuka. The nodes were the same as in the old costume, I updated them with hairclips, so it's a bit easier to attach them.
I also made two eyepatches, first a pretty one, then a bit less pretty one with a led.
Now I did actually somewhat make a pattern before I started sewing the suit (I finally made a leggings pattern instead of using a random trousers top part and just cutting a long enough strip go me) but since the fabrics had really different stretches, I kind of ended up re-patterning a lot as I went on. This was the first time I sewed closed patterns and I'm actually a bit proud I figured it out and made the whole suit like that. Earlier I have only done couple of little things with open sides or top-stitched everything. So yay!
Mostly all the lines are made made with seams, except the ones on the wrists. I though about sewing them as well, but because of the shape and then not going all around I wasn't sure if it'd work. Marker is usually my last resort if you can't make something with a 'real' method. The collar is EVAfoam strip covered with fabric and sewn on the collar. Also the shape in the collar is made with inserting EVAfoam between the fabric. I have now twice tried to make the collar without a seam and it just does. Not. Seem to work. Though I'm happy it doesn't look any worse than it does.
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| a smart person would have left the palms last |
There's also this thing called a sewing order. And it's a good thing, I actually know something about it and it does often make your life a lot easier. I'm sure the order I used making this thing might be found in some schoolbook under 'Don't do this' or 'Don't attempt at home'. I made the leggings part and the sleeves separately. The 'sleeves' include the white and black parts that go at the back and under the arm and to the frontside(there's no sideseam). Then I put on the zipper to get the stretch at the back right, this means also sewing on the backparts of the top. I sewed the front separately(inserting the orange parts and the black in the middle), and then attached to what was now the sleeves and back of the top with raglan-ish seams. Made/sewed the collar(what can be remotely called the shoulderseam) and last sewed the waist seam aka attached to leggings to the top. The leggings are more like a pantyhose though, I slipped shoes inside, glued on the soles and the black edge. White sidepart-thingies are EVAstrips covered with vinyl.
Last thing was to attach the batteryback to the other shoulderseam, and put hooks on the other side, so the zipper is partly hidden under the back. There's a small pocket so I can keep my money and phone with me. The pack was made from cardboard and covered with the fabric.
The little details are cut from a PVC sheet, sanded, painted and glued on, some are pleather, like the numbers.
One thing that I was really unsure I could make but really wanted to, were the orange soles. I searched for different orange rubbersheets that would be durable enough but wouldn't be too slippery, and they were either ridiculously expensive, in humongous amounts, or the shipping was simply ridiculous. But finally I found a pair of butt-ugly sandals with orange foamsoles from the recycling center for free. Profit!
Now, why high heels when the plugsuits clearly have flats you might ask if you really dig into this thing. The first suit I made with flats because there was no question about no heels in anywhere, for me it was clear as water to use flats since that was the reference. I am short but I don't usually go with heels simple just to get height if that's against the reference. This time though the design is so fluid I could excuse heels without them looking too obvious. The black shape at the heel comes so high, it's easy to mask some plastic in there. In a lot of the art and especially in some figures her own heel is drawn so high ain't no girl got feet like that. So this time it was pretty clear I would go with at least some hidden heel to bring some extra posture.
Now, why high heels when the plugsuits clearly have flats you might ask if you really dig into this thing. The first suit I made with flats because there was no question about no heels in anywhere, for me it was clear as water to use flats since that was the reference. I am short but I don't usually go with heels simple just to get height if that's against the reference. This time though the design is so fluid I could excuse heels without them looking too obvious. The black shape at the heel comes so high, it's easy to mask some plastic in there. In a lot of the art and especially in some figures her own heel is drawn so high ain't no girl got feet like that. So this time it was pretty clear I would go with at least some hidden heel to bring some extra posture.
All in all I'm fairly happy with the pluguit, I learned new sewing tricks and it's fairly comfortable to wear so you will most likely see it again. Only thing is that my feet are not really used to high heels and wearing these for a weekend must've hit some nerve since two of my toes still feel a bit funny every now and then. Oh well.
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