FA+
Shop
52 submissions
The long put off fursuit head review/tutorial! YAAAAAAY!
This was broken down into four parts to help keep things smooth but large enough to be visible. (hopefully)
If not for the comment before, this'd be another jumbled mess of pictures. But to try and be polite. This has been done in a larger. Squared off form. The left to right method is still in place. and the numbers should stand out pretty nicely against background. If y'all have trouble following the layout. Then please tell me where and why.
Alrighty, lets start this combination of epic fail and win!
I'll tell you where I went wrong, where I think I went right. And how you too can build a head of your own!
Actually, I suggest going to Matrices or Nicodimus's sites if you want to do that. This was more like an experiment I'm just sharing the fallout data on.
1. I decided that I wanted to make a balaclava head, but I also couldn't really afford nearly as much luxury as before. In fact, I couldn't afford anything. The whole head had to be made with what I had leftover from the V1 and V2 builds. As well as some bits and bobs from other things. So the balaclava was actually a t-shirt that was going to be used as a rag (nothing really wrong with it though) Looking up balaclava patterns online. They were all too complex for me at the time, especially as they wanted a sewing machine, and mine had just given up the ghost. I put the shirt over my head a few times, trying to settle on a shape and place. finally going for an open face using the t-shirt neck as the face hole.
2. As sewing went on I used a simple whip stitch to hold everything together. That? That was a mistake by the way, try to use lock stitching whenever you can. I'll explain what happened in 4.
3. OMG, I put a massive open face on something that needs to have foam all over it! After this thought clicked, I decided to stitch up the open face. and I also decided that it would hurt like heck to have to wear the "balaclava" with that fabric poking me in the nose all the time. More trimming, followed by spinning the head backwards. (no problem seeing as it was just a U at this point)
4. just pulling the balaclava on and off was already having an effect on the shirt and stitching, both of which were breaking from the remedial strain. Sewing kit to the rescue! It hadn't occurred to me at this point to look at -why- my stitching was failing. Only that it needed a bandaid. I could have saved a -massive- headache if I'd have used a locking stitch over the -temporary- whip stitch. A whip stitch just holds the material together so that you can put in something permanent.
I should clarify something though. When I say a whip stitch, I mean sewing like a corkscrew looks. You put the needle in, pull it out and put it into a hole nearby. A locking stitch on the other hand takes a little more work. But makes a -massive- difference. When you put the needle through. you leave excess behind. When you push back through, you put that excess over your needle. That way when you pull the thread tight. you've just created a semi self contained piece of stitchwork. If the stitch next to it fails, the entire piece won't fall apart. It'll take up the slack of the broken stitch. Of course, I would also suggest not using cheap friggin thread that'll break if you sneeze on it.
5. to try and plot the head some more, I got my mother to draw little X's over the balaclava when it was on my head. The wig dummy head is all well and good for little things, but when you're building for you, there's no substitute to your own head. especially when you take into account that your hair might move the balaclava a certain way that the dummies bald head wouldn't.
6. Yay! Another mistake! Can you spot it? It's obvious in hindsight... See how loose the upper mouth looks on me? There's a good reason. I'd sewn with (yet again) a whip stitch.
Not only that, I'd sewn through the center of the dang thing!
What do I actually reccomend doing? This is by all means a good way to -start- the piece. to get it where you want it. But when you've got it posistioned properly. Turn the balaclava inside out. (Or near as you can) and do a lock stitch all -around- the foam. with the balaclava inside out, it should be straightforeward finding where to put your needle. Just remember to try and sink into your foam and not to pull too tightly. Better it be a little loose, then you tear a chunk out of your foam from pinching it too hard.
(more of this madness in part two)
Feel free to suggest tips, tricks, or just ridicule me. It's all good. This was a learning project, and I'm still amased it's done as well as it has considering how many screwups I made.
This was broken down into four parts to help keep things smooth but large enough to be visible. (hopefully)
If not for the comment before, this'd be another jumbled mess of pictures. But to try and be polite. This has been done in a larger. Squared off form. The left to right method is still in place. and the numbers should stand out pretty nicely against background. If y'all have trouble following the layout. Then please tell me where and why.
Alrighty, lets start this combination of epic fail and win!
I'll tell you where I went wrong, where I think I went right. And how you too can build a head of your own!
Actually, I suggest going to Matrices or Nicodimus's sites if you want to do that. This was more like an experiment I'm just sharing the fallout data on.
1. I decided that I wanted to make a balaclava head, but I also couldn't really afford nearly as much luxury as before. In fact, I couldn't afford anything. The whole head had to be made with what I had leftover from the V1 and V2 builds. As well as some bits and bobs from other things. So the balaclava was actually a t-shirt that was going to be used as a rag (nothing really wrong with it though) Looking up balaclava patterns online. They were all too complex for me at the time, especially as they wanted a sewing machine, and mine had just given up the ghost. I put the shirt over my head a few times, trying to settle on a shape and place. finally going for an open face using the t-shirt neck as the face hole.
2. As sewing went on I used a simple whip stitch to hold everything together. That? That was a mistake by the way, try to use lock stitching whenever you can. I'll explain what happened in 4.
3. OMG, I put a massive open face on something that needs to have foam all over it! After this thought clicked, I decided to stitch up the open face. and I also decided that it would hurt like heck to have to wear the "balaclava" with that fabric poking me in the nose all the time. More trimming, followed by spinning the head backwards. (no problem seeing as it was just a U at this point)
4. just pulling the balaclava on and off was already having an effect on the shirt and stitching, both of which were breaking from the remedial strain. Sewing kit to the rescue! It hadn't occurred to me at this point to look at -why- my stitching was failing. Only that it needed a bandaid. I could have saved a -massive- headache if I'd have used a locking stitch over the -temporary- whip stitch. A whip stitch just holds the material together so that you can put in something permanent.
I should clarify something though. When I say a whip stitch, I mean sewing like a corkscrew looks. You put the needle in, pull it out and put it into a hole nearby. A locking stitch on the other hand takes a little more work. But makes a -massive- difference. When you put the needle through. you leave excess behind. When you push back through, you put that excess over your needle. That way when you pull the thread tight. you've just created a semi self contained piece of stitchwork. If the stitch next to it fails, the entire piece won't fall apart. It'll take up the slack of the broken stitch. Of course, I would also suggest not using cheap friggin thread that'll break if you sneeze on it.
5. to try and plot the head some more, I got my mother to draw little X's over the balaclava when it was on my head. The wig dummy head is all well and good for little things, but when you're building for you, there's no substitute to your own head. especially when you take into account that your hair might move the balaclava a certain way that the dummies bald head wouldn't.
6. Yay! Another mistake! Can you spot it? It's obvious in hindsight... See how loose the upper mouth looks on me? There's a good reason. I'd sewn with (yet again) a whip stitch.
Not only that, I'd sewn through the center of the dang thing!
What do I actually reccomend doing? This is by all means a good way to -start- the piece. to get it where you want it. But when you've got it posistioned properly. Turn the balaclava inside out. (Or near as you can) and do a lock stitch all -around- the foam. with the balaclava inside out, it should be straightforeward finding where to put your needle. Just remember to try and sink into your foam and not to pull too tightly. Better it be a little loose, then you tear a chunk out of your foam from pinching it too hard.
(more of this madness in part two)
Feel free to suggest tips, tricks, or just ridicule me. It's all good. This was a learning project, and I'm still amased it's done as well as it has considering how many screwups I made.
Category All / Tutorials
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1000 x 888px
File Size 223.1 kB
Comments