You have a very cut and silly cat.

this is your suit btw

I could tell by the teal. ^^

LOL @ the closeup on your cat XDDD

Lookin really good! Neat to see everything pinned over the dtd. Do you handsew it from there?
I've heard of some people cutting apart the dtd to use as a pattern, but im not sure how well that works.

This is really neat to see! The body part of suit making has always confused me most, to be honest.

cutting the dummy to make a flat patter gives me a brain fart X_X
I have to work in 3d (like this) or my brain goes "ah helllllll no"

Same here, brain simply does not compute patterns and lengths using objects that constantly change their shape on a 3D plane.

I wanted to make my own suit so bad... :(

I tried cutting apart a DTD once to make a pattern. It ended up being WAY too stiff to use.

*dramatic zoom to cat's face* This can't end good...

Your cat is amazing. I love it xD!

I very much prefer to use patterns. Duct Tape Dummies (DTDs) are a burden on my clients, and an unecessary one in my opinion. I would only use a DTD for a suit that fits very snugly, more snugly than a tailored, patterned suit would make.

Oddly enough, for the 11 costumes I've made, I'm still using my first homemade pattern...

for digigrade legs or for suits with any kind of body padding i NEED a stuffed dummy so I can carve the padding to flatter and hug ones body shape.
i also do make my suits fairly form fitting, i dislike wrinkly baggy "pajama style" suits.

I did digitigrade legs with measurements. Granted, they had to be more detailed, but it worked. I don't really care for digitigrade anymore though. I've thought through the physics, physiology, biology, etc. and figured that digitigrade isn't realistic, and is too impractical. That, and I just haven't seen digitigrade that I've liked the appearance of, not even my fake digitigrade feet design.

Wrinkles are definitely bad. I leave enough room to keep the costume comfortable and reduce the movement limitations caused by relatively unyielding fur, but tight enough to make it look like a character, not a costume on a person.

To each his own, right? Your suits are fantastic. Obviously what you do works.

Oh yeah, and I can't hand-sew, its all by machine, so patterns are absolutely necessary.



Out of curiosity, would you be interested in helping put together a guild?

Heh, I love your cat. Looks like you bunch up some fur at the knees? For flexibility?

that is just excess i need to cut off later

Though how do you do markings? That's a huge part of a fursuit. How do you do them so well? Or even, at all?

i do them on the dummy, like for the crux i started out solid white, then drew on the markings with a sharpie, cut them out with a carpet knife, traced them on pink and then cut the pink and placed it in the holes.
doing it this way means i know for sure that none of the markings get distorted in the process, all it takes is for a cut to be half an inch off some place and the marking will not look right, when i am working in 3d on the dummy though i can easily correct this.

so you build them inside out that answers some questions about DTD's

Intuitive! Thanks so much for sharing :3

i wish i knew what duct tape dummies were furing my early years:
the suits i made in highschool (for myself, started commissions when i was 21) were glued together...i was making an adjustemnt to the leg of my suit while i was still in it and dribbled fresh high temp hot glue down the back of my knee D:
it hurt so bad and scabbed up so bad that i could not bend my leg and i still have a scar....the skin there is so thin and tender ;.; i screamed like a puppy when it happened

I'm sorry, but I couldn't focus on anything but that cat.
How-fucking-adorable-is-that-creature!!!

she is such a ham, she does the damndest cutest things just to get my attention <3

my mom says she is not a cat she is a "reincarnated... something" and i agree, she acts unlike any cat i have ever owned.

You know my flame point Bam Bam was like that too. I never had a cat that ever acted like he would. He would fetch, super vocal and clingy. I swear he acted more like a dog than a cat. He liked to open the cabinet doors and fidget with stuff in them. His favorite was opening the lazy suzan, showing the cans out of the way and taking a nap in there.

Looks like a helluva lot of work


I understand now why u dislike doing bodies so much XD

I think your cat and my cat are like, related or something

Both very...."special"

that cat has the right idea :3

Interesting way to show your work! XD OMG I love your cat!!!

DAWWW Creampuff is a cutie! It's also really neat to see how you work on them and put them together. thanks so much for showing us

Derp kitty for the win! For the life of me I could never figure out how to do digigrade, my brain just shuts down every time I try to think of how it is done^^;

cute cat <3

I see you get random puffballs too. :P ( i have them everywhere, even stuck to my ceiling. )

.... Making the Duct tape dummy, I pre-unrolled ALOT of tape for the benefit of the person taping me up, and to save time in the process. THE Ceiling covered in strips of hanging tape looked like "red green's tree of souls"

Have yet to get many puffballs, as the cats shed more than my projects to date.

*hugs your cat*
Hi, Whiskereater!

CAT STEALS THE SHOW :3 But yeah, Bodysuits are the next step in my journey of suiting, Very intimidating. Not as much FINE detail.... but still plenty of little quirks to get right.

sorry to bug ya but um where in this process do you actually cut the fur? Do you make another dummy over the padding to make a pattern with room for the padding? also how is the padding removed from the dummy if its glued? or do you leave pieces of the dummy on the padding where it was glued... sorry for the questions im just kinda curious

i eyeball the pieces of fur to be cut, place them on the dummy, cut to fit better, then pin in place.

and the padding is easy to peel off the dummy, and if i need to use the padding in the suit it is easy to pick the glue off the padding

Oooo i gotcha...thanx so much !

DERP.

Aww your cat is cute, and the furring part is informative too. :)

Is that a fursuit for anybody in particular? o.o The colors look familiar...

a halfsuit of mine has been returned for an upgrade to fullsuit (with wings)

Ohhh, okay! XD That sounds pretty cool! ^^ I like the visable sparkles in the fur! XD

I hope that you open for more commishions soon I have a suit I want made.....

your cat is cute

I like how it looks like a dead body 8D

My cat does they exxact same thing.

Yep, that's Creampuff for you. She also likes to eat MY little dog's food and sit on you when you are clearly trying to do something, lol.

Owo looks very relaxed

Lookin' nice, very nice

Hey, I do the same thing! Except my dummy's hanging from the ceiling.

Im making a fursuit... His head is causin' so much stress, but the only thing left right now is the eyeballs. Anyway, were gonna start doing his paws and feet paws now. Any advice? (Also, incase you care, he's a Partial)

Verry practiacal, and Creampuff looks like a wonderful helper :3

Gods bless your cat~

So do you have to allow extra room in any area for moveability or just literally make it exactly form-fitting to the DTD? Also, for dropped crotches, do you think it would be worth it to add foam to the crotch just to help make the pattern? Or is there a simpler way?

Thank you SO much, this tutorial is extremely helpful! <3