fursuit-help

[fursuit-help]

Hello there! I've gathered all the necessary tools and supplies to begin making small fursuit pieces, but I still have one very important unanswered question: what kind of stich should I use when working with faux fur? (I do have a sewing machine, so any tips would be helpful!)

The two stitches I use the most is a straight stitch with a long stitch length and a zigzag stitch. 

Almost all of my parts are assembled together with the straight stitch, the long stitch length helps me comb the fur out of the seams easily with low stress on those stitches.

For areas that need reinforcement, such as under the arms, at the crotch, between the index finger and thumb on paws, and a few other spots I go over that with a zigzag stitch to aid in reinforcement.

Using thread that matches your fabric is important, polyester thread is reasonable to use. A ballpoint needle is great for fur since it passes through the knit backing easily. 

Know when you are sewing up faux fur costumes that it is better to break a stitch than it is for your fur’s backing to tear or fail. You can always repair a stitch, but if your fur backing fails it affects sizing and the long term durability of your costume piece.

I hope this info helps! Happy crafting!

--Matrices

[fursuit-help]

I'm general about how,much yardage of faux fur does it / would it take to make a full fursuit? (head, tail, hands, feet, body, etc) Or what would be a good way to determine the amount required ? - thank you!

Hi there! This is an AWESOME question, thanks for asking it! 

The best way to figure that out is: Make all your patterns and then measure them! 

Once you have your pattern step over, you can lay them all out in a space 60 inches wide by a yard long (on the floor or similar) and then see how they arrange. Take a quick snap to remember the positioning and then measure how  many yards, half yards, or even less it may take for your particular size and marking scheme. 

Everyone’s projects are different, and everyone’s body types, head scaling, padding arrangements, and so on, vary SO much. So this is the way to estimate it for EVERYONE! :D 

Most things will be tape-patterned, like feet & heads. You can stick those to paper (like I do) or if you layered plastic bags/wrap before taping. You’ll have time while ordering your fur to transfer all your marks to the opposite side and make sure it all matches up and refine your prototypes, so you can put it back together smoothly. Some things will be prototype-patterned, or “test patterned” such as bodies, fitted by using flat sheets or muslin. Handpaw patterns and tails can be flat patterned --That’s drawing the shape on paper and matching up the edges to make a 3-dimensional shape. Don’t forget to take in account patterns that may need flipped/mirrored or when you need 2 hands and 2 feet. 

Most online fabric stores allow you to order in 1/2 yard increments, if you get lucky and find fur in person at a local store, you can order just enough that you need so you don’t overbuy/overspend! (refer to your phone snaps where you blocked it out on the floor space when buying!! They are super handy!!) When you measure it out this way it is ultra-easy to order just as much as you need! :D

Happy crafting!!

--Matrices

[fursuit-help]

Hey, I've recently bought an expanding foam head base but I'm unsure of how to attach it to the balaclava (hot glue of course.), every time I glue the base onto the balaclava it's terribly weighted down and the moving jaw doesn't work properly. Any tips or advice? I'm reaching out to everywhere I can for help at the moment.

I have to admit, I have not yet worked with Expanding Foam. Maybe someone watching can reblog this with their tips or experience!

My advice would be to maybe try to carve the expanding foam to make it a little bit lighter. Then take your balaclava, slip it on a head dummy that matches your head size and put easier-to-glue upholstery foam around where the expanding foam edges would meet. Then glue your expanding foam face and expanding foam jaw to the upholstery foam rather than trying to attach it directly to the balaclava. 

When speaking to some of my colleagues, you sometimes have to score Expanding Foam or peel the papery skin off to get some glues to take. 

In addition to that Moving Jaws are very fiddly, and vary from person to person. There is no reliable “single” technique to make them easy, and they take a lot of fiddling with to get a successful movement that translates after furring. So keep at it and the more weight you can reduce, the better! 

Happy crafting, I hope this helps!

--Matrices

[fursuit-help]

Hello! I just wanted to ask, is this blog still active and accepting submissions? Thank-you!

Hi there! Yes! 

However the more specific the question, the better we we will be able to answer! It can be quite a challenge for us to answer questions that are vague, for example “I need help with____” if no additional info is provided. It will help us to answer to know how far along you are in construction, what methods you’ve tried so far (if any), and what the preferred look of your final product will be (a ref or photo helps here sometimes). 

A hypothetical example of that is “I’m working on a raccoon, I am almost done with it, but I am stuck on furring the the face and attaching the nose, I’ve furred other heads by attaching the nose first, but i didn’t like the raw edge around the nose. I want to try a different method but I am stuck on what fabric is best and how to pattern it. I’m going for a toony look!”

I could answer a question like that with a tutorial, including:Patterning objects with tape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzjqObVQHOII can offer additional tips such as: This applies to furring the head and even getting the nose pattern -- treat the nose like a marking, so you can sew the nose to the headfur and slip the nose and muzzle fur on the head in one step. There will be no exposed edge or seam, and you don’t have to treat the nose like a separate step. You can even build out the nose with foam, or add a little bit of polyfil under to make it softer. Materials such as anti-pill fleece, stiff marine vinyl, softer upholstery vinyls, or other fabrics work great as noses, depending on your preferred look. You can make a few prototypes from remnants and decide your favorite fabric that way. You do not have to use a lot of glue to attach the nose, just around the edges as part of the fur transition. 

Thank you so much for watching our group and asking questions!

--Matrices 

[fursuit-help]

Hello! I have some foam heads that need furring and I already have that covered, but in terms of shaving it.. If a razor isn't available, can I use hair snippers instead? Or are any kind of scissors a no-no?

Scissors are fine to use on fur, but trimming an entire head with -only- scissors would be, to be honest, probably pretty horrible. Not to say it’s not doable, but there’s no way to get an even cut without eyeballing it, and you’re almost certain to not get a perfectly smooth fur pile length without hours or -days- of delicate trimming - and as an artist, your time is SO valuable!! Investing in even a simple pair of electric trimmers will make your life much easier. I can guarantee you that using even the cheapest electric clippers available would be MUCH preferred to trimming a head entirely with scissors. 

HERE’S a big starter kit you can get off amazon for under $20! If you have more of a budget, this is the set that I use - I highly recommend it, since it’s rechargeable & the cord is removable (!!) 

tl;dr - YES, you can trim an entire fursuit head using only scissors, but for your own sake.. please... don’t........

-Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Hello! I'm looking to make my feetpaws and handpaws as sort of knee- and elbow-legth fleece gloves dince my character has thin arms and legs, but I don't really know how to go about it. I made a duct tape pattern around my shoe base and calf, but I had to cut it pretty bad just to get my foot out so I feel like the pattern would be too oddly shaped to use as it it now.

Depending on how you cut the duct tape, you may want to try taping it back up around your leg and re-cutting it. Try cutting a single line going all the way down the back of your leg (like the seam on old fashioned stockings), and then a single line going around your ankle. Once it’s off, cut another straight line going right up the front of the shin, and with those two halves, you can use THAT as your sewing pattern instead of trying to pattern around a stuffed dummy. Some flattening and adjustments will be required since those two halves won’t be flat, and be careful to not make it TOO skin-tight, or it’ll be impossible to get on and off - it’s easy to accidentally make this pattern method too small, since flattening the halves takes away a lot of the pattern if you’re not careful! 

If you’re having trouble with the dummy method though, it’s very advantageous to draft yourself a paper pattern from measurements instead (and for things like sleeves and leggings, this is definitely my preferred method). Take measurements at key points, and then map those measurements onto paper, after which you “connect the dots” with a smooth hand-drawn curve down the side, much like this: 

With this method you have a smooth & form-fitting sleeve without having to bother with a ton of pattern edits and fussy work, you only have to sew one seam up the back, and it’s a LOT faster to go from patterning to finished product.

As an added note for anyone else reading this, if you’re not using stretch fabrics like fleece and want to make the sleeve out of fur, it’s better to use all straight lines instead, so the pattern is more like a conical-shaped pant leg. Since the top around the knee will be wider than the calf area, you can keep it held up by sewing in some stretch elastic around the top. 

-Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Hey, I'm making my first head and he's supposed to be a Lynx but I'm having trouble with ears. He's got slightly taller ears than a regular lynx. Problem is that most tutorials are for canine ears and I can't seem to get the right shape... Do you have any advice?

Comparing proportions & shapes on pictures of real animals is the BEST way to solve this problem! Instead of following tutorials for figuring out what shapes to make, look at the shapes on real animals - 

I used photos where the animals are all looking the same direction, and I've resized them so they all have roughly the same size cranium - this makes it much easier to compare the differences between the proportions in these animals' features. After doing this, it's very helpful to trace the feature you're trying to study -

that way, when you remove the underlying photo, it's very easy to see how these shapes differ -

As you can see, both domestic cats and lynxes have much more of an equilateral triangle shape to their ears, with tips that point further apart than a wolf’s. They’re “thinner” (lacking the bulk made up by a wolf’s fur, since they’re more hairless & generally covered in less-dense fur), and they do not bow outward as much in the back where the ear meets the back of the skull. A lynx has substantially larger ears than a housecat, and you can over-emphasize this as much as you want in your own costume, but keeping the underlying shape intact is key to making them look really “lynx”. 

It’s a good idea to do the same with a forward-facing view, so you can get the ears’ placement and angles correct:

If you were imagining them on a clock face, this really helps show how a relaxed wolf’s ears almost point at 11:00 & 1:00, while a lynx’s ears are a little between that and 10 & 2.

This is a very useful technique for more than just ears, obviously! It can help you figure out what features to really emphasize and push on your costume, to truly make them look like their own species. It’s a VERY good idea to do similar studies with bodies, tails, facial features, and paws, too. 

I hope this helps, and have fun building!

-Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Hello! I am making a Judy Hopps fursuit from Zootopia. I'm sort of new so I'm not sure what type of fur would be best. Could you give me some advice? Also, would it be better to get different colours of fur for her markings, or just get one solid colour and airbrush? Thank you =^._.^=

Any fur that is soft, dense, and high-quality will work - you should not be able to easily see the fabric backing through the fur without digging for it (especially if it’s short-pile or if you plan on shaving any of it), and it should not feel thin. You can use short-pile fur in areas where you want shape to be more visible (IE, in the face and paws), or you can use long-pile fur for all those areas, and then use electric clippers to shave the fur down to bring out the details. Use a guard on your clippers and be sure to leave at LEAST ¼-1/2″ of fur length unshaven, or you’ll be able to see the fabric backing!

My personal favorite suppliers of fur are Mendels.com (their seal, super seal, and punky muppet are good staples for solid colors), imstuffedfur.com, and fursuitsupplies.com. Some furs sold by those sites will be thin or low-quality, especially depending on the price, so get swatches of anything you’re interested in before ordering fur! Being able to touch and see color quality in person is SO important, and you can run tests on the swatches, as well - checking durability & how easily the backing unravels, and you can see how well it shaves. 

There’s also a long list of fur suppliers posted HERE, if you scroll down to “Resources to make fursuits”. I can’t personally vouch for most of them though, so do your research and order swatches before buying. 

Airbrushing is a matter of preference - Airbrushing (and dry brushing - Matrices posted a great tutorial on dry brushing fur HERE!) will create a more natural, real-animal look, and it creates more variation in tone in the colors of your fur. However, using any paint on your fur also has the side-effect of affecting the texture - it will no longer feel perfectly silky soft (paint gives a more wiry/coarse feel), and it can rub off and lighten over time, especially when you wash your fursuit. I like to sew using different colors of fur for my markings as much as I can, even hand-sewing the tiniest of markings, because the colors of fur will never fade, and the edges of markings will always look crisp. You can also employ both methods (best of both worlds!), using subtle paint blending between sewn markings, as Matrices showed in her tutorial. 

For Judy Hopps in particular, I’d probably recommend using that method, because her markings are distinct shapes, yet they fade subtly at the edges. Reference Judy’s character model when planning your sewing - some areas of her markings (especially in the face) are more crisp than others, so if you are sewing her markings, you may decide to blend paint in only some areas, while using crisp un-painted edges in others. 

Hope that helped, and good luck creating!

-Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Hi! Was trying to figure out how best to do a longer tail. I'm looking to do a Cheshire Cat partial set. My question is how to do a longer tail that will work with basic tee/pant that will not just flop. Articulation optional. Beginnerish level!

Articulation generally isn’t needed to make a tail flowy and flexible - just stuff it lightly! If a tail is densely stuffed, it’ll be more like a huge pillow, but if it’s stuffed lightly, you can retain a lot of drape and movement. Longer tails can be made the same way you make shorter tails (one method discussed here), simply by modifying the pattern to be the length and shape you want.

The only variation I would suggest, is that on very large tails, it can be advantageous to give it a slightly wider base, with two slightly-more-spaced-out belt loops, rather than a single point attachment. This helps to distribute the weight of the tail so that it isn’t all pulling down on the back of your pants on one load-bearing beltloop.

Also, since the stuffing in lightly-stuffed tails tends to settle over time, I’d also suggest sewing a concealed zipper into the base of your tail, so that you can re-fluff your stuffing when it’s needed! I hope that helps! c: 

-Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

I am trying to make a rat fursuit using a balaclava base with foam stuck on. I am having dificulties visualising what shapes I need to use though. any help?

Hi there! One of the things that helps me visualize shapes is by opening up google images and searching for the target species. Find all the rat photos you can, that way you can decide which features you want to exaggerate for your piece! 

It helps to draw out your plan over top of a human head shape, alternatively if you aren’t into drawing you can overlay photos of the target species, or commission an artist for some headshots. 

Once you have your overall shape that you want to follow determined, simplify it! While that is to say pick a shape you recognize on the surface contours, like a bean shape. What bean shapes can you put together and overlap to build up your shape? Cheek, muzzle, eyebrows. It doesn’t have to be a bean shape though, depending on the animal shapes you want -- maybe you want something less round? Go with a triangle! 

Begin assembling your shapes by pinning them on your base (use pins with large heads so you don’t lose them!) and that way you can rearrange them as many times as you need to alter your shape before you attach with glue. It becomes a creative puzzle, but also gives you time to examine which shapes work and which don’t which takes physically playing with to discover!

I hope these tips help! If anyone reading on has any further suggestions, feel free to reblog with your input!

Happy Crafting!--Matrices

[fursuit-help]

Hi, at the moment I'm working on a halfsuit of my demon fox character and I'm debating on making it into a full if I have enough fur after I finish the head. Anyways I was wondering how I might would go about making a suit that connects at the waist like shirts and pants that would blend in well? I'm not really worried about the initial build just masking the illusion at the waist look like one piece. I'd love any advice you can give me

I've never done this (and haven't seen too many examples myself), so I can only speculate! But, much like sleeves overlapping paws, it seems like the divide will be fairly noticeable, and the best you can do is ensure that there is enough overlapping fabric to keep your underarmour from showing. On the "pants" half, try installing an elastic waist band to keep that half snug and held up, so that the top half can drape over it properly. If possible, try to design the torso of the body with really LONG furs, since longer fur hides seams and openings better.

I hope that helps at all! If anyone else has any ideas, please reblog with input!

~Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Both of these asks have to do with articulated tails - something I have zero experience in making - so I'm publishing them together! If anyone can suggest any tutorials or help, it would be greatly appreciated!

I'm not sure if it would be helpful for these particular projects, but I would like to point out this absolutely rad tutorial on articulated tails over on the rarsuit livejournal. It gives a detailed write-up on how to make a tail like this:

It's a bit involved but I absolutely love the outcome. Keep in mind, it does seem to work best with lycra, and I think the effect would be hindered with fur or heavy fabrics.

~Mimblex

Anyone else have any ideas or help?

[fursuit-help]

serious question! my suits ears keep drooping down, when they're supposed to stick out. I want them to wiggle, but no matter what I do, they just flop down to the side of the head. help!

It seems like you’ll have to give the ears themselves a more sturdy armature to help keep their shape! There are lots of ways to go about this - you can use a more rigid foam, like L200 / EVA foam (it’s the dense foam that’s also used in workout mats), or you can hold the ears up with a “skeleton” of wire or Delrin rod. Delrin in particular is very bouncy, so if you want wiggly ears, this might be a good option! To give a wire/rod armature stability, you should run a single length of wire from one ear to the other, curving over your head to act as a base (to keep the wire from swiveling around, you may have to wrap the wire once around your head, so that it rests on your head like a crown). Take special care to give armatures like this enough padding, because having an uncovered wire digging into the top of your head isn’t too comfortable.

I hope those ideas help! If anyone else has any other ideas, please reblog with input!

~Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Hey there. I've been wondering about lining of heads. I know that there is the balaclava method, but how else can you line a head?

I'm going to direct you to this livejournal post, which has a lot of great ideas on lining fursuit heads! 

You can sew your own balaclava-style liner out of stretchy fabric, or draft a liner pattern to make out of quilted broadcloth or a similar padded cotton fabric, and install that directly to the inside of the head. If anyone else has any other techniques or ideas, please reblog with input! 

~Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

I have a demon/cat character who I'd absolutely love to turn into a suit one day. The only problem is that his tail is very large, and very detailed. It features a shark-like smiling mouth, and quite large eyes.. I was thinking of making it out of foam and furring it when the time finally comes, and I feel experienced enough to make him, but I feel like it would get much too heavy, and polyfil would flop. Is there anything I could do, or should I simplify the design for the sake of my back?

Foam is surprisingly lightweight, actually! You could very easily make a large tail entirely from foam without it weighing too much - the main thing in foam sculpting that adds weight is actually all the hot glue used to assemble it. You can avoid glue weight by assembling all of your initial sculpting with sewing pins first, and then using spray-adhesive to glue all the parts together once you have the shape hashed out - I recommend 3M's line of adhesive sprays. Keep in mind this glue is VERY fume-y, so you'll have to assemble your foam outdoors with good ventilation (and wear a fume mask)!

Polyfil is also a viable option, although you may have to work out an internal armature to help keep the tail from sagging to the side. A possible idea is adding a delrin rod "spine" to the inside of the tail. Delrin is a hard plastic that comes in a rod and can be heat-shaped, and keeps its shape after you form it. Matrices did a good write-up on delrin rod tail armatures here! 

Combining any of those ideas can make this work, you just have to play around, really. :D Like you could easily sculpt the tail's mouth from foam, stuff the length with polyfil, and keep it all upright with a delrin rod core. 

I hope these ideas help! If anyone else has any ideas, please reblog with input!

~Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Hi! I was wondering how to make handpaws the way Tayerr and Dorito's are (how they go from small at the elbow and big at the hand) I tried before, but failed. Thanks!

You can make sculptural paws (and other body parts!) the same way you make fursuit heads! First build up a prototype shape with foam, or even layered-up padding or stuffing held in place with tape (I've used torn up paper towels + masking tape before), until you have the hand and forearm shape you want. You can do this right on top of your own arm - you might want to put on a junk glove and sleeve that you don't mind gluing foam onto and otherwise wrecking.

After you're happy with your foam/padding shape, tape over it with masking tape to draft your pattern, the very same way you'd fur a fursuit head! Then, take your pattern and sew that in your fur fabric. You can then fill all that extra space with polyester fiber, keeping it in place with a sewn-in glove-like liner, or you can made sewn padded inserts to fill the space in the fingers and around the wrist (like little shaped pillows that you can remove). 

This technique is actually how I originally drafted my padded handpaws pattern to make that nubby finger shape, I use this technique of patterning a lot!

Hope that helps! If anyone else has any techniques or tips, please reblog with input! 

~Mimblex

[fursuit-help]

Greetings! I'm starting my first fursuit soon, and I'd like to ask 2 questions! First; Do you have HAVE to use a Balaclava mask for a foam base, or can I just do it without? Second; I'd like to make a dropped crotch. Do I just have to sew the crotch lower? And do I need to stuff it? Thank you very much for you help!

You can line your fursuit head with whatever works for you! I personally draft my foam head liners from my own pattern, and line my heads with quilted broadcloth (a technique I picked up from Matrices!). It is a good idea to line your head with -something-, to protect the foam from sweat and bacteria and general deterioration, and to make it easier to clean. 

For elongated-torso suits you just make the inseam lower, yep! Adding padding helps to keep the shape of the legs and the lower body (since I'm assuming you'll be doing some digitigrade shaping as well), which you can do with either foam inserts or pillow-like padding, by making the padding out of polyfil-stuffed fabric. 

I still don't have much experience with sculptural bodysuits and dropped inseam patterning, so hopefully someone can reblog this with help! 

~Mimblex