Giving Gibbs a Body

Like I stated in my last post, ever since I was 14 I have always wanted a fursuit, and after attending my first furry convention at 22, the dream became true. I picked up an artic fox partial from PawPunchProductions on the second day of the convention and since then, wanted to get or make a body for him.

After sharing the new purchase with friends they dubbed him as "Gilbert", which I ended up shortening down to "Gibbs". I don't know, it just felt, fitting!

Most makers don't tend to do bodies from other makers, and also require a duct tape dummy for the body... I don't have anyone who's willing to entomb me in duct tape so getting someone else to make his body was out of the question. So, inflating my ego, I decided I would do it myself. Only problem... I have never sewn anything outside of bags, mending holes or installing pockets onto onesies! This was going to be, a journey.

Making a Dummy Suit

A (Failed) Dummy

Every guide I kept looking up on how to make a fursuit kept talking about needing a duct tape dummy, or starting off with an already made dummy. Again, one of two reasons I didn't just commission a body, was because I couldn't make a dummy.

After mulling the issue over a bit, I realized I could (try to) make one, with one of the many onesies I own, I could use that as a base. Tape over the entire onesie, cut off the hood, and then just, wrap around key parts to fit it.

It went well for awhile! I started off by finding a onesie that was already fairly skin tight so I wouldn't have to do too much after. I taped over the entire onesie, leaving the arms and zipper untouched so I could wiggle in and out.

Once all taped up I went inside and wrapped a piece of tape around each ankle, under and above the knee, as well as using another piece to lift up the crotch.

The hardest part was taping around the waist, back and chest. My arms don't move like that! I am not at all flexible! I am the complete opposite. This is also where I notice a funny feeling... one side, was very low. The dummy... was lopsided, to the point where, even though my arms were free... I couldn't reach, anything with my left side.

Okay... I just wont use the left side when making the pattern.

Once I managed to wriggle out I realized just how... skewed the dummy ended up being... to the point where, even if I were to cut out the right and ignore it... there would still be some fit issues.

Scrap that one and use the only other onesie I didn't mind no having anymore. Only to make the same mistake, except this time it was the right side. It was also around this point... After this second failure I was pointed to Matrices's "Making a Fursuit" guide, which used a onesie as the base pattern, skipping the need for a duct tape dummy while still also making a form fitting fursuit.

A (Working) Dummy

Now... While I did follow this guide a decent amount, I did end up deviating in a few spots. To start with, they recommended using McCalls M6106 or McCall’s M7675 which are both looser fitting jumpsuit patterns. I went with McCalls M7518 which was a tighter fitting onesie pattern.

I mainly used this pattern because I thought I could skip the entire part of Matrices's guide where they fitted the looser fitting jumpsuit pattern to the body. For the most part I was right, but that will come in a later section.

The next thing to do was to get some cotton and cut the pattern.

As you can see, it appeared to be fairly fitting and I actually was worried a bit that maybe it would end up being too fitting. But I went through the motions, checked fit, movement and made sure I marked front from back.

Instead of basting the pattern like the instructions said, I used safety pins, trying to keep a 1/4in seam allowance, and not doing the front so I could see how long of a zipper I would need. This saved time in putting together the pattern... but took a bit longer to deconstruct.

It took... I believe a total of 2 days to get the dummy garment made. Now it was the fun part... and also probably the second hardest part of the entire project... Drawing all the markings onto the dummy!

Marking the Dummy

This was both the fastest, and most time consuming part. I already had a ref-sheet colored in pretty much the second I got my hands on the suit. Now, the only thig I had to do, and worry about now is... somehow translating it to the cotton dummy suit!

In the ref sheet I had marked out patches on the knees and elbows because I love them on suit jackets or sweaters. Something about the tweed "professor jacket" look has always spoken out to me. I continue to blame Matt Smith's Doctor for this.

You'll see in later steps that, the elbow patches didn't end up working out, mostly because I had a hard time marking them on me, and predicting where they'd sit on the sleeve once marked. This also ended up being a blessing too as it turns out sewing circles is quite annoying, even with the comfort of knowing that fur is forgiving.

While marking everything, especially when it came to where the belly would meet the tail, and head... as well as making sure that the white underarm marking would match with the under arm of the paws. Another deviation from the ref sheet is that I originally wanted both the white patches connected, but again, this being my first time, and also working on a flat, 2d pattern, kept having a hard time making them line up or look good.

Since Gibbs was symmetrical I only marked down one side of the dummy, leaving the other as a "fit" reference, which didn't quite go to plan as you will see later on!

There were still several revisions on the pattern itself, but eventually, one everything was locked down, I labeled all the pieces on the pattern with their color, side and on some of the smaller pieces, fur direction. Eventually also creating a key on Trello, where I would track all my progress up to this point.

Because the pattern was symmetrical, and I'd need to be cutting out two of everything, just flipped, the pattern, marking Left and Right with 1 and 2, also making sure to write down which side was which... on the key itself. The entire key I came up with is shown below:

1 = Pattern Forwards… Template Backwards (Left)
2 = Pattern Backwards… Template Forwards (Right)
F = Front Pieces
B = Back Pieces
A = Arm Pieces

Is this the most efficient way? Probably not... but it was a system that ended up working very well when it came time to cutting the fur. As an example, the front left belly piece was labeled as, F1 White Belly, and it's accompanying blue piece would be labeled F1 Blue Body on the Trello board. Either case, since I was working alone, only I really needed to understand it.

White I wrote down registration marks on the pattern, I didn't end up really using or needing them once it came time to sewing since the design was really simple. The only pieces that needed them were the knee patches, I also tried to keep in mind what the color pieces were since I needed to mark down a 1/4 seam allowance on any piece that didn't interest with the main pattern.

Once all was said and marked down, and I could keep track with the Trello board, I cut all the pieces and ordered the fur that I'd need, ordering what I thought was extra just in case... but in the case of white... ordered way too much on accident.

In total I ordered 5 yards of blue and white and 2 of grey. At the end of the project I had a yard of blue and grey left over... and about 3 of white... so I'm trying to think of some accessories or other projects that might fun to make with what I have left.

Cutting the Fur

Again one of the simpler tasks in this project, but none the less more time consuming.

To try and make sure I was cutting everything correctly, I took the original paper pattern and traced that onto the fur. This is where the "Pattern Forwards… Template Backwards (Left)" of my key comes in. While noting the direction of the template probably wasn't necessary I still wanted to note it.

Using originally a utility knife, I would cut the huge pieces quicky before ending up switching to a hobby knife. I think I went through 3 blades just cutting the fur alone. Sadly, I was too locked in during this portion so I don't have photos.

Sewing it All Together

When I tell you I went crazy during this portion... that is an UNDERSTATEMENT. I work, so I spent any time I wasn't sleeping, eating or working, sewing this ungrateful fox. I started sewing him on July 12... and wasn't done until the 20th, but that's only counting the days it took me to sew everything together... not including modifications... those took me until July xxth. In total sewing took about x days to complete, though I might have been able to do it sooner, if I wasn't employed.

To make things easier on myself I sewed the zipper onto the two belly pieces first, so when it came time to sew everything up, I wouldn't have to worry about it, and the hardest part was out of the way! Basically, I just blanket stitched it to the fur side and then folded it in, which kinda helped to hide the zipper. Now... I don't know if this was the best way to install a zipper onto a suit, but it's how I've replaced zippers on onesies in the past and I haven't had an issue yet.

Once both sides of the zipper were said and done I ended up just going ahead and sewing the crotch together as well, since I'd be basically be sewing the front and back of the suit together at the end. So far with all of my wearing and roughing around in the suit I have not had the zipper fail so I will be keeping it sewn the way it is.

Considering everything else that will be coming up, this zipper was easy.

From here I basically just went panel by panel, starting with the two front sides, which consisted of a small grey shoulder patch, grey knee patches, a grey stripe, and the white lower half of the leg.

The MOST annoying piece to sew was the round knee patches. I don't know if I cut them a little too big, or if rounded things are just stupidly annoying to sew on their own but they took the longest, and had to be resewn at least twice.

Now that the belly and both front panels were sewn together, all three pieces could be set aside.

The next pieces I decided to tackle were the arms because I thought they'd be be more simple... hah... haha... HAHAHA... No!

For the most part installing the white under arm pieces was easy, probably the second easiest part not including the white and grey stripes on the legs. What really got me, was the diamond point on the arm itself.

It took awhile of pinning and brushing, and retrying, I finally just ended up pinching the end and sewing it that way. Doing that made for a nice sharp end and also seems to have strengthened that part of the seam.

This patch didn't seem to have the same overcut issue as the circle ones. I can't tell if that is just because I managed to measure the seam allowance better on these pieces due to the straight lines... or just, simply because this was one of the last pieces I cut.

Since all the figuring out on the first arm was already done the second arm didn't take that long. Once I was happy with how they were sewn I closed them up and hung them on the rack with the other pieces.

Fortunately the back was less problematic (for now) to sew together since I had already figured out the sharp points issue and there were no circular patches. Everything else was a breeze to get through, took a day to get both back panels put together, then both halves sewn into one.

I took a majority of the next day to attach the sides to the belly so that I would be left with four pieces instead of seven. This is where the first... issue... came up...

I started attaching the front and back panels from the bottom up starting with the inner leg up to the crotch. There is still no clue where the issue might have come from. According to the paper pattern I did not cut enough for the crotch, but according to the physical suit I was looking at I cut too much.

Somewhere during my cutting for the back panels I had somehow cut too little... and too much fur for the crotch. It was, confusing. Here I was looking at one thing but being told another. Eventually I just took a plate, drew a curved line from, the top of the white patch to where everything would intersect and cut from there... the plate was mainly to make sure that the line was not straight and hopefully, wouldn't ride up my butt and create a crack I didn't want to have on the suit.

After quickly sewing the new crotch I then proceeded to sew the shoulders together so I could make sure I did the crotch correctly... which, thankfully, I did. This makes the first of a few alterations that I would need to make to the suit to make it fit better.

Thankfully, during the main sewing, this was the only major screwup and everything else went off without a hitch! I finally got to try on Gibbs for the first time, and for the first couple days I was running off of pure euphoria. During the first wear of him I was just, so excited to finally have a suit, not just a partial, but a full, fursuit.

Now we get to all of the problems I had with the suit and how I have been fixing them...

Modifications

Arm Movement

One of the major issues I was having with the suit was arm movement. Side to side was easy, but up was not working out. The shoulder was hitching, and at the same time, the underarm was pulling down on my arm. This caused me to only be able to extend my arm outwards, but unable to move my arm up.

While inspecting the suit I realized that the shoulder patches were causing the sleeve to take an irregular shape. This lowered the armpit by a few inches which was one of the reasons for the mobility issue... the other... was the fact that the armpits were already dropped because I used a onesie pattern to make the fursuit. Since the pattern probably expected the maker to use something like fleece or minky, which has some stretch to it, and not something stiff and heavy like fur, this means I had to come up with a solution for that as well.

The solutions for this issue were, relatively easy to come by.

First, take out the smaller shoulder pieces and just leave the diamond on the arm, this would restore the shape of the sleeve and keep it from sagging. This also helped bring up the sleeve since technically I did take out some of the shoulder.

Second, install gussets to the underarm... this one really needs no explanation. Install an oval shaped piece of fur between the armpit and sleeve that would fold in and add a few extra inches. This now means that my arms are able to freely move in all directions... but this also highlighted another issue.

The Overall Fit

Now that the fit was addressed, a new issue came up, the torso was... a bit big! As in, 8in big. This isn't really something I took too much note of when I had first cut out and tested the dummy suit, but it was cozy in there.

This can again be attributed to the fact that I used a onesie pattern to make the fursuit. Despite how form fitting the cotton suit might have felt, it was obvious that the fur either added some weight that contributed to the extra few inches.

I really didn't want to have to cut up the suit to try and address it, plus, the fur is kinda stiff so I was worried that if I made it more form fitting by removing material, it would restrict movement in ways I couldn't predict.

Something that came up in my research for how to shrink clothing without cutting it up was shirring. This both appeared on Reddit when I asked about how to fit the suit better, and on YouTube when shorts by zeekayart and Krafiscrafts appeared.

It's basically pleating fabric using elastic thread which shrinks the overall pattern down, but also allows for it to still move or expand. Now... the suit chest and belly measured to 48in... while my waist and chest is 40... so that is 8 inches of fur that I somehow have to shrink.

I am still working on this part as I write this post but I am hopeful that it will work. I have already shirred one front panel which used to be 6in wide, but shrunk down to 2.5 inches... eliminating close to 3.5 inches for just, one side done.

When I get the time to do the other side that should be able to bring the total shrinkage down to 7in, and I don't plan on stopping there. I have 2 panels on the back marked out that are approximately 8in wide, if I see the same shrinkage there, that I did on the front panels... they should shrink down to around 3.5in.

Is this overkill? Yes... yes it is! But with the way I am doing the shirring, it has plenty of give, so it should be form fitting, move with me, and still be comfortable. Best part about shirring... it's easy to remove! So if it does end up being too much, I can just take it out, do smaller panels and not be as greedy!

Since this is fur too, I don't have to worry about thread showing, or the wrinkles, even though shirring only needs a little bit pocking out the front anyways.

As of this moment, these are the only two modifications that I am seeing that need to be done. Lets hope it stays that way. I've learned a lot from this project and if I ever make another body, I will defiantly make sure to measure everything from the get-go... or maybe bribe someone into mummifying me so I don't have to use store patterns!