F-suit for Vanilla Gallery - Patterns & Prototypes

Hope you all had a nice holiday and New Year's eve. I did, although most of my waking moments lately have been spent working on the f-suit I'm making for the upcoming Vanilla Gallery show with Karen Hsiao. The design is going to be a full-coverage f-suit with attached hood, and it's to be displayed suspended from a hook in the ceiling...

This is a cool project, as it gives me a chance to do something I've always wanted to do: A variation on the f-suit that pivots the leg position around, so it will function more like a hogtie. The poor slave inside will be pretty helpless and trapped in a belly-down position. I envision it actually being suspended with a person inside eventually, but that will have to be worked out at another time, and would require a separate reinforced harness. But for display purposes, D-rings sewn into the body of the f-suit should suffice. 

I am going to use a heavy red leather to reference back to the black cherries theme. I'll also need to come up with a new pattern for the zippered hood, as I think it will look cleaner than it would with laces at the back. I want a sleek, beautiful leather envelope...

So, first off, I need to create a pattern for the new leg pocket. I'll start like I normally do, with a duct-tape over plastic wrap.

 This usually gets another layer of tape, which helps smooth out the shape, and keeps the parts together as it is cut into pieces. I will then use a Sharpie to draw lines where I want the seams to be. Normally, I would create a wrap for both legs, and average out between the two pieces, but because this is such a strict position, I wanted to spare my fit model the ordeal of having both legs wrapped. Doing both limbs does give you an advantage in allowing you to adjust for any asymmetry in the body. 

 I love the look of a wrap when you can see the anatomical details, as here the clear separation between the upper and lower leg. The shape of the foot, too!

 Once I'm happy with the position of the marks, I'll cut along the best lines to get my pattern shapes.

I end up with large panels forming the left and right sides of the foot pocket. 

Another couple of panels form the front and back of the pelvic area. I'm planning on merging this design with my standard f-suit pattern. 

There is a center strip that runs from the top of the thigh to the tip of the toes, the bottom of the foot pocket, and a portion for the waist-through-the crotch. 

Each of these pieces gets transferred to the butcher paper that will become the working pattern. 

These get rough-cut into a big pile...

...and final trimmed to shape. 

Before I commit to making the pattern in leather, I want to do a test or proof of the pattern in an inexpensive vinyl first.

It's much better to discover any problems at this stage rather than after everything's been cut out of leather. 

Everything goes together like it will in leather, with clips and sewing. 

But I don't bother trying to glue down the seam allowances. First, because it's not necessary and second because it's near impossible to get the seams to stay down in the vinyl - at least with the contact cement. If you ever do want to glue down seams on vinyl, I'd recommend using a latex-based adhesive. 

That's about it for the pattern and vinyl fit test. If this checks out OK, I'll be ready to move on to making the final in leather...