The Finished Butterfly SJ with Padded Hood

Tightest arm pockets I've ever made. Two-layered hood with foam padding. Laced and zipped rear closure. It's one dark, lovely ride. 

Padded Hood Construction PART II

In this post I'll attach the padded hood to the butterfly straitjacket, finish setting the rear zipper and lacing panel in place. We left off with the outer hood wrapped over the inner hood and foam inter-layer. 

Unfortunately, as good as this looks, I skipped a step. We really should sew the collar to the outer hood before stretching it over the form. 

So, off with the outer hood, and let's take care of that collar, shall we? 

Align the collar on the centerline, and clip in place for sewing. 

I find this much easier to do on the post-bed sewing machine, both for the initial stitching, and the topstitching. It allows the hood to keep it's shape while going through.

 It would have to be flattened out a bit to go through the flatbed. And at this stage, I don't want to pull that foam or inner hood out of alignment. (Making closed shapes like this is exactly why I spent the money to buy a dedicated post-bed machine.)

Once the collar is attached the inner and outer hoods are clipped together at the rear. I topstitch all around this opening, tying the two hoods together, and locking the foam parts in place. 

You can see in this photo a 1" gap at the rear, created to allow the lacing strip to fit nicely in the rear of the hood. 

Everything looking nice at this stage. 

Now I want to cut all the long strips to complete the project. There are four: one lacing strip, the edge-band for the waist, the zipper tongue, and lacing panel tongue. 

I managed to squeeze this entire project out of a 20 square foot remnant. But I did end up having to piece together some of these long strips from shorter pieces. I would recommend more like 30 to 35 square feet for a project like this, to have no seams, and have better choice when it comes to placing parts on the hide. 

Now it's time to clip the hood to the body of the straitjacket. 

Once sewn, those seams get glued and flattened. 

And we have a nice looking attached hood!

I love this jacket. It's so fun to see the project come together...

Now for the rear zipper/lacing panel. This technique is evolving for me, and lately I've been using double-sided tape to hold parts together during sewing. It can really help with parts like this, where you have multiple pieces held together with one row of stitching. Here we have (from top to bottom) the lacing strip, the zipper, and the part that will become the tongue on the lacing side. 

I first put down a line of double-sided tape on the lacing tongue. 

The zipper is attached to that, and a second line of tape is laid down on the zipper to hold the lacing strip in place. 

I sew a small tab of leather to the end of the zipper. It acts as a stop, and gives me something to sew through when setting the zipper into the hood. 

The lacing strip (which has been skived down to taper near the end) is held in place with the double-sided tape. This whole sandwich of lacing strip, zipper and lacing tongue are all run through at one time, sewing them all together. 

The strip we create will get sewn in to the rear of the jacket, but I'm following my usual technique for locking the strip into the rolled edge. To do this, I have to start the rolled edge, and insert the strip half-way through. 

I can post a more detailed description of that if anyone's interested...

Our lacing/zipper strip gets some double-sided tape to hold it in place during sewing. 

I tend to do a strip along the top as well, to keep it properly aligned during sewing. 

After sewing the strip in place, this is the final result: A zipped, laced rear opening. 

The lacing is great for adjusting the tightness and intensity. The zipper makes getting in and out a lot quicker and easier. 

And, you'll be happy to note that I did provide a breathing hole. 

That about wraps up this project folks. Thanks for following along! 

Time for some real-world testing…

Dark Babies photos by Karen Hsiao

My friend and artistic collaborator Karen Hsiao sent over some images she created recently. She calls them her Dark Babies. Oh, I like these...

That black lipstick...

Prints are available at her store. 

We're working on an entire new series that unfortunately I have to keep under wraps for now, but I can't wait until it comes to fruition. If my blog does go away, you can find my work on Karen's site. We still have lots of things left to do together!

Butterfly SJ with Padded Hood Studio Shots

I love how this jacket came out... It's so surreal and otherworldly. Must do more with foam, layering and reinforcement. So much still to do...

Butterfly Straightjacket with Attached Padded Hood

Just wrapped up a project that I've been thinking about for a long time: a padded 2-layer hood attached to a butterfly straitjacket. I classified this among the "not likely to be done any time soon" project sketches, as it was going to be difficult to make, as well as challenging to wear. 

The no-compromise design includes a rear lacing-only entry, which makes getting into and out of the jacket a time-consuming task. I didn't add a zipper for speed or convenience. 

The hood, which is essentially an inner and outer hood with a foam layer in between, creates a real buffer between the wearer and the outside world. Best used when the weather isn't too hot. 

The breathing tube is another aspect that makes the restraint even more intense. If you forget to mouth-breathe and try to breathe through your nose, the leather will just press against your face and remind you just how stuck you really are. 

Finally, the arm pockets are pared down to create the tightest fit yet. I'm always trying to find the trade-off/boundary between tightness and comfort, and we may just about be there. It looks fantastic in real life. I'm so very happy with it, and the testing sessions are going much better than expected. 

Some More Design Sketches...

Here are some ideas that may take a while for me to get around to making (but wouldn't they be fun?). They are a bit higher up on the difficulty scale. 

Tandem Walking Suit: Pair of girls with arms bound in front, sharing a common boot.  

Butterfly straitjacket with attached foam-filled puffy hood. The ultimate in waist-up confinement and sensory deprivation. 

 Forced Kiss hood... A pair of perfectly custom-fit hoods, sewn together at the mouth. For this I need two people who really like each other! 

 Molded ballet boot with integrated handle heel - riveted construction. Inspired by Meguca's drawings of girls encased in metal (thanks Meguca!).... 

 Super-strict Y-suit with armbinder integrated and attached hood. She's not going anywhere...

Transparent Butterfly Straitjacket

After all the other crazy see-through things I've been making lately, why not a butterfly straitjacket with attached hood? Why not... Karen Hsiao picked this one up tonight, and (as always) I'm looking forward to what she does with it. Promises to be very interesting... Stay tuned for updates!

Black Cherries limited-edition Art Prints Now Available!

I'm happy to announce that fine-art prints of Karen Hsiao's Black Cherries series are now available on her website. We've been working together on creating these images over the past year or so, and it's really exciting to see them complete and beautifully printed. These are each signed and numbered by Karen, and come with a certificate of authenticity. 

These editions are limited to just 25 prints each image, so be sure to order soon if you are interested in a particular one. It's a very small run, and they could sell out quickly. 

I think "Black Doll" came out pretty amazing:

And I'm still partial to "Red Butterfly Girl" myself...

I always marvel at the model in the "Black Widow" image - she managed to shoot with that heavy molded leather hood on (without nose holes!)...

Karen's also offering a Limited Edition "Strawberry Kisses" 5 piece card set, printed on fine art watercolor paper, signed and numbered with race paper and seal stamped - for only $25. 

Kudos to Karen - I can't thank you enough for making these images real, and for sharing with me your incredible talent, drive and creativity! You are inspiring, amazing and wonderful to work with. It's been a labor of love, and you are a true artist. I've been humbled by the experience. 

Visit Karen's site here  to see more images from this series...