#stretch fabrics

[fashionbooksmilano]

Pucci

Vanessa Friedman / Alessandra Arezzi Boza

Directed and produced by Benedikt Taschen, Cologne/Los Angeles

Designed by Armando Chitolina, Milan

Layout by Guido Collarelli and Marco Poggi, Milan

Editorial coordination by Silvia Scamperle, Cologne

Taschen, Köln 2010, 416 pages, ISBN 978-3-8365-076-3

Limited edition of 10,000 copies. Each unique copy is bound with one of a selection of recent print fabrics from the Pucci collection

euro 150,00

email if you want to buy [email protected]

Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci is synonymous with stretch fabrics, silk scarves, and the international jet set. Born into an aristocratic Florentine family, Pucci’s first foray into fashion design was to produce skiwear uniforms, for his own skiing team, while studying abroad at Reed. After his costumes caught the attention of a Harper’s Bazaar photographer on the slopes, Pucci endeavored to open his own haute couture house in the fashionable resort of Canzone del Mare on the Isle of Capri.  With a feel for stretch fabrics, Emilio Pucci began designing swimwear but soon added scarves, blouses, and wrinkle-free dresses to his repertoire. Emblazoned on almost everything were his signature, brightly colored, bold, and geometric patterns. Pucci worked predominantly in womenswear and his garments epitomize a feminine, free-spirited woman. The label’s tie to Capri ensured that Pucci’s brand grew in popularity amongst the rich and famous and the holidaying elite the world over. His clothing designs synthesize the psychedelic prints of the swinging sixties with the more athletic aesthetic of resort wear. Pucci also established a name for himself through his bags, purses, and shoes often presented with buckle-like gold hardware. Ultimately Pucci represents classic European glamour, and refined yet refreshing style.  TASCHEN’s books on Pucci collate hundreds of photographs into formidable collections of the designer’s finest work. The books include rare material sourced from the Emilio Pucci Foundation, four different cover designs are available, each depicting an original pattern from the Pucci archives. Emilio Pucci occupies an important place in fashion history as a designer who could move between different modes of production. His designs make a perfect example of the transition from luxurious couture to ready-to-wear that took place from the 1950s onwards.

27/08/20

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[cosplaytutorial]

Hello! I'm not the best with sewing, but Im attempting to make a Beast Boy cosplay using a body suit base and adding his purple overlay. Are there any tips or basic knowledge that would be helpful when approaching this or any tips for sewing qith spandex? Thank you!

Hello there!

For basic spandex knowledge, I will point you over to the powerpoint for my panel on the subject.

Some of the basics that you will want to know:

Be sure that your purple fabric is of a similar stretch and recovery as your bodysuit. Make sure it this applies to all stretch directions. More stretchy is fine, but you don’t want it to be less stretchy. Recovery refers to the ability of the fabric to snap back into shape after it is stretched, so you want to make sure the fabric holds that tension well and snaps back quickly so that you don’t end up with a saggy bodysuit.

When sewing with spandex, you will need a few extra supplies. Mostly, you will want to use a stretch needle, which is a type of ballpoint needle (prevents runs in knits) that helps prevent skipped stitches, and either a walking foot or tear-away stabilizer. Since skipped stitches are the biggest concern with knits, this will help prevent that from happening because it will keep the fabric stable as you sew.

While you sew, be sure not to stretch the fabric as you go. This will create wavy, lumpy seams. Also be sure that the fabric does not hang down on the front or backside of the machine, and is supported as it is fed through. You want to lightly guide the material with your hands, not pull it through.

You can sew spandex on a regular sewing machine as long as you have a zigzag stitch! I prefer a narrow and long zigzag, as this allows stretch while helping to prevent visible “ladder” stitches on the outside of the garment, but mess around with your machine’s settings to see what works for you. If your machine has specialty stretch stitches, these are even better, as they retain more stretch than a simple zigzag. Refer to your owner’s manual to see what is available, and test your stitches on a scrap of fabric first.

As for adding the purple overlay, you can base your pattern off of the existing bodysuit. I would (carefully) mark and then cut out the area that needs to be purple. Mark it while it is on your body, and then fold it in half when it is off of you to get it symmetrical. Marking while it is on your body will ensure that your markings end up where they need to be while worn. Use the cut out piece as your pattern for the purple piece, being sure to add a little bit of seam allowance so the finished product isn’t too tight. (You can cut slightly inside of your markings to make the parts that will remain black have seam allowance, which may be helpful if your suit is especially tight. If you do this, be sure to add a bit of extra allowance to the purple so it matches up to the original markings, and then add seam allowance on top of that.) You will need to take the black pieces apart at the existing seams in order to properly create the pattern.

Alternatively, you can mark the pattern on yourself, trace it, and then applique the purple on top instead of cutting into the suit and piecing it together.

I would also recommend taking a peek at the bodysuits section of our website for more helpful tips.

I hope that helps! Good luck :]

—Fabrickind / Q&A Staff / Twitter

[fabrickind]

Sewing with Knits panel, as given at Fanimecon 2017

Knit fabrics are comfortable, versatile, stretchy, and essential for form-fitting garments like bodysuits, but many sewists can find such stretch fabrics daunting. Come learn from cosplayer fabrickind special fabric choice, sewing, and patterning considerations when working with knit materials.

This is just the bare bones of the panel, as many of the examples were elaborated on in-person, and it is just the slides, not any of my notes or in-Powerpoint drawings on the slides (sorry, labels on which stitches are stretch-friendly and which aren’t!). It is not meant to be exhaustive or definitive, and is just meant for general advice and suggestion purposes only. If anyone has feedback they would like to give, feel free to do so. That said, I hope that people find this information useful.

Here is a link to a pdf of the presentation. You may download for personal use, but please do not alter the presentation, repost without permission, or do any sort of other unauthorized use. (If you have a question about how you can use this presentation, please send me a message with your question and we can work it out. I promise I’m not scary. ;]) Feel free to reblog this post as much as you want, though. I do these panels and post them because I want the information to be shared.

I hope someone finds this helpful! :]

[cosplaytutorial]

hi! i was wondering if you could offer any advice for a johnny joestar cosplay im planning on making- specifically on how getting the star pattern and shirt line details would work. i know custom and star spangled fabric is an easy fix, but im kind of in love with a specific pleather that doesnt have any sort of print on it. thanks so much in advance!!

Hello there!

For this, you have three options that I can think of.

The first option would be to paint all of the stars on. You would need to make sure the fabric is stretched to where it will be when worn while painting to preserve that size when dry (putting it on a form works). I would recommend using the freezer paper stencil method.

The second option would be to use stretch applique to sew all of the stars down. This will be a cleaner and nicer finish than painting, but will also take you a long time to sew each point of the stars. Use a washable fabric adhesive to tack the stars down while sewing, and then wash the adhesive away. (They make this in both spray-on and iron-on form -- I would go with iron-on.) Here are my tips on stretch applique

The third method is to apply the stars with stretch heat n bond. This stuff is a miracle and the method that I would recommend. (In fact, once my partner found out about this product, she lamented it not existing when she did her own Johnny!) Simply iron this onto your stars fabric, peel off the backing, and then iron onto your pants fabric, preferably with a press cloth. I would iron it the first time before cutting the stars so that you don’t need to cut each star twice (once in fabric, once in adhesive). I wouldn’t normally recommend iron-on adhesives for a permanent attachment, but this stuff can hold stretch vinyl to stretch vinyl and retain stretch without peeling for a long time. I would, of course, test it on your materials first, and you can always go back and sew through this if needed, but I have personally seen good results from it.

I hope that helps! Good luck :]

—Fabrickind / Q&A Staff / Twitter

[cosplaytutorial]

How do you keep fabric from puckering? I'm sewing two different types of spandex together (one is thinner and stretchier than the other, but they are both 4-way stretch) and they keep puckering up and creating this unwanted boxy shape in my suit. How do I prevent that from happening again?

Hello there!

For this, I may need to see images of what exactly is happening and what exactly the garment is, so if you want to drop them in the submit, feel free to (I can keep it anonymous if you prefer).

There’s a few things that may be happening here, though.

Since one is stretchier than the other, my first thought is that there’s a problem with the stretch. If there isn’t enough ease in the less stretchy one and it is becoming overstretched along with the more stretchy one, that would cause problems. You may need to repattern so that the less stretchy piece has more ease, and then actually stretch the more stretchy one as you sew so that it matches up. Sewing a more stretchy piece to a less stretchy piece is about the /only/ time you stretch fabrics while sewing. A patterning issue is the most likely cause. It may also be an issue where if there is too much ease in the garment itself the less stretchy one may pucker, or if there is not enough ease, both materials may become overstretched, even if you pattern to accommodate the difference in stretch. If one of the fabrics doesn’t recover well enough, that may also be an issue.

I would test the stretch % of the fabrics and see if you can enlarge or reduce the pattern by a bit less than that percentage and see if that works better for you. 

The other possible cause, especially if there puckering is on both fabrics, is that you have a sewing error. In this case, if you stretched both fabrics while sewing, the stretch is then sewn into the garment and it may cause puckering and waving. Be careful to just guide the fabric gently without tugging, and to make sure that it does not hang off the table on either the front or back side (thus causing itself to stretch). Sewing with a walking foot will also help keep things neater. Using the wrong types of stitches could also be an issue, but if the problem is puckering, that seems less likely, since the main problem there tends to be a lack of stretch with the wrong stitches. Try a stretchier stitch if you have one on your machine.

I hope that helps! Good luck :]

—Fabrickind / Q&A Staff

[cosplaytutorial]

I really want to cosplay Shego from Kim Possible, but I don't know where to start on her bodysuit. Any advice or links would help, thank you!

Hello there!

I would recommend using a commercial pattern and modifying it. This one is going to take a bit of patterning prowess to get the colorblocking to look right, so you’ll likely need to make a mockup (or two) to make sure you get the fit correct. Sadly, since the colorblocking is such a unique pattern and the seams don’t cross areas that there would normally be seams, you probably won’t be able to simply sew together a seamed pattern with different colors for the different parts. I would recommend getting a pattern with as few seams as possible for this reason, so that you don’t have to worry about making sure that tiny pieces that cut across the seams already on the pattern line up.

I would get a cheap spandex knit similar to what you are planning on making the suit out of, make a mockup, make sure it fits perfectly, and then use that to base your pattern off of. Wear the suit, and have a friend help you to draw the lines for the colorblocking. Be sure to add notices to make sure that everything lines up once it is is reassembled. Add seam allowance just to the newly-cut edges, mark which pieces need to be cut in green and which in black, and use this as your pattern for the final suit.

This is the type of patterning that is entirely possible to do flat if you know how, but doing this method should make it easier to visualize exactly where each piece is supposed to go and where the seam placements need to be, and you know that the fit will be correct once it is assembled.

Also take a look at the bodysuit section of our site: http://www.cosplaytutorial.com/list/bodysuits.php

As for how to choose and work with knit fabrics, I have a panel about that right over here: https://fabrickind.tumblr.com/post/161757689089

I hope that helps! Good luck :]

—Fabrickind / Q&A Staff

[cosplaytutorial]

How can I cut shapes in stretchy fabric without mesh? I was looking at reverse applicant techniques but I'm so confuse. It seems they stitch the shape then cut it out from the middle? But I don't see how that makes a neat cutout Thank you

Hello there!

It’s rather difficult to cut shapes in stretchy fabric without mesh, but it is doable. How you go about this depends on what exactly the shape is and where it is located on the costume. 

If it is a simple shape and not in an area that crosses the body (a cleavage window would be a good example here), you can often simply cut out the shape and finish the edge. Keep in mind that you’ll need to cut it to the correct proportion, not to the correct size, as it will be larger once the piece is stretched, so you want to take that into account (mark it while wearing it, if possible, and cut it while flat). If the fabric is delicate, the shape is a bit more complex, or this will be stretched a bit more, you can stabilize the edges with elastic or with a facing, though on most cutouts that don’t cross areas of the body that control fit or that aren’t particularly large, elastic cut smaller than the opening would be overkill, since there wouldn’t be anything for it to conform to and stretch that back out.

If the cutout crosses the body, such as a side waist cutout in a leotard, you will need to trim this with elastic so that it still conforms to the body. Cut the elastic 1″ shorter than the perimeter of the cutout and stretch it evenly to fit as you sew it.  

As for using the reverse applique technique, this works by making the main fabric and the mesh that is placed behind it behave as one piece. This is good for complex shapes and small cutouts that don’t cross the body but are still tight against it (such as a front stomach cutout, like you’d find on a Rainbow Quartz leotard), so that the mesh can blend in with the skin. 

For this technique, you will place the mesh behind the main fabric, sew the shape you want through both layers, and then cut /only/ the top fabric away, leaving the mesh intact. You will need to trim the outer fabric very close to your stitching line for the effect to work. This creates a cutout in the main fabric, and the illusion of skin underneath, but since the mesh was sewn on the back before the fabric was cut away, it still acts like a solid piece of fabric when worn. Since most knits don’t ravel, you don’t have to worry about finishing the edge of the cutout with a hem or overlock.

I hope that helps! Good luck :]

—Fabrickind / Q&A Staff

[cosplaytutorial]

I'm cosplaying Widowmaker from Overwatch, but I'm having trouble with my suit. My waist is much smaller than my bust and hips, which makes it hard to have my body suit fitted to me. Any tips on how to fix this?

Hello there!

I know this struggle – my waist/hip ratio is .62, so sometimes fitting things to the waist can be difficult when there’s that large of a difference.

For a project like this, it would depend partially on the material you are using. Super stretchy spandex knits are usually much more forgiving and would simply need to be taken in, but a less stretchy or more structured 4-way stretch (such as a stretch vinyl or other) would require a bit more work to get to fit.

Generally, creating a closer fit requires more seams. At the very least, try a center back seam that can take up some of the excess fabric from center back, especially if you have a very deep S-curve to your back. There isn’t much room on the front of this costume for princess seams, but adding these in may also help, since it would give more room in the front to your bust while also taking in fabric at the waist. Given the shape of the suit, these will probably extend below the neckline opening, rather than from the shoulder.

Part of the problem you may be having is that the suit has a deep V-neck, and taking in the suit at the side seams would cause this to pull apart more in the front and show more skin. What you need to do is pattern the suit to fit /before/ cutting the V-neck. Make a mockup if you need to. Also keep in mind that with a stretchy fabric, the V-neck will always open up more than you cut it, so you may need to make the opening smaller than you think (start with just a straight line and go from there). 

I hope that helps! Good luck :]

—Fabrickind / Q&A Staff