Purple neoprene or polyester?

[invetro]

Hello. I did introduce myself months ago, but I went and moved house and lost the link to here. :facepalm

Anyway, after researching different materials since March I have finally wittled things down to the neoprene that is most common, and a shimmery kind of polyester that has enough stretch to do the job and is almost the correct color.

For all of you that have worn it, what are the advantages of neoprene? Would polyester even be worth considering? Argh!

 

[MaulMaus]

The suit is neoprene and lycra - according to "Dressing the Galaxy." Which is what we decided on before that official confirmation!

The neoprene gives the right wrinkling/folding of the fabric at the elbows and knees, as well as the correct thickness to the fabric. Just lycra would fit like a swimsuit. Advantages to it... being accurate. Disadvantage - being hotter than .. well... you know where!

 

[Iceheart]

My just plain lycra suit is VERY comfortable, but it doesn't wear nearly as well as the neoprene... It's shredded all to heck underneath my gauntlets, skirt and thigh gadget. Neoprene holds up much better I assume, seeing as how everyone else's bodysuits don't seem to have the same shredded patches as mine.

The other advantage of the fabric vs. the neoprene is that I could stitch and finish it on a regular sewing machine. Don't know that I could have done that with neoprene.

Good luck!

Julie

 

[MaulMaus]

On sewing neoprene, I think the thickness of the material is what makes the biggest difference. I found some websites that discuss sewing neoprene (wetsuits) - I'll see if I can find those links again.

I've made some test seams with the final lycra/neoprene fabric and had no problems - admittedly I do have a really good consumer machine that has a built in walking-foot.

Iceheart: Is it just plain lycra? Do you have any backing material at all on it? Lycra doesn't wear very well - as any well-worn swimsuit can attest. Have you considered adhering some sort of lining/backing to the lycra?

 

[invetro]

Thankyou for your opinions on this. What I was going to do was stitch the polyester/lycra onto an extremely thin wetsuit or a breathable alternative. I'm not too concerned with overheating (heh, I say that now) so some padding would be great. I reckon our sewing machine could cope with something that thick.

 

[Iceheart]

Iceheart: Is it just plain lycra? Do you have any backing material at all on it? Lycra doesn't wear very well - as any well-worn swimsuit can attest. Have you considered adhering some sort of lining/backing to the lycra?

It's not backed with anything, no. The problem isn't the thickness, it's that the fibers keep snagging on things like the gauntlets especially. I used a dancewear lycra, and it definitely was not meant to be rubbing on ABS all the time.

I think at some point if I don't upgrade to a neoprene suit I'll probably end up stitching matching leather scraps or something to the lycra over the worn patches to keep it intact, and it shouldn't be TOO visible since it'll be under other pieces. I don't know. I'm still trying to decide what to do.

Julie

 

[MaulMaus]

How about adding another layer of lycra instead of the leather? I think it would show less. Maybe add a backing or layer it with leather underneath?