Sewing With Zam Fabric

[Langsuir666]

The thing i bought is a 2300m cone of thread - that seems like a lot but hey i dunno i know nothing about sewing but im guessing thats enough, she has 1 cone left but i dont want to get it unless i need it.

 

[me gonk]

My mom made a suggestion I wanted to run by you guys. Her suggestion is
sandwiching the material between 2 sheets of wax paper as a stabilizer and to help the material move along a little better as well as providing a little lubrication for the needle.
I've seen the suggestion of sandwiching slippery materials between tear away stabilizer before, like sewing lace for instance.
I wonder if it would work on the neoprene.
Opinions anyone?

 

[me gonk]

Ooooh another question too sorry, there seem to be a lot of versions of the Vogue sewing book. There is a metric one and all sorts of other various titles - im not sure which is the one to go for

I was wondering what Vogue book everyone is talking about as well as I was thinking of picking up one. Pretty much all of my sewing books are ones I inherited from my grandmother (a *Great* seamstress..I learned a lot from her when she was alive) so some of them are from the 50s and 60s. While some things have not changed I think it's time to get a good modern book for myself

 

[Zam I Am]

Hello!

I thin Becky has a load left over from her Zam outfit as our seamstress didn't miss a trick. She says (the seamstress) that there's more than enough left over to make another suit.
I'm looking at it now

PM langsuir666

Wow your seamstress did a great job of conserving! Langsuir666- is she relatively small in stature? I think it takes one yard to do the upper bodice on most people, but because of different heights and weight of people the pants were definate a big question mark. Plus, when I did the run, I had to make sure that everyone had enough for mistake or two. Can you ask your seamstress how much yardage she used for the pants? I assume she didn't do it applique style for the front panel of the pants. Doubling up on neoprene anywhere is just way too bulky. My seamstress didn't. Unfortunately, my seamstress also had to sew the welt seam so it would bulge in the other direction in order to make the pants puzzle come together. (A VERY small, minute detail, but I'm critiqueing way after the fact.) The great part about the neoprene is that it's 4 way stretch, not 2 way, so it could be used in two directions if the piece that you need is small and you can cut from a top scrap. Depends on how you lay out all the pieces of the puzzle.

Wax paper sounds like a good idea. Just make sure to have rubbing alcohol and cotton balls to clean the glue off the needle.

I did this racerfront for a Battlestar Galactica costume

to learn how to draft a pattern and sew with 2 way stretch. And wow, are a lot of sewing terms that have been thrown around - and finally it's really starting to make more sense to me. Sewing is really nifty, but wow so many little contraptions and notions to think about. It took me 6 muslin tests just for that one racerfront. My seamstress had at least 3 test fabric mock ups. She used like thick furniture fabric for one. Muslin doesn't have the stretch or the correct thickness or negative ease allowance (stretch) for a propper pattern mock-up. But it's a good start for basic stuff.

 

[Droid Collector]

Can anyone refer me to someone that can do the Zam Outfit? I know it's better to have someone local to double check measurments and test fit, but cannot find anyone. Cal is looking into finding someone, but I need a plan "B".

Raul

 

[MaulMaus]

Members of your local 501st Legion might know a seamstress in your area. Ask family and friends if they know anyone that knows anyone can point you in the right direction. Otherwise, I would suggest looking some up in the yellow-pages, calling them up, then interviewing them to see if they can make the costume.

You could also take the plunge and try to sew the suit yourself?