MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Its been a while, this was actually finished a couple of weeks ago now.. but here it is, the result, the outcome, my fabulous TIGER SUIT!

I have so far worn it in many different houses, countries and situations including down to the shops to buy toothpaste.

The shopkeeper told me animals were not allowed in the store.

It is comfy, cosy, warm and soft.

And silly?

Maybe a little, in a good way.

Needless to say I am EXTREMELY happy with my finished suit.

And you get used to not sitting on your own tail..

eventually.

8. Hood and Ears

Tiger time has been limited lately but the hood and ears are well under-way..

I used one of Mum’s old patterns for the hood, its not your average and simple hood, this hood is nicely shaped so there is no ‘pixie’ effect on the top where the hood goes up to a point. In fact it has a nice flat top, perfect for adding ears.. (perhaps not exactly what the designer had in mind..)

It will be a double thickness/lined hood.. And after much consideration and cutting the wrong material, I decided to have it fur lined. With the same fur that I will use on the middle of the ears and probably on the tummy. But so far I have just done the outer layer of the hood:

And have also finished the ears which I will sew on by hand, before adding the hood lining:

Like little, fluffy Doritos.

Cute eh?

7. Tale of Tail

Not much time this weekend but the latest development is..

a tail!

First I decided how long i want my tail to be..

 

Then I cut out a kind of long oval shape, and sewed it up the long side. Then turned it inside out and added a bit of cuddly toy stuffing. But not too much! I want to be able to twirl it and i dont want it to be uncomfortable to sit on of course.. (practicalities of a tail eh?)

Then I unpicked a hole in the back seam of the suit (sort of might have forgot to sew it in before) and sewed it in place. And voila!

Tail!

Hood making is scheduled for Wednesday I hope…

5. Making a whole

Today was exciting..!

There was lots of sewing.

And the thread broke a lot, and at one point the machine just kept getting jammed and we thought it might be the end for it.. but it made a last-minute come back. Obviously on the one time that my Mum said ‘I’ll have a go’ after numerous failed attempts by me. But aint that always the way.

 

I sewed up the sides and joined the front piece to the back piece.

 

To create:

One whole piece! (Thats the inside on the outside, if you see what i mean).

I hemed the cuffs and the ends of the legs so they are all neat and zigzaggy:

And Finally I gave the WIP a little test run!

So next you’ll get to see the tail go on and the hood and the ears.. and then, its pretty much there! Still need to decide whether to put a different coloured patch on the front or not.

Not a decision to be taken lightly.

I leave you with the result of my Mum taking one of her highly professional low-angle ’artistic’ shots:

4. Cut, Sew, Zip

Today we go from one piece of material to many in 6 simple steps.

Step 1 – Enjoy material for a while.

This is the faux fur i bought, it is silky and nice to smother ones self in. I am developing a bit of a thing for it, not sure if thats normal.

Step 2 – Layout

Literally.

Don’t be afraid to look silly during this stage, it is necessary to check that the suit is going to be long enough.

I want nice, impractically long trouser legs and sleeves.

Step 3 – Pin the Pattern.

So, having folded the material in half (so you get 2 of each shape when you cut), I arranged the paper pattern pieces to fit on. Remember to: Make sure the pattern of the material is going the right way. Nobody wants a tiger with mismatching stripes.

I also remembered to leave room for the hood and ears which I will cut later, and the tail which I cut now but on single thickness (don’t need 2 tails you know).

Once that is sorted, pin the paper to the material to stop it all getting away when you cut and.. get out the scissors..

Step 4 - Cut like this:

To result in this:

Next, we can execute number 13 of the instructions:

Step 5 - As the evening light slowly creeps through the window, crack out the sewing machine and get stitching.

Today I sewed the back..

So thats two of the big bits (of which  I now have 4 because i cut on double thickness remember) sewn neck to crotch only.

Then I attached the arm backs. And that resulted in:

Half a tiger suit!..

Which looks like some kind of strange tiger/human animal skin rug.

Step 6 - And then, the last thing I did today was sew the zip on the front. So thats the 2 remaining big bits, just sewn from crotch to sort of belly button height, leaving space for the zip to fit from belly button to neck.

Bit more tricky a zip. First I had to fold back the material to make a nice fluffy edge to hide the zip, then pin that in place.

Then lay out the zip and tack that in place (i.e put in a few stitches by hand to hold it whilst you machine sew it).

Lastly I sewed all the way up through the tiger material and the zip material.. not going off the edge either way (nobody wants a sewn-together zip).. and that resulted in this, a nice neat zip!

Unfortunately my Mum left  me alone for just a few minutes to speak on the phone and when she got back I’d decided to sew the material really really close to the zip edge. So its possibly a little er.. unpredictable.. as to whether or not the zip will continue to go up and down freely. But then, I figure, once i’m in it I doubt I’ll want to get out of it anyway.

So, tomorrow I’ll be adding the arm fronts and sewing the front to back! And then to work out the hood..

3. Pattern Preperation

First step.. open sewing pattern packet, layout pattern and try to come to terms with the complexity of making a tiger suit:

Next.. roughly cut out the pattern into manageable sized pieces.. to help with coming to terms with the complexity of making a tiger suit:

Finally.. thereputically iron the pieces to remove creases, folds, wrinkles and any remaining worries about the complexity of making a tiger suit.

Tomorrow we get to play with the tiger material!

2. The Plan

I considered a Max (from Where the Wild Things Are) costume and a rabbit suit, both of which were quite appealing (I also have a bit of a thing for bunnies) but.. really it had to be a tiger in the end.

Concept:

Inspired particularly by:

This one costs $600.. So I’m hoping mine will cost less. but I’ll keep you informed.

So..

What I definitely want:

An all in one suit with a hood and tail and extra long sleeves for snuggling, but no mittens or booties.

What I possibly want (deviating from the concept drawing):

Maybe a fur/contrasting coloured tummy patch or maybe not. Maybe buttons instead of a zip.

So I went hunting for a sewing pattern, my Mum recommends Simplicity because they are (its in the name..) simple. And English, which helps with terminology and sizing etc.

I realised after a few hours online that I wasn’t going to find a pattern for an adult jumpsuit with a hood, which was plan A. Actually I did find one, but it was in America and I just dont have the patience to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive. So I decided to settle for an animal costume pattern which was perfect except for the hood, which is separate. My Mum then did that thing that Mum’s do, looked in a big box.. and produced a perfect sewing pattern for a hood. (plus about 100 other patterns from the 70s for garments such as tennis dresses, work wear, children’s dungarees, her wedding dress…).

(left: the ideal (but in America) pattern, and right: the pattern I bought down the road)

I made a trip to the wonderful Sewcraft in Swindon and purchase the pattern plus 3.2 metres of faux tiger fur material. It is soft and lovely, with a smooth lining. It is not the super thick furry stuff, its quite silky… slinky. Better, I decided, for the practical side of the suit.. i.e actually being able to sew it and actually being able to wash it afterwards in the normal way.

Cost:

Pattern: £5.65

Material: 3.2 m at £8 p/metre = £25.60

Total: £31.25

Not so bad, hopefully should be able to do the whole thing for under £40.

Tomorrow: making!

1. Intro

MISSION OBJECTIVE

I’m going to make myself a tiger suit.. (and tell you all about it.)

HISTORY LESSON

Tiger suits are very dear to my heart.. it goes back a long way but in short: The original Tiger in my life planted the first seeds of the idea.. which inspired a story about a boy who wanted to be a tiger, that I wrote out, and revised and which came of age during my MA, blossomed into a full blown picture book. Then recently, another important person gave me KT Tunstsall’s album Tiger Suit and the DVD called How to Make a Tiger Suit.. neither of which have much to do with tiger suits but as a metaphor and a reminder, worked quite well to spur me into starting the project that has been fighting to become a reality for years.

Today I found the first record of the idea, it was scanned on 17 october, 2006:

And now, Mission Tiger Suit – your time has finally come.