I was reading a livejournal, today, and one of the posted pictures involved a person being covered in silver duct-tape from neck to wrists and all the way down the body to ankles as part of a fitting process for her fur-suit. Reportedly, the next phase of the process involves cutting the tape off her and sending it to the tailor. Is this the way fitting for fur-suits is done? Is this better than, say, just getting measurements, or is it just more necessary in these circumstances? Why duct-tape?
Also, do any of you have fur-suits, and is this the way you had yours made?
I know nothing about the making of fur-suits, but I’ve read a similar method in a knitting book to make your own mannequin for custom-fitting your sweaters; it also involved wrapping over a T-shirt to make the wrappings easy to remove. A quick search on “duct tape mannequin” on Google turns up a bunch of results. If you’re making one for someone else, this allows custom fitting over dimensions that might not otherwise be measured - if you have an unusual body in some fashion (hunched shoulders, different belly shape, etc.) this method would show the full dimensions.
As for why duct-tape, I would guess that it’s cheap, sturdy, and holds a shape well.
It’s not a fur-suit thing, it’s a clothing making thing. Duct tape is a cheap way to make a dress form. It’s sturdy, cheap, and you can shape it to your body pretty easily.
Having measurments is obviously helpful, but measurements don’t always tell you how something is going to fit exactly, and doesn’t take body shape into account very well beyond the basics. Having a body to put the garment on is much better, especially if you don’t have the person available to try it on, or your making something for yourself and need to see the fit from all angles.
Is anything done to the duct tape afterward? Strong and versatile as it is, will it really hold shape after it’s hollow? Is it paper mached? Dipped in plaster? Bronzed?
It isn’t to hold the shape, it’s to create and exact outline of the body. When it’s cut off the person being fitted the tailor will know where the shoulder breaks and how wide the arms/chest are. It’s a perfect sewing pattern.
How can you cut the tape off of her without removing some hair or skin? Isn’t this like a full-body waxing? Pulling off a band-aid is bad enough, I can’t imagine ripping off duct tape from my entire body. Is there some S&M element to this fetish?
Probably the same way you make a wallet out of duct tape: sticky side to sticky side. That way your money doesn’t get stuck inside your wallet, and your fur doesn’t stick to the inside of your pattern.
When I did SCA it was common for women to use the t-shirt-and-duct tape method to create patterns for perfectly fitted bodices. It makes a good, reusable pattern.
What would have been the historical method, just paying an exorbitant (by today’s standards) amount for a really good seamstress who could do it by eye and a small number of measurements?