Okay, so first of all, I hand-sew all my work. I'm just more comfortable with doing everything by hand. Unfortunately, I think it's causing my patterns to "warp" a bit whenever I'm putting everything together.
As you can see below, the tails both have an odd curve to them. The grey one is worse and is much more noticeable from the bottom. They're supposed to be perfectly straight. What am I doing wrong? Do I have too much thread tension or am making my stitches too tight on one side, causing it to curl? Is there a way to prevent this? I pin my patterns before I begin sewing, thinking that would correct the issue, and it hasn't =\
The third image is of the stub part of the tails... The red one I just slapped together since it's for my own personal suit and I don't really care what the "butt" end looks like. But I do want my work to look professional over-all. The grey tail isn't finished, but as you can see, I was attempting to hide more of the seams around the edges. However, I don't like how the elastic just looks tacked on. Any thoughts on how I could make for a more "seamless" looking pattern? I suspect this wouldn't be a huge issue if I were using fur, as it tends to hide a lot of defects, but fleece is a different creature all together =P
One last thing completely unrelated to tails and such... I'm interested in working with some sort of expandable foam, possibly cold foam since I've read that it can be a good alternative to upholstery foam. So a few questions for anyone who is familiar with the stuff...
- I assume the process of making a cold foam head would be similar to making a resin head, in that you mix the chemicals, pour into a mold, then remove the foam when it's done expanding?
- Will expanding foam break an Ultracal mold? Probably a stupid question but I've heard of foam busting molds before (although Ultracal is like concrete so I suspect the answer is 'no').
- Is cold foam breathable? Will it offer the same amount of ventilation as upholstery foam?
- Is it gentle on skin? Can people experience allergies or irritation from touching it?
- How cost-efficient is it compared to carving a foam head from upholstery foam? I know the foam itself is expensive, but I think it would save me a lot of time by using a mold and casting heads that way, rather than trimming and shaping a head from scratch, and constantly worrying about keeping everything symmetrical.
- any extra tips / hints about working with this material is appreciated.
Thanks! :D