Sounds great. Actually the cutting part isn't that tough, I would say it's the sewing that's the difficult part. getting straight clean seams is not as easy as it sounds. I'm drafting my cape options up in CAD also. I was going to print it on 36" paper for the templates.
The only trick when doing my cape (which I learned the hard way) is this kind of material has a certain directional flow to the material. So I was trying to save material and cut my pieces whichever way best allowed that. Well when I went and put the panels next to each other it looked like 2 different shades of material because I didn't use the material in all of the same direction?
Ink that was exactly what i was going to say. That had happend to a freind of mine. Make sure that you have enough fabric to be able to cut it all the same was as to what ink was refering to. Make sure you leave enough fabric for the hems as well as rod inserts if you would like them. Anxiously waiting to see how it turns out.
inkymoneky, i bought 6 yards which should be enough to get the right direction flow. Its especially important with this fabric since it stretch and pulls mostly in one direction. I should have enough though. Thanks for the reminder.
I did a fabric test today cutting it on the table. After securing the material down to a 16 pt paper with some tape, the suction from the table worked better. The paper acts as a press almost, helps keep the fabric in place and allows for a seal. The fabric wouldnt hold on its own cause air could get through. We did two test with 2 different blades, and the 2nd worked great. Im going to rework my dielines tomorrow to cut better. Ill show you when i cut out a larger piece.
cut out half of my cape tonight, couldnt wait to see how the length would work. Now spread open the cape looks great, i achieved the look i wanted (sorry no pics fabric is jsut pinned together at the momment) but i did lose length . I think the cape looks more like a stunt walking cape, and not the big flowy cape. I want to make 2 capes, a big one, most likely just fabric slightly trimmed, but mostly uncut. Then my stunt cape. I do love that the open cape looks like a begins spread wing shot. Very cool. Hope to get more work done soon on this.
OK playing around with the cape more at lunch today I realized I might be able to scale it up still some more.
The size I made my templates at fits just right if I lay them out on the fabric with the direction of the material going up and down like it should. But when I have the pieces sewn together and draping over my body, the direction of the material is flowing horizontally and causes you to see the directions slightly.
But if I had the wings spread and you were looking at it from behind, you'd see the flow of the material to be correct. Or I'm doing the dracula type pose, you'd see the flow correct. Since most of the time my cape is just going to be draped or hanging from my body, I could angle the templates on the fabric to have the flow be straight looking, which also gives me the lenght of the material to cut from and not the width. Sooo I think I'm going to up my templates size and cut new cape pieces out, probably with the cad table now. But I'm also under the gun for time now, so who knows lol, I might get excited to finish the cape and just do it how it is now. It might not be so bad once I have the other side cut. I can always get a bit more material if I need it.
I'll keep you posted and hopefully get pics soon.
Anyone have shots of their begins capes?
Well after doing a test last night for my cape, with my templates, i was sure the design would work, but just needed to be a bit larger. Still not sure if its large enough but it will work perfect for the spread winged look. A more massive cape is still hopefully in the works, because i still love that look to begins batman. This cape is more the stunt length when drapped. I pinned it together tonight as a test and it works pretty well. Cant wait till its sewn. Fact is the cape is light and flowy which are big pluses. Miss that massivness of the piece of fabric before cutting though, and i like the more straight edge look from most pics, but practically its not going to work of course.
Anyways here are some shots post CAD cutting my cape. It worked beautifully too, couldnt do it better by hand if i tried. Just took a bit up set up, i had just enough material left to make this work.
And sorry its all shots of the inside of the cape, and not the velvet outside.
holding up the middle 2 sections.
Ill get some finished shots asap, but my mom volunteered to stitch it up, so im waiting for her to do it this week.
looking great dude. i used a mock sued for my cape. i wasn't sure to begin with but it turned out better than i thought it would in the end.
i guss we won't realy know how it turned out untill it is sewn and hung of your sholders.
yea it should work great. I realized too with the amount of restricted movement the suit can give, this cape will just be something nice that wont get in the way to make me even more un comfortable. Im just hoping it catches the wind good to flow alot.
Hey B it looks good dude. Just remember to cut out the neck before you totally stich it up.