-----GENERAL GARMENT-MAKING STRATEGIES (no particular type of garment)-----

[alphax]

Let's tackle each joint separately.

The elbow should be the easiest as it only has one degree of movement.

If you could make two bands around your upper and forearm as tight as possible, then make an "elbow bra" to join them, the "bra" will take up the slack that appears at the elbow when you straighten your arm.

Bad illustration follows:


Note: The "bra" could be cut as one piece with the rest of the arm by adding an angle between the upper arm and forearm "tubes".

The wrist and forearm are another story. The wrist on the glove needs to be wide enough to allow the hand to pass through. On the other hand, it needs to be tight. That's why some evening wear opera gloves have that buttoned slit at the wrist, a.k.a. a mousquetaire. Other gloves have a hidden placket at the wrist that serves the same purpose.

Yet another factor at the wrist is the twisting motion that's made possible by the overlapping radial and ulnar bones in the forearm. That's what's causing the wrinkles in Steffy's photo above. In the photoo, the hand part is positioned at a different angle than it was joined to the rest of the arm therefore twist lines appear.

The easy workaround is be to be conscious of what angle your hands are at when photos are being taken to avoid twist lines.

Another solution would be to change the angle where the glove is joined to the arm to something more natural. My hands are around 45-60 degrees inwards when hanging straight down. For a rubberdoll, this could be a 90 degree straight angle, like when you're doing the "robot" dance.

A third solution would be to have a unattached hand from the rest of the arm with a loose overlap that won't bind on the forearm. The overlap could be stiffened to avoid twist lines.

[slipperyskin]

From the look of the wrinkles you might need to both tighten a couple areas and, as you and Latex mentioned, definitely shorten the sleeves. When you lay out a pattern, do you decrease both your circumference and length measurements by some percentage? With .3-.4 guage latex, I make all measurements, including length, 90% (85% for .3 guage works better in some places) of my actual and get almost no wrinkles. However, I also think you would need to have some way to hold the wrist in place. To do this, I always build fingerless gloves into my arms; they are very easy and fairly comfortable.

Alphax also has a really cool idea about cutting the sleeve-glove seam at an angle. The angle of the wrinkles on your wrist suggest this could help.

[Steffy]

From the look of the wrinkles you might need to both tighten a couple areas and, as you and Latex mentioned, definitely shorten the sleeves. When you lay out a pattern, do you decrease both your circumference and length measurements by some percentage? With .3-.4 guage latex, I make all measurements, including length, 90% (85% for .3 guage works better in some places) of my actual and get almost no wrinkles. However, I also think you would need to have some way to hold the wrist in place. To do this, I always build fingerless gloves into my arms; they are very easy and fairly comfortable.

Alphax also has a really cool idea about cutting the sleeve-glove seam at an angle. The angle of the wrinkles on your wrist suggest this could help.

Thanks to all of you for your replies.

No slipperyskin I don't decrease the circumferences and length measurements on my patterns. Well not yet anyway.

I was thinking that this might be a key to this problem and am going to try some arms made this way to see if it works for me. As for the wrist I think if I tighten it up it should work.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
STEFFY

[andye]

Thought I'd throw this one in as on observation from a non-garment maker but from a prolific garment wearer.

If you check this thread you'll see this little exercise went a bit pear shaped.

However my wife made a keen observation that may be food for thought.

As described in the thread my wife has this top from Rubber55. All in all very well made. Nice accurate seaming etc.

However the garment zips at the back from bottom to top.

To achieve the desirable fit it is neat in sizing. This makes the garment almost impossible to close for a single person. In fact it was difficult with two pairs of hands. I could have used three.

Anyway got the top zipped up AOK.

My wife pondered this for a moment and said "Why wouldn't you zip from the top down?"

This makes great sense.

In most cases the neck is under less stress and so your going to close the zip and get a run at it doing it up.

When the zip is done up the zip tag isn't visible and can be hidden in a waist band for a more aesthetic appearance when on.

If you also have a hood with a zip closing at the back you don't end up with two tags overlapping each other.

Anyway lateral thinking may offer designers some scope for clever variation.

[latexwolf]

I didn't want to start a new thread and couldn't find an exact match to what I want to ask - but this seems appropriate. So here goes.

I'm curious if people have used layering two sheets of latex together to create a garment that looks like a unified sheet from the outside, but as layers of different thickness on the inside. For example consider a pair of tights The external layer is 0.2mm latex so it's very flexible and stretchy, particularly around the knee and foot, then at certain locations like the calf and thigh, there are sections of 2 x 2mm latex to 'firm up' and create a different sensation.

Or you could make a say body which would have an extra layer around the middle for a hidden girdle effect.

The theory is to reduce the look of the suit 'patched' together from lots of different sheeting for a more seemless design but get the benefits of the thinner latex at specific points and the restriction of thicker latex where you might want it for either fitting, tailoring, or sensation reasons.

[Gia Gloveliczyk]

From what you are describing it sounds like laminating of sheets together and this is incredibly hard to do so that you do not get bubbles and wrinkles in the latex. There was a thread mentioning this and it seems it is just not worth the hassle.

[Gia Gloveliczyk]

Just noticed a small hole in the crotch of the first pair of leggings I ever made. My ability to stick together latex at that stage was beginner so not too bothered by it. However one benefit I have noticed is that the hole allows the air out and thus the leggings are truly skin tight.

Was thinking that perhaps a reinforced spot in the crotch with lots of micro holes might be a good way to go about constructing leggings, or for that matter any garment, in the future to ensure tightness. This would be on top of trying to get all the air out when donning the garment.

Anyone do this, have such a garment or an thoughts on such a modification?

[freak851]

interesting theory. might be worth some experimentation.

i experienced catastrophic failure a few days ago with my catsuit. it was too small, so it wasn't a huge shock . still sad though, and i've not yet figured out what i can do to save it....

[andye]

Saw this an thought it may inspire others to greatness.

It's an article describing a simple modification to a leather blouse to make it more wearable and it was too hot(as in heat) to wear.

I'm sure there's a technical term in clothes making but the modification is like reverse appliqué where geometric shapes are cut from the fabric to leave an incised pattern.

I imagine a latex short cloak in a contrasting colour to a latex outfit would look quite stunning.

http://hannasaren.net/vintagediary/leather-blouse/

v4.jpg

I have often thought that to make a latex outfit more "streetable" layering would be the way.

Imagine a simple latex evening dress like this one from Westward Bound R094MAIN.jpg(less hobble, more A line) in say red with a white crochet over dress. Crochet+Dress.jpg but with looser fitting sleeves (angel sleeves) along these lines .

There would be just enough latex to intrigue, but leave the wearer some mystery to those not quiet close enough. Just thoughts.