The Vault Experiment Part 4

I've been super lazy the past few days and I ignored the jumpsuits entirely. Back on track today.

I've mostly completed the torso of the male jumpsuit. All that remains is to hem the sleeves, correct the length of the rectangular panel on the right sleeve, attach the collar, and add the center front zipper. And, of course, to add the iconic numbers to the back and to the collar. We are still discussing which vault we will represent. (But we will probably be Boomers.)

I made several compromises with the design today. I decided that for my own sanity the sleeve seam would be serged and topstitched, even though in the game it is clearly a separate piece. The armhole and sleeve ended up slightly baggy and awkward, which makes my inner tailor cringe, but... this is a jumpsuit! It is not intended to be sexy, it is intended to be functional. The range of movement in the armcye is excellent, which is important when you are maintaining tempermental vault support systems -- or running around the wasteland slaughtering Bighorns.

Although I have patterned out legs, I think tomorrow I will scrap that pattern and simply trace out Jason's favorite pair of jeans.

The Vault Experiment Part 3

Not as much progress today as I had hoped. I cut out the torso pieces, redrafted the collar because I wasn't happy with it, and assembled the front torso pieces. I think tomorrow I may recut the collar, because I am rethinking my strategy there... but I am also going out with a friend, so I may not have time.

The yellow pieces on the center of the jumpsuit are most commonly represent with trim applied to the top of the jumpsuit. Looking at the game file, it was pretty clear to me that it was a second cut of fabric pieced in, so that was the route I took. I am double top stitching all the seams and details as if I was making a pair of jeans because I am working with denim and that just seems right to me. Also this way the details stand out more.

The Vault Experiment part 2

Today I corrected the pattern based on my husband's fitting last night, and began changing the pattern to  better match the vault jumpsuits in F3 and F:NV. Annoyingly, the in-game jumpsuits seemed to have been designed by someone who doesn't understand garment construction, and there are several seams on the game textures that don't actually work on a three dimensional object.

My boss graciously allowed me to stay after work and use the huge tables there, which let me spread out and pin the pattern to the table. This probably saved me over an hour of time, because I didn't have the wrangle the pieces on my coffee table.

Tracing the original pattern to paper for correction.

Notable examples of video-game to garment problems include: the lack of a center back seam on the ass of the pants, the fly on the pants (there is a visible flap on the pants portion of the jumpsuit, but the zipper is in full view on the shirt portion), the disappearing side seam at the hip (which would make the presence of the front pocket impossible - either there is a side seam to anchor that front pocket to, or the 'pocket' is in fact just a seam), and the complete lack of a seam below the knee padding on the front of the leg.

Getting a workable jumpsuit that still resembles the game reference is interesting. Right now I have a four piece leg, which is ridiculous, but the most accurate to the game. I am not sure whether I am going to preserve the front pocket and keep the extraneous outseam, or ditch the pocket and have the seams more closely resemble the game. Decisions.

The almost complete corrected pattern. 

Later tonight I am going to completely finish the pattern, and if I feel up to it, start cutting the fabric.

Check out the game images that I am using for reference here.

The Vault Experiment Part 1

Two vault jumpsuits, two weeks.

Denim and duck canvas. 

Over the next two weeks I am going to make me and my husband vault jumpsuits from the Fallout series.  Specifically, these will be the jumpsuits from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas rather than from the earlier games.  I'm going for game accuracy, but I'm also going for realism in terms of construction and materials, so there will be some differences from the in-game textures.  I'm using a medium blue denim and a lemon yellow duck canvas.  The pattern I am basing the jumpsuits off of is Kwik Sew 3389.  

Framed NCR Embroidery

I finished my WIP from my very first post. It has taken me several weeks of on-again-off-again-mostly-off stitching, whenever it pops into my head. This morning I painted a thick strip across the bottom using a mixture of crimson acrylic paint mixed with a fabric paint medium, with a tiny amount of ultramarine and burnt umber mixed in to darken and grey down the red.

Recycled Can Canister

My tomato can canister! Perfect for all the junk on my desk.

Today I made a canister out of a can of tomatoes. I thought I'd play around with making a tutorial for it, since I've never made one before. This project only took me about 15 minutes to complete!