Spidey Costume EARLY Guides Part 5: The Mask

So, I am in a bit of conflict about this particular installment of the Guides, which is why I have saved it for the near-end of the series.

As with the boots, for the mask I have been using a pattern I extracted from the bodysuit pattern I purchased from Gunhead Designs, and I don’t feel like it’s mine to share, plus I didn’t create it and couldn’t really tell you how to create it from scratch using your measurements. But unlike the boots, I do not have a good alternative pattern of my own.

But I do have a not very good alternative, if that means anything. More importantly, I can at least offer options.

Option 1: Purchase just the mask pattern and sewing guide from 4 Neo Designs for $25 (as of this writing)

From the 4 Neo Designs web page listing for the mask: http://www.4neodesigns.com/downloads/amazing-spider-man-mask/

Above is the image from the 4 Neo Designs page that lists the mask pattern file for sale. $25 (as of this writing) gets you the pattern and sewing guide.

You can do what I did and modify the pattern design to match the rest of your costume.

Option 2: You should definitely not reverse engineer the above image to make your own pattern:

So, while I don’t feel comfortable literally sharing the pattern file, I will say that this same basic mask pattern shows up on Gun Head and 4 Neo, as well as at least a couple of other unrelated Spidey costume tutorials. That makes me wonder if its really the design that you’re purchasing from those sites more than the underlying pattern concept.

Of course, I wouldn’t go so far as to tell you that you use the visible layout of the mask as pictured above to reverse engineer the pattern. Or that if you add your own design on it, and just use it for your own personal purposes and not re-sell, that it should be totally fine.

I mean, it’s not my place to say that I think you can figure out how to do that using your keen mind and some of the skills we have been putting to use in these guides.

Just…you know. Not sayin’ that at all.

Option 3: The Not Very Good Mask Pattern I have sewn with little satisfaction

Way back when, I did manage to reverse engineer a sort-of mask pattern (a little ways into the post, version 2 of the mask) from a cheap Spidey costume I bought years ago. It’s passable, sort of. I mean, if you really don’t want to use Option 1 or “not” use Option 2, then I guess you can do this one. Maybe you can make something better out of it than I did.

It’s easier to sew than the other mask pattern. Sort of. You just have to be sure to get the stitches right. Because of how the seams are placed, it’s obvious if you don’t stitch them just right.

Here’s the down and dirty of it:

1) Horizontals: Measure your head circumference at forehead level, nose level, chin level, and neck level. Add about an inch to the neck level circumference. Because of reasons.

Convert Horizontals to 90-95%

2) Verticals: Measure the vertical distances: from the middle of the top of your head to forehead level ->From forehead level to nose level ->From nose level to chin level.

3) Total: Measure from the middle of the top of your head down to the base of your neck, tucking the measuring tape under the contour of your nose and chin as best you can.

4) Draw the Pattern ON PAPER: I recommend against just taking a chance on this one. You’re going to want to try it with un-printed spandex first, probably more than once. Seriously.

(You’ll want to tape together about four pieces of printer paper in “portrait mode” (or use a bigger piece of paper). Find the middle of the width and draw your total height line there.)

Using our usual method, except on paper, do your base pattern of vertical and half-width horizontal lines. Connect up as far as the forehead line.

Then add a near-pointy curve in the following manner:

Once you’ve drawn that half, measure out a 5/8″ seam allowance and sketch it on. But pay special attention at the middle of the top curve, and taper it in at the bottom:

Now, fold your pattern paper in half along the center line and cut out that half so that when you unfold after cutting, you have the whole pattern, mirrored side to side.

Next, tape together four more pieces of paper and trace the pattern to make a duplicate.

Mark one of the patterns as Front and one as Back. It doesn’t matter which yet.

On the one you marked as Front, draw a sort of sideways eye that measures about an inch across at its widest point.

On the one you marked as back, trim about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch off of the sides of the bottom, tapering that trimming as you go up.

 

5) Experiment with how the web lines should lay out on the pattern. Do this on separate paper, or in whatever manner of visualization works for you. This is something you’ll probably need to do more than once in your sewing experimentation.

6) Trace the Pattern onto Fabric:

Tape the pattern down to some spandex and trace it with permanent marker (this is just for testing, so whatever). Draw the web lines on the pattern in the way you think will work. You could do just one half, or do a a different attempt on each half to maximize the usefulness of a single test.

7) Sew it together:

 

If you play around with this pattern and sewing it enough, you might come up with a passable mask for your needs and want to get a final printing of it. The trickiest part is getting the seams at the top front and back of the head to not bulge out (hence the tapering). If you can get a smoothly sewn surface, then a final printing, with web lines, would probably make the seams less obvious.

I might still revisit making a mask pattern I like at some point, but honestly, I still prefer the purchased version best so far.

 Wrapping Up

So, that covers the main costume pieces. I’ll throw in some thoughts on such things as the eye frames/lenses, boot soles, and other details in the next few posts.

 

 

 

EARLY Spidey Costume Guides Part 4: The Boots

Okay. We’ve covered  the gloves, the shirt, and the leggings. But we can’t have Spidey running around barefoot, so let’s see about those boots.

A Little History and Disclosure on My Spidey Boot Pattern

We’re going to use a boot pattern that I actually came up with myself. But you should know a few things:

1) My current fabric printings and costumes in progress use the boot pattern that is separated out from the bodysuit template I originally bought from Gun Head Designs.

I feel that I cannot share that pattern, both because it is not mine to share and because I don’t have a a method for telling you how to create it from scratch based on your measurements since I did not myself create it.

2) The boot-socks I have sewn from my pattern are 95% okay, but I will be adding a minor tweak that I have–honestly–partially tested in “real life.” So I strongly suggest trying this out with some test spandex first. And markers (see previous post).

So…yeah, this is kind of a guinea pig situation. You’ve been warned.

The Measurements

1) First, decide how tall you want your boots to be. If you pay attention to different iterations of Spidey, comic and movie versions, you may notice that his boots sometimes reach to just the base of his calf, and other times to mid-calf or a smidge higher.

Tall boots. Source: [https://liveforfilms.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/spider-man-av.jpg]

Short boots. Source [http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/amazing-spider-man/506-1.jpg]

I am kind of partial to something in between those two. Like maybe lower calf. Regardless, decide what you like and then that is where your top measurement, the “calf” measurement will fall.

UPDATE/NOTE/EDIT: You’ll see later on that I decide to change up late in the game and go with a taller boot measurement. This is a result of a shorter test boot not staying up very well. Just FYI.

2) Take the following measurements. See the following illustration for clarity:

• Horizontal: Calf circumference
  • Vertical: Distance from calf to ankle (right about the mid-point of the bony parts of your ankle)
• Horizontal: Ankle circumference (again, around the middle of those bony things)
  • Vertical: Distance from ankle to mid-foot (roughly the highest point of the slight rise on top of your foot)
• Horizontal: Circumference around your mid-foot
  • Vertical: Distance from mid-foot to the tip of your longest toe
• Horizontal: Circumference around your toes. As a group, not individually. 🙂

3) Now, do your 90-95% calculation on the horizontal measurements. You are, of course, recording all of this on a spreadsheet that you can set up to do the calculations for you (I didn’t, but you’re smarter than I am.)

Add up the vertical measurements to get a good idea of the total length and record that as well.

This Boot Pattern’s Got No Sole

This next step will involve taking off some clothes. But just your shoes and socks. On one foot, at least.

1) Get a piece of white paper and a pencil, set the paper on a smooth, firm surface, and trace one of your bare feet. Doesn’t matter which one. I traced my left because I am right-handed. Maybe you’re ambidextrous and have more of a choice. Doesn’t have to be especially exact or fancy.

2) Get out the ruler and draw a straight line on the tracing from the toes to the heel, roughly in the middle, and mark how long it is. At the halfway point vertically, draw a horizontal line and mark how wide it is there. I also did other measurements, but that was really completely unnecessary. (I knowingly overdo things sometimes because I’m neurotic, but not in a particularly useful kind of way.)

Now you should have something like this:

Now you have no excuse for not ordering me some custom-fitted shoes for Christmas.

4) Take a smartphone pic or scan (I always say scanning is ideal, even though I usually take a smartphone pic). Put the pic into an image editor and do a trace layer to come up with a cleaner version (and let me reiterate that really the total height and midway width are the only truly useful measurements):

Digitizing the Pattern

1) Photoshop File: min. 72 dpi, 58″ wide, 36″ tall, tiff format. You might very well be adding this to one of your existing Spider-Costume Files.

2) You know the drill. Use the line tool to make a line matching the total vertical length. Then add the horizontal half-circumference lines down one side of that vertical line.

3) Get rid of any guidelines you used, and connect the horizontals:

4) Now, there’s a half-foot in here somewhere, so let’s do some curves to find it:

After getting the curves on there, clean up the lines to flow together and we end up with a good half-foot dimensions layer.

5) Now, we copy and paste, flip and move. Then use our 5/8″ ruler lines to add a Seam Allowance border: (You can wait on adding the Seam Allowance Border. I’m retroactively working in some further tweaking I did without re-doing all the screenshots.)

6) This would work, but let’s do some refining for a better fit, and to guide us in adding the design.

We’re going to “place” the clean foot-trace we made earlier into our Photoshop boot file. After you place it, reduce the size by 90-95% to match the overall measurements.

This is a good time to examine the anatomy of the foot pattern for the purposes of understanding what falls where when it’s all put together.

Below you can see I’ve added the foot trace to the boot pattern. I have decided that this is the boot for the right foot (until we add the foot trace and web pattern, there is no difference between right and left). This being the right foot, that means the left half of the pattern represents the back of the calf and bottom of the foot, and the right half represents the front of the calf and top of the foot.

So, the bottom left half of the pattern represents the sole of the boot. Let’s stick the foot-trace there, and orient it as in the image below. That looks backward at first glance, but note that it will flip when the fabric is sewn, as my messy arrows do their best to indicate.

 

Let me be clear here: we are NOT going for exact sole shape and position here. The foot-trace is a very general orientation tool.

(A) Let’s adjust and add curves to “hug” the outside of the foot a bit better.

So, the outside curve turned out to match the foot close enough that it’s fine. But we lack inner curves, so let’s take care of that.

Use an ellipse to form the curve…

 

…then rasterize and clean up. Copy, mirror, paste, and move. Adjust the Seam Allowance border… (Again, you can wait on the Seam Allowance as there will be more adjustments coming in a sec.)

 

Now for the inner curve of the foot:

 

 

Note that we’re not putting those inner foot lines right up against the heel, but leaving a bit of room. In my test boot, it felt a smidge tight at the heel/ankle bend.

And now we can fix up those Seam Allowance Borders.

 

Adding the Color

Does this really need it’s own whole section anymore?

Add your color, and the pattern overlay if you’re using one.

UPDATE/EDIT: You might notice that I decided to add some length/height to the boot, due to issues with with my test boot not wanting to stay up. 

Adding the Webbing Pattern

So, now that we’ve got the layout set up pretty well, and the color laid down, let’s get a general idea how the webbing pattern will fit in here.

This illustration of Spidey’s boot shows the basic layout of the web lines as well as how the seam of our boot will fall (roughly). I’ve also shown the boot without webs, but with seam, and the basic fabric shape folded for sewing. This should give us a rough idea of how to start working in the web pattern.

Take a look at the pics of my boot test sewing in the previous post to see how this sort of translates in “real life.”

We see that the webs come down pretty straight on the calf/ankle portion, continue straight down the heel in the back, but fan out across the top and sides of the foot.

Start playing with your straight web lines on the boot pattern, but don’t commit to anything right away. Lay down some lines, think about how it plays into the final shape, erase and re-draw, move and shift, trial and error.

You’ll note that we’re drawing the web lines to converge at the bottom, at the middle of the sole. If you’re thinking that most of this won’t show in the end, you’re right. But since it’s hard to judge exactly where the sole will be when wearing the boots, the best strategy is to over-cover the territory so that we don’t guess wrong and end up with gaps. Plus, you’ll eventually be adding some kind of external sole to the boots, which will cover the bottoms of the sock-boots anyway.

Once you get the vertical lines how you like them, add the horizontal web lines layer and start playing around with those lines.

Keep messing around and cleaning up until you like them.

And then clean up a bit. Trim the color around the Seam Allowance (optional). Hide any layers that shouldn’t show (like thos bright yellow rulers and the sole trace).

 

Reiterations and Tips:

• The takeaway here is not the way I have done the webs, but to get an understanding of how it will all lay out. Yours will turn out different from mine, both in measurements and style.
• Play with the lines, see how it looks, think about how it will translate to the finished product. Don’t be afraid to erase part of it or all of it and start over if you don’t like it!
• Please do get some spandex from the local fabric store and do what I did: Make a version of this that you draw on with permanent marker to test the layout of the web lines. You could get a handful of “test” boots out of a yard of fabric. Once you get a feel for the web lines, you can digitize them and order the final printing.

Sewing the boot

This is…well, pretty simple. If you’ve gotten the pattern right, and the design laid out on the pattern right, then you’ve done the hard part. Now you just have to sew one seam.

Fold the fabric along the center line with the backside (non-colored) side showing, matching up the toes and sides. Use chalk to mark the 5/8 inch seam allowance. Sew. Turn right side out. And there’s a sock-boot.

Unless I missed something, we have one piece of the actual costume left: the Mask.

That will be a bit tricky, in more ways than one, but we’ll get to that next time.

Boot Testing & Unexpected Leggings

A costume. Well, most of a costume. That needs some detail work.

Well, all of a sudden, I am one glove and some finishing work away from a finished multi-piece costume. How about that?

I got the printed fabric for the leggings really fast, and so threw those together this morning. (That is such a fast pattern to sew!) I decided to go ahead and put together what I have, minus the mask.

I need to sew the other glove, hem the gloves, fix and hem the tops of the boots (I just cut these off of the ill-fated bodysuit I sewed a while back), finish the eyes for the mask, hem the top of the collar, finish off the hem of the shirt, and add Velcro to secure the shirt to pants and boots to pants (I think I can do without Velcro for the glove<–>sleeve connection). So–practically done, right? (Oh, I forgot I need soles for the sock-boots too…)

Speaking of sock-boots, don’t think that I have forgotten the tutorial! I was doing some tweaking and testing of my boot pattern today. I just wasn’t feeling to confident about my instructions, partly because I have never sewn from them in their exact form (again, the boots above are from the bodysuit pattern, while the ones in the tutorial are my own pattern).

To test what I’m working on, I used some spare fabric from the leggings printing to rough out a sock-boot from my newly modified pattern. I did this the old-fashioned way, making a paper pattern, tracing onto the fabric, and then using permanent marker for the test web lines. The pattern under the boots below is an old version, so ignore that!

The pattern itself works fairly well, except that I need to make it longer/taller to give it a better chance of staying up on its own. The best knowledge from this mock-up came from drawing the lines and seeing where they fell. Now I think I am closer to having a good idea of how to do the lines for the digital pattern to get it to come out right in the final printing.

So…stay tuned and stuff.