Yesterday I sent Raider the Pup home with a suit he and I have been working on for a long time now. It's the first full suit commission I've ever done and I'm really pleased with the result.Raider has been a long-time customer of mine and it's always such a pleasure working with him. He was gracious enough to let me use these photos we snapped of him in the finished suit and the cute factor is beyond description!
We started with a swatch of supersoft honey-colored faux fur and an inspirational image:
From that, I created costume sketches:
And used those sketches to make the pattern for the final suit.
The hood is separate, lined in polar fleece and secured under the chin with two snaps. In traditional fursuit fashion (if fursuiting techniques can be considered traditional), the tail is held on with a belt under the suit for maximum wagging and minimum sagging. The suit zips down the front and there's a flap just below it that snaps on and off for easy access.
Both the fore and hind paws are lined with soft polar fleece. I chose to make the paw pads in vinyl so they would hold up to some abuse. The vinyl is easily wiped clean and will stay looking nice far longer than fur or polar fleece.
Doesn't he look fetching?
