Building the Beast

Yesterday I finally got around to trundling off and getting the measurements for our Beast.  She is a lovely lady, but I get the feeling she is going to spend the rest of the year putting up with little gags about her being a bit of an animal!

This year I have a little partner in crime on the costuming front (otherwise known as Auntie Em), this has been a godsend to me as I finally have somebody to talk to about which way to go.  The other bonus is that her mum is another keen sewer who is moving house...guess who is getting all her unwanted bits :D

After a bit of discussion we decided to make an undertunic to provide the beastly muscles.  I used my tried and trusted method of making  the tunic and cut it off just under the bust with a front fastening of velcro for quick removal, I also kept it sleeveless.  This was then used as a pattern for some 2" thick wadding which was placed over the fabric.  The arm muscles were attached with paper fasteners to give our Beast arm movement. Then the wadding was stitched to the fabric by hand.

Here is the muscle undervest:

We may cut the wadding into a more muscular shape, but at the moment we are leaving it until we can test this all out on our Beastly Lady.  Next step is a shirt to go over this.