The Framers Forum

I have been asked by a cyclist to frame 3 full suits worn when representing his country. I'm happy with the top half, however they have the padding in the shorts area and look as if they are for a child as they are skin tight. Has anyone framed a full suit with the padding and if so do you have a picture of it and what was your experience of it.
Many Thanks
Tony

I would be tempted to use a full body manequin inside a deep display frame. Have a look at suppliers such as Morplan, might look really great.

Thanks, I'd considered this however the customer doesn't have the space for his and the other 2 of the 3 are gifts for coach and parents

I'm not surprised, the cost of doing it this way is seriously expensive as well. If the shirt and the shorts are all in one getting a foam board template inside the suit might not be very easy, but it still might be possible to make the template in sections and tape the sections together on both side, after re-aligning the sections inside the suit. If you can arrange a second person to help you perform this task, it might be most helpful.

I would quote him about five grand (each suit )and hope he bails out.

Here’s one I’ve just started. It’s on a 3/4 plastic mannequin bought on eBay for £12 delivered

Going into a deep box frame

wow looking good, ..... I may use this to show customer if that's ok ..... initially when I mentioned 3D his response was they had no space, thanks again....

Feel free to show the picture. The body is hollow, light weight, approx 25” high and 16” wide, so quite compact.

Some of the torso manequins have some really good muscle definition, you know 6 pack muscles. I think that they look great with some muscle definition showing through the clothing and I recommend that you look for one like that.

I plan to produce a sample of a framed shirt and shorts in the new year for display in my shop using a cove box for the back of the frame, which solves the problem about how to make a deep enough frame at a sensible cost. I've got some nice touches planned and a price which reflects what I expect to be something really stunning.

Thanks Mark, in discussion with customer as they don't want a 3d frame due to space.

I did a triathlon suite once with the swimming cap (can't find the photos ) almost the same, but not padded, cut a former out of Black Foamcore, along with the head (all in one, body and head, bit like a cardboard cut out), put this inside the suite and stuck the cap on the head bit, secured to the backing mount with stitches inside the suite, look good

Modern multi-panel skin suits are designed to be body hugging and aerodynamic when in the racinging position so the chances of getting it to look correct when flat is minimal I suggest. You could do just the top half and make it look like a jersey with the shirts tucked through a slot and hiddden inside the frame.

You could always cut off the back of the torso mannequin and make it only half as deep, I think that it would still look pretty good.

Thanks everyone for your support and responses.
In summary:
- Manaquin is a great idea if space wasn't a concern for customer
- the suit is in fact tiny as its figure hugging and is contoured to body with sculpted padding in lower half so creating a neat elegant shape is almost impossible
- top half is probably optimal option hiding the rest

Cheers !
T