Watch Me Make a Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield Harness

[bunneahmunkeah]

Hello there. I hope everyone had a happy and safe Veteran's Day! What better way to celebrate with a military, tactical design. I have gathered you all here to share my newest project, a Chris Redfield RE 5 Tactical H-Harness and two modular pouches, with you. Here is the inspiration:














I know this piece has been done several times; there are some amazing pictures out there and the bar has been set pretty high already. I am extremely excited to be starting this project. My design is going to be slightly different from similar designs, while aiming to stay pretty authentic to the original concept.

I know I am pretty much a stranger on here; but I hope to change that a little. For those of you who aren't familiar with my work, my name is Bunn and I am a Cosaholic. I started sewing when I was 7 or 8 and by the time I was 15, I had a full on addiction to sewing, bedazzling and making super cute things. I do a lot more than sewing. I paint, have a casual line and, most importantly, I give back to my local community as much as I can. If you want to know more about my work or my community involvement, I highly encourage you to check out my blog which can be found here:

http://bunneahmunkeah.blogspot.com/2013 ... phere.html

I'll try my hardest to keep this thread up to date relatively frequently. I want to give you guys a behind the scenes from the perspective of a commissioner. The next post is coming soon. I will begin writing it as soon as this one is posted. I will also do my best to answer any questions or stop yammering and just post photos. If I don't answer a specific question, it might be because I have a thing or two up my sleeves and I don't want to show my hand; or I just forgot and you can send me a message... preferably on FB.

Okay. I am out for now.

[bunneahmunkeah]

Hello again, I just wanted to say that if anyone is interested in seeing all of the pictures from this project, I make a photo album for each custom piece I sell and update it as I work. Feel free to check out the link to the album for this project. I can't flood this thread with 50+ pictures; so if you want to see the full album, I will be updating as supplies arrive etc. I figure since I have the blog, and someone is paying good money, I can take the not-so-polished pictures and give a first hand look at a custom piece being made. Another piece of fandom to take the sting out of paying for custom work. If I gave a stranger hundreds or thousands of doll hairs, I want to see my money at work.

So, the album may be baron at the time of this post; but it is only a matter of a several days to a week before the supplies start arriving and pictures start appearing. Who knows, you might see pictures there before they are explained here.

What's this package sitting on my desk...??? AFK

[bunneahmunkeah]

Hello again, I hope everyone is enjoying their cold weather and holiday season (if you are celebrating).

Before jumping completely into Redfield's harness, I wanted to make sure my details were spot on. The first thing I wanted to do was get a sense for the correct colors and the location of all of the hardware. The base harness is coyote tan, the straps are black and the two pouches on the back will be olive drab (military green). I spent a considerable amount of time looking through pictures, fan art and other cosplays to get points of reference before coming up with this sketch:





I'm sure my commissioner friends know all too well that when you are making a cosplay piece based off of a video game or anime, the people creating digital clothing for the characters don't care about how their pieces will be sewn together or worn by a real person. There are a lot of strap adjusters, buckles and d-rings on this piece and none of the premade stuff, even the licensed version of this harness, looked anywhere near convincing. I am NOT referring to the hard work many other cosplayers have put into their Chris Redfield pieces. I am referring to what is available for sale from the usual sources. I've seen the official licensed version online for almost 400 dollars. The straps are very flimsy and the design is way off from what it should be.

I'm working on writing the next post. More updates and pics coming soon. Also, it's entirely possible the album for this project now has more pictures. Until next time.

[bunneahmunkeah]

So, the next step is to get in touch with any suppliers whom I do not have samples for. Since I already have a hardware supplier, I needed to look for a high quality webbing. I found a distributor down South and they sent me some samples:



I am going to be using real, 1.5 inch mil-spec, nylon webbing for the straps. The one which has been sewn is the one whom laid a golden egg. It comes from an American distributor and is 100% American made. If you guessed Bunneah's sense of community rolls into buying practices, you are correct. I buy from American suppliers and made-in-America whenever possible. Sometimes I'll hit up a vintage shoppe on Etsy for an accessory or something like that; but I don't actively shop for custom projects at Fried Chicken, Toilet Paper & Oil Change Mart. I also do not generally buy from the big fabric stores. I use what is right for the project, I try very fervently to accommodate all reasonable budgets; but I will not put my brand on bargain basement, possibly-made-in-a-sweatshop materials just because I have a 60% off coupon. As a cook would not shop for a good set of knives at Oil Change Mart, I generally don't buy my fabrics from a one stop shop. I tend to buy leather from a leather supplier, wool from a wool distributor etc.

Great another box just arrived! I think I know what's in here.

[bunneahmunkeah]

The next step is to figure out how much hardware I will need. What use is military-grade webbing if the buckles, rings and clips are junk? So, a few more hours picking apart every piece and I think I have it all covered. Say hello to almost 75 bucks worth of heavy duty buckles, d-rings, strap adjusters and cam locks:











There are more hardware pics in the photobucket album for this project. I didn't want to flood the thread with a boatload of images or each step, so I figured a condensed version would be okay.

As soon as the webbing arrives, I'll start taking more pics and writing more content. I want to wish each and every one of you a a Happy and Safe Holiday Season; if you're celebrating. May the end of 2013 be magical and your 2014 bountiful and full of warm memories. Drink responsibly and all that jazz. This will be the last post of this thread for 2013.

[bunneahmunkeah]

After taking some time off, Captain Rivera and I are back at making the harness. I started analyzing the harness I bought to mod (the Condor H-Harness) and there is no way the materials are mil-spec. I was also worried about the webbing rubbing holes into the material. I contacted a manufacturer of mil-spec cordura and a much better quality closed cell foam padding.

Here are two comparison pics. The padding I went with is 3/8 in (9.5MM) and the cordura is 1,000 denier coyote tan. I put the Condor harness in between for comparison. And a comparison of the foam padding vs the Condor harness. The padding alone is thicker than the other harness











I will be posting progress pics as I sew. The full album is here. and has a few more pics I didn't include here to save space.