My current wip

I have been working on this for little over a month, the head is in the cubby to the left, still lots of work to go.

Awesome job! I can't wait to see that one finished. I like the idea of the pole in the middle. I'm assuming it is attached to the frame inside? Is the frame also metal piping or is it pvc? The head looks super nice too. I really can't wait to see him all finished. He will be awesome! Where did you find those boots at? They look like military issue boots.

Yeah its 1 3/4 in Pvc, the pole goes half way up and the whole body is removeable for shipping. Yes the boots are GI Cochrans. There are little gold chain bb's in the toes. Glad you like what i got so far . I call this the great experiment lol. Paula

Dang Paula,

You must have nerves of steel. The armature looks to be about four feet tall.

How tall is he?

The head I see on the shelf looks great. Please post a finished pic when you get there, and keep up the great work.

darel

Dang I forgot to say how tall it is, tall as me,,,with the head its about 5ft 7in.

Paula, that's a lot of work!! He's almost a foot taller than me!
I can't wait to see him completed. Are you planning on traditional red or going with something else?

My comfort zone is 4" - 20". I tend to like working on the smaller ones. The tallest I have done is 4 foot. I guess if you think about it that is almost as tall as me!

That is pretty tall. And, too, using those boots were a good idea! My thought is that if it is life-size, it might as well fit the bill. lol In my family, we always have a christmas decorating contest between myself, and all my in-laws. For a while it went with the lighting outside, and of course, I always had the griswald house and they couldn't compete. rofl Then, it went to who had the better santa in their collection. So, one year, my sister-in-law bought one that was about 3.5' to 4' tall. I was beside myself. That same year, the life-size dancing santas were released to the public through Walmart and such. I almost bought one of those, then I thought the motor mechanics might eventually give out and I would be stuck with a life-size store bought plastic santa. Soooooo, as a result I decided to make one myself.

Needless to say, I started it something like 3-4 years ago and obviously for certain reason, it was never finished. It will stand roughly 6' once it is completed. I never finished it cause I had a lot of bugs to work out....and too, I didn't like the head. The head was started from a large round styrofoam ball as the inner support, then, paper mache' on that. But, it looked like a charlie brown head with those good ole charlie brown ears! So, sadly, the project of a life time was set aside until I could better hone my skills.

But, I did much the same as you. I used pvc pipe for the frame work, lots and lots of batting, and some type of fabric I found that looks like skin. The best way to describe it is it looks like the lining of a bathing suite. But, this year, I had been thinking on redoing the entire thing. Especially since I have learned a lot since I initially started of that project. Now, my only problem is where would I bake the head and the hands? I use a convection oven for my clay now, but it is small and not necessarily big enough for a life-size head. My only other option is to use my own household oven. But, I really do not want to do that. But, if it comes to that, I just might and then clean the oven afterwards. But, until that point in time, that life-size santa of mine will have to sit on the back burner for a bit longer. I have been planning on trying to get into a christmas craft show that is local here at Lakeridge Winery. It is a 3 day event in November, then again another one set up for December. So, in the meantime, I'm hoping to have completed atleast 5 more santa dolls, and a buttload of ooak ornaments, and just add them to the fairy dolls that I currently have, unless something sells in the meantime. So, if there is time, perhaps the super santa will be brought out from it's corner in my bedroom. lol I'm sure my hubby would be glad to see it completed at some point in time. lol

Anyway, I can't wait to see your santa when it is done. The head looks very nice, and the body is superb!

I forgot to ask you. What is the metal pole from that you used as the middle support? It looks like a shower curtain rod screwed down to a table round. I would love to use that idea on my santa when I get to it. That center support looks like that is just what I need for my santa.

I have always wanted to do a lifesize Santa, but I was limited to thinking I needed a store mannikin, those are difficult to find. It was a shred of genius when my DH suggested using PVC and bolting the joins together not glueing, that way I could move them around if I didn't like the positioning. And (this was neat) I bent the PVC arms with a heat gun with no problems whatsoever. It was like this was meant to be. Lol only problem here was way to much padding. Poor dude looked like Super Man at one point. The costuming I'm not sure about yet. Since hes wearing boots, I know he'll have pants, but thats as far as I can think.

LMPartdolls wrote:I forgot to ask you. What is the metal pole from that you used as the middle support? It looks like a shower curtain rod screwed down to a table round. I would love to use that idea on my santa when I get to it. That center support looks like that is just what I need for my santa.

The center support is a galvanised steel rod. The screw on fastened to the stand is also galvanised and they sell them right in the same section of the store.You can get the rods in different lengths so you don't have to worry about cutting them. Both are threaded. I got both of them at the local lumber yard. I think the rod is used as a protector for conduit wireing. The beauty of this is, if you sell your piece, you can separate the doll and the stand and ship each individually and not worry about damage from banging against each other.

Very good idea! I'll have to look into that once I get ready to finish up the ole charlie brown upstairs lingering in the corner of my bedroom. Thanks for the tip!

After scrounging through the net for several hours, I think I have at last found a pair of pants for this guy. I had my heart set on a pair of drop front pants. I am hopeing I can pull this off. I know there will be many alterations and trials with this. Designing the pattern is gonna be a booger. Hope I have enough brown paper for this. Paula

Nice job finding that pattern. The question is, do you intend for them to be fully functional or to have the appearance of the drop front pants. If you are doing a fully functional pair, then, you will have a lot of work ahead of you and trial and error. But, if you only want to give the appearance of the drop front style pants, shouldn't be too hard. But, I could be wrong. I guess, no matter what, it will still be a lot of trial and error. *scratches head* Either way though, it will be a nice touch! Good luck with those pants, and I do hope you have plenty of brown paper! I guess, if you run out...run out to the grocery store for some brown shopping bags....better than nothing. lol

Paula, I think that the pattern is great. How perfect. Are you making them so that you can take them off ie the real thing? Lots of work but I'm sure that it'll look wonderful. I'm anxious to see them done!
Hugs...Diane

Paula, those are going to be cool pants.

I have some of those. I used to belong to a pre-1850 Mountain Man re-enactment group. It was a lot of fun, just took alot of time.

If you wanted to order some instead of making them, since your santa is life size, I can send you some link's for primative clothing. But, you could use the site's just to order the patterns, because it can get a little pricey on clothing which would eat into your profit.

But any way they look great. Keep us posted on your progress.

Darel

Paula,
My husband does custom framing and uses a lot of brown paper to wrap the finished work in. He gets it by the roll and paper like that would be SOOOOOOO much easier to work with for you than paper bags. I did some hunting online (Greg's is too expensive for what you need it for) and here's a link that you might want to consider.
http://www.papermart.com/templates/22-0-10.htm
Diane

I have a big roll of brown paper. I use it for everything. I may decide to use freezer paper. Have several big rolls of it too. I am hopeing I have the patience to make these pants fully functional. If I do hes gonna need some drawers too. I've got lots of time and just printed several hundred sheets of 1" grid paper. If it turns out right I will stash it in my pattern files. Might work good for halloween costumes.

Paula, we'll be watching!!

Got the pants done a few days ago, I need to take some pics. They didn't turn out exactly like the above pic, ( I added a waistband, didn't use the pockets, made them longer with fur trim at the cuff area). They turned out a bit large at the waist, but that may work to my advantage. I should have the shirt done by this afternoon. The costuming is coming together nicely. I will try and get some photos up in a little while. Thanks for all the nice comments, You guys are the best! Huggs Paula

------> waiting patiently.

Here's the pants,,,

Wow, Paula,

Those come out fantastic! Are the pants an olive color or are they brown? I don't believe I could sew something that good from a pattern image. Those are remarkable to say the least.

Paula,

Great looking pants. I love the color you picked out. I can't wait to see the finished Santa.

What style of shirt are you going to go with?

Darel

They are an Olive drab butter suede. The buttons are covered with a fake dark brown leather. Feels really nice and sewed like a dream. The shirt is a cotton gauze like fabric, loose fitting at the sleeve with a big ruffle. Found some wonderful cranberry velour for the jacket, for just a few bucks a yard. The jacket is going to be my challenge, I'm going to decorate it to the gills. Thanks for all the great comments guys. Full speed ahead. huggs

Paula!
You did a great job! I was wondering...how long have you been sewing? It's definitely not the easiest thing to make a pattern from scratch. We'll all be looking forward to seeing the rest of his outfit! Tally ho!!!
Hugs ...Diane