Hairy legs

I obtained some short-haired faux fur in black and grey, plus long-haired faux fur in black. I also got around one square metre (40 inches x 40 inches) of seat-cushion foam around 150mm (six inches) thick, a roll of cheap camping mat, and a scrap of cheapy-cheap cotton. I used the remains of an old bedsheet that I was tearing up for cleaning rags. Oh, and a pair of jogging bottoms.

  

Template

Newspaper template

This is what I want

I laid down on a large sheet of paper and had an assistant draw around my lower body. Then I sketched up where the padding would go to create the basic faun-leg shape. This produced two basic triangles which I cut out of foam. The larger one to lie in front of my thigh, and a smaller one behind my calf. I cut these on the generous side, because it’s a lot easier to trim foam that to add it. Then I did it again for the other leg.

Cloth template - profile

Cloth template - rear

Then I stitched together a basic pair of trousers out of the old bedsheet. I used a favourite pair of old jeans to get the sizes of the panels about right, I added allowance for the foam padding, and cut them on the generous side.

All the pictures of my kit laid out on the kitchen floor include a tape measure, and the tiles are 300mm (12 inches) square. This is what fits me, and I’m a large guy. Your mileage may vary.

Trial and Error

Cloth template plus hooves

Padding

Padding revisions

This procedure was time-consuming. I stuffed the padding inside the purple pants and progressively marked and stitched to take in the material until the fit was about right. I also worked on the foam, trimming the outer edges off to make them rounded, and cutting a V so that the foam would rest better against my legs. Cutting foam is easy with a breadknife or a pair of kitchen scissors.

I had to take in the purple pants from hips to waist, behind my knees, and in front of my shins. It didn’t matter if there were great flaps of material beyond the stitching, but I didn’t cut any material off until I was sure that I'd not gone too far and would have to unpick a seam. And I allowed plenty of material in the crotch area otherwise the trousers would rip open the first time I took a step, bent over, or sat down.

Remember the jogging bottoms? At first I thought I’d stuff the padding inside these which would make the furry legs easier to put on, so I took a photo and then drew up where the final faun legs should end up. Having already made and photographed my Mk II hooves, I Photoshopped one of these into the pic and made more adjustment to the padding.

Upper legs

Upper leg profile

Upper leg rear

These are fundamentally baggy knee-breeches. Taking the final size of my purple pants as a pattern, I cut the shaggy fur first into a pair of tubes. I chose to use grey short-hair fur on the inside leg, and made this up separately. In the pictures I turned the costume inside out so that it's easier to see what's going on. I cut the waistband very generously, because it would need to fold over to accommodate a drawstring, and would also need to stay reasonably high on my waist even when bending over or sitting. I also cut the front generously cut to allow for thigh padding. Behind the knee the costume kicks out to the rear. this is where the hocks would go. The bottom hem would drop over the lower leg padding and be held in place by Velco.

Thigh padding

Speaking of padding, here's one of the thighs. Top to the left. It actually goes from groin to just below the knee. The blue Karrimat is to reduce wear if the foam moves against the inside of the fur. It's held on with impact adhesive.

Lower legs

Essentially these are furry tubes, not unlike the leg-warmers featured in eighties dance videos. I used short-hair fur for these because a goat's leg typically doesn't have long hair below the hock, and I was aiming for realism.

Having two separate pieces for each leg also makes the costume easier to don. 

Empty leg tube

Leg tube and padding

Lower leg padding

The top of the tube is cut with a chamfer and the padding held in place with a piece of Velcro. To avoid the Nora Batty wrinkled stocking look, the lower leg fur has to be fairly tight, and I found that I had to slide my leg in with the padding displaced sideways, and rotate it into place once my foot was poking out of the bottom. The top of this piece ends up snug behind the knee.

In theory, the bottom of the upper leg drops over the hock and is held in place by a couple of pieces of Velcro. I've found that putting four press-studs on each leg helps security a lot. Velcro at the bottom attaches to the hoof fur.

Hints and tips

• The jogging bottoms should be worn against the skin. This costume can get very hot and sweaty, and they're easier to launder than fur and foam. 
• Self-adhesive Velcro doesn't stick very well to fur. Use large pieces, and sew them into the costume.
• Large press-studs are more effective than Velcro, but may pop off without warning, and offer no scope for adjustment. I suggest a mixture of both.
• When getting into the costume, I've found the best way is to do the lower legs first, then pull on the upper-leg breeches. Attach the hooves, and finally insert the thigh padding. It's too difficult to bend over to deal with the hooves when your thighs are a lot higher than what you're used to.
• Being anatomically fastidious, I added a genital bulge or codpiece to my costume. This is optional, but might require a loincloth when appearing in polite company. Female fauns won't be wanting that bit of padding ;-)
• I didn't mention the tail, but I'll cover that in a different post.