Loose clothing

When I make clothes using the templates (Robin's usually, but I have others too), I can't seem to make the clothes loose once I upload and wear them. For example, I wanted to make a costume that involved wearing a burlap sack (don't laugh, it was for a silly event, think I love Lucy LOL). But, no matter how I "loosened" in appearance, it was still too tight.

Another thing I wanted to make is a big old Winter sweater, an over-sized, shoulders dropping thing.

Any help would be appreciated! TIA!

Use prims? Not really sure how this pertains to building directly.. but a method for doing it would be to use prims with a small amount of flexy... or none, either way.

FOr the 'burlap sack' could just be a hollowed cube textured well... for the winter sweater...some cylinders and torii.. I dont have the time to figure out exact designs.... but I've seen a winter coat done quite well with just prims

Clothes that you make with templates are just "coloring" that gets applied to your AV's shape. An experienced designer can, to an extent, give it the look of having more shape, just as a painter can create the illusion of a 3D image. But to actually create a clothing shape, you need to use prims.

(A Linden skirt is a special case; it is not a prim and is not part of your basic AV, but it is still a Linden-defined shape that can only be textured.)

Sorry if this was in the wrong forum, I coudn't find a more appropriate one.

I tried to make it with prims, but then, the prims move as I move. So my Avi would get uncovered at times and show through. I tried different attchment points, could not find one where prims would stay where they belong.

all depends on what part.. sleevs go on arms, main section on chest or stomach... etc... prim clothing can almost never be one piece

from what I've seen (not much of a builder) you'll have to have a glitch item underneath, colored and patterned the same as the coat. that way when it shows through, it sort of blends with the rest of the coat anyways

Prim clothing does tend to move relative to the avatar body. The same thing is true in RL. If you wear a barrel that hangs by straps from your shoulders, you expect the thing to swing around and whap you as you walk. The big difference in SL, of course, is that a barrel worn on the avatar body doesn't just stop when it hits. That's why it is important to design prim clothing in parts that can each be attached to stable sections of the body that DON'T move with respect to them. Make a torso section and attach it to the chest or spine, make right and left upper arm sections and attach them to those points, and so forth. Do not link them, but package them to be worn as separate components.

This strategy has its limits, most obviously with skirts. A skirt has to hang from the waist (attach to the pelvis or stomach), but your legs clearly bend just a bit below there. Anything but a very short skirt will intersect your legs unless it's really poofy. That's why women in SL either avoid skirts altogether, or wear poofy ones, or simply wear textured glich pants and put up with the fact that their legs poke through sometimes.

Designers in SL learn these limitations and still manage to create some great-looking clothes, so don't just throw up your hands in frustration. Do some field work. Watch to see how clothing you or your friends own is constructed, and study which design decisions are effective and which ones aren't. And have fun.