Crafting "form fitting leather" outfit in 1/6 scale

[K07]

Hey all. What material would you suggest to create a tight outfit made of leather? I want a Xena: Warrior Princess and to my joy found out my dad didn't sell our old Toy Biz dolls from the late '90s. To my devastation, you can't take the clothes off Xena (or Callisto) without ruining them. They're made of a spandexy material to fit tight and have a thin layer of cheap leathery material coating it.

I feel I'm up to the challenge of salvaging this figure. I just don't know what material to use. She wears a dark brown, almost black outfit. Any ideas?

 

[duck of death]

Are you sure you can't take the clothes off? I had both of those figures back in the day and I know I took the clothes off them pretty easily so I could use the figures for other things.

 

[K07]

Maybe it was due to their age (12 years old already!) but when I slipped Xena's outfit and her boots off, they got shredded up. It's cheap pleathery material over elasticy material to make it a tight fit. I found some suede that's the exact same color. Looks good, but doesn't "feel" right obviously but these things are for looking at, not playing with. Gonna try to recreate her outfit. *sigh*

 

[duck of death]

If you want another set of the originals, I should have most of the bits and pieces of at least the Xena outfit in one of my extras boxes. When I last saw the stuff it was still in very good shape so it shouldn't fall apart on you. I'm not at home right now due to a massive snow storm, but I should be able to check Monday night. I've had the stuff hanging around for years and I'm not going to do anything with it, but if you want it, you can have it.

 

[K07]

That'd be awesome. PM sent.