First Time Digitigrade Questions
This is my first time deciding to construct a fur, and I'm wondering, is it a good idea to give my fur digitigrade legs? Or should I just keep it simple?
Also, is it a good idea to make it a full-body suit or just a partial? I know fursuits can get hot and you need to stay hydrated and the most logical thing is, is it easy to get to the bathroom fast? So I was wondering if a partial would be better. I was planning on a full suit because of my semi-long hair and it would pass my headpeice.
And for the foot-paws, is it better to use a sockpaw tetchnique or a shoe tetchnique? Should I make the shoe tetchnique with Heeleys(floating fur)?
~Hawkeh
If it's your first time, just go with a partial. Keep it simple.
Take Kage's word on this. In ascending order of difficulty to make, it runs Partials, Full suits, Digitigrade and Quadsuit (four-legged suits). I wouldn't be surprised at all if that matched the order of expense as well. For a good-looking digitigrade, stilts (as mentioned) are almost a necessity. That makes them harder to walk around in and falling over is a real possibility. Falling is nowhere near as likely in a partial or full suit, although it can certainly happen.
As for going to the bathroom (something no one else has mentioned), it's easiest in a partial. In any other kind of suit, you basically have to strip it off entirely and that's not easy if you're in a rush. No matter what kind of suit you're wearing, the best advice is to use the bathroom facilities before you suit. That way, you'll have the longest possible time before it becomes an issue.
Why not make a suit that allows for easy bathroom access? I don't pay too much attention to suits or designing them, but I'd imagine you could make some kind of stealth panel in the front that could be undone and opened, without looking like it was obviously designed for "other things".
I wouldn't go with the Heelys. Seems like too much risk of damaging yourself or others (or property) unless you practice often. And because I'm cranky that I can't wear skates in a hotel/convention center, but fursuiters could roll around whenever it (I can't not post this pun) suits them.
You might be able to design a suit with (relatively) easy bathroom access... for males. And for urinating only. There's no easy way to do that for females. Even then, most full fursuits I remember seeing appeared to be one-piece suits. That is, at least from ankles and wrists to the neck was just one suit: no separate pants and shirt. Partial suits, especially those that are normal clothes with a head, hands feet and a tail, wouldn't have that problem.
I fully acknowledge that I wasn't thinking of females when that popped into my head. I'll also admit that at least 95% of fursuiters I've met have been male, so "needs to sit down to pee" wasn't the first thing on my mind. Not saying there aren't female fursuiters, obviously there are, I just don't meet/interact with many of them. I'd love to, but not many of them seem to mesh with the "video gamer/music aficionado" con schedule I keep.
I'd love to hear about fursuit advancements in the last few years, even though I'm not interested in making one. I like the technical aspect much more than the pantomiming or pretending to be something else. If the big problem is that one-piece full-body fursuits don't allow for easy bathroom transition, I'd love to see a two-piece full-body that can discretely split into upper body and lower body (removable in a pants-like fashion). I can imagine you'd run into the problem of accidentally dropping trou' when someone gives you a hug, but I'm not planning to actually make this.
You might be able to design a suit with (relatively) easy bathroom access... for males. And for urinating only. There's no easy way to do that for females.
Even then, i doubt you'd have an easy time of it with a quad suit; even in standard bipedal suits, fursuiters can run into problems with the limited dexterity of their handpaws. Something like a quad suit would probably require a handler to help you get in and out safely, since your hands aren't available to you, between the suit and the stilts.
In general, i'd recommend going before you get into the suit and, if you're not able to get out of your suit yourself, having a handler there to help you. And if you've never suited before, maybe you might want to do a partial or a pajama-style (zip up the front) standard full, so you have time to get used to it.
I think I'll go for a partial, but I'll work out a drop-seat for fursuits so it's easier for us girls to go in fursuits (full suits) and possibly pants.
Thanls for the ideas 
Hawkeh, when I said that it wouldn't be easy to make a fullsuit with 'bathroom abilities' for females, I didn't know you were female. I was at a Star Trek con many years ago when a Master-class costumer wore a centauress costume, It was so tight she wore nothing under it. (Yes, I do know; I saw her putting it on.) The absolute last thing she did before donning the costume was to go to the bathroom. She pulled it off about seven hours later and dashed to the bathroom again. Just a bit of history.
If you make a full suit with separate top and bottom as you suggest, remember what Dester'edra said about the clumsiness of handpaws. Make sure they're separate pieces and easily removable as well, otherwise the separate bottom won't help.
I bet if she's skilled enough to make a discrete bottom hatch for using the bathroom, she could make some kind of back-of-the-wrist paw connection, so you could pull off the paws but still have them attached to the suit. Kind of like those fingerless gloves with removable mitten tops.
I really want to see these ideas in action. Not for ego reasons (well, not entirely), but to see that people are making suits to combat traditional problems, instead of just having to deal with them.
Wow, that centauress costume sounds awesome! I'd love to see something like that. But seven hours without going to the bathroom!? Inconceivable!! 
The separate top and bottom sounds like a great idea. It could be held on by velcro, hook-and-eye closures, or a separating zipper that runs around the whole waist circumference (like the kind of zipper used for those pants where you can zipper off the bottom portion to have shorts. It would probably be tricky to line up to get back on, but it would be very secure and the fur would hide the zipper.)
You could probably put a slit up the middle of the palm of the handpaws; it would be held shut with velcro so as not to be noticed when suiting, but easily open so you could stick your hands out when needed.
If you did, you'd want the slit wide enough that you could push the whole handpaw construction up your arm a little ways and stretchy enough that you could pull your fingers free; i'd be way too paranoid about dripping to risk using the bathroom with handpaws just hanging from my wrists.
Also, you'd want the velcro covered carefully, to avoid scratching anyone or getting it caught in someone's fur; i had a jacket with velcro once, but my braid kept getting caught and matting up in it. maybe a series of snaps would be better.
A quick note on the heeleys [if you mean those wheeled shoes]. Before you integrate them into your costume, be sure they're allowed at the cons you'll be going to. I noticed that both my local cons don't allow them.
if its your first time construcing a partail. try going for non digigrated legs. you can always make them in the future. but if you insist on digi-legs heres a link for a tutorial that my friend found useful
http://www.komickrazi.com/costumes/tut3.html
Try stilts! Stilts are awesome!
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