Thanks for the tips- I glued the velcro clips on permanently and figured out that I can slip the clip in before I put the boot on and make things way easier for myself. There's also that loop thing on the back of the boots that I've never been able to figure out a use for- if I thread the cloth through that at the back, it stays tighter and everything holds better, so I'm much happier with my boot plates after figuring that stuff out.
Still gonna look for some good laceless boots for upgrading though, I'm not a huge fan of the boot plate look in the first place.
I was hoping to start work on the flak vest today, and it might still happen, but my progress is going to be waaay down for Easter. No complaining, this is probably one of my favorite holidays, but I am anxious to get the flak vest!
EDIT: Got the flak vest patterned out and constructed! It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, but it does still need a few alterations.
Black... may have not been the most photogenic choice of soft parts colors. I added lines for where the shoulders and hem ends- that bottom 'hem' is actually folded up, it ends slightly lower than that and will need to be taken up about an inch. I put on all the kit I have so far and held up the plates, I think the spacing looks pretty good! My one concern is the shoulder plates:
Line for where the shoulder on the flak vest currently ends. I've got to add shoulder bells yet, but they'll have to be awfully big to come from the end of the shoulder seam down to the entire plate... Can the shoulder plate hang off the flak vest shoulder, or does it have to be entirely backed by the flak vest? I can move them up a little and trim a bit off the plates. I really hope it's not a matter of extending the shoulder seam farther, or maybe I'll just have slightly larger than normal shoulder bells or something.
I took a collar from a knit turtleneck and sewed it on, saves a lot of trouble trying to fit my head into a stiff duck cloth collar. The problem is that with this collar, it pushes on the back of my neck and if I wear it for much longer than like, ten minute, I start getting neck pain. Once I wore the shirt the collar came from for about three hours and had a horrible neck and headache. The same thing happens to me with some necklaces. I'm thinking about reinforcing the collar with some cereal cardboard to hold it off my neck a bit more, since stiffer collars don't do that to me.
I also started sweating just kitting up, so my idea to get an alternative summer flight suit is looking like a really good one. It was a bit warmer than usual in the house, but there's no way I'm going to be able to do troops in the middle of summer as is. At least without constantly tucking ice cubes down my back.
Oh, I also got a cheap recorder today. I loved that stupid tiny bes'bev back on the last page so much that I had to make a better one, even if I don't end up officially adding it to my kit.
I'm really excited to work out the rest of the flak vest and get on to attaching plates, though! After that, I'll be on the downhill slope!
