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[Malek Dair]

Hello All!

This is my thread for all the soft parts of my kit. This weekend was very productive to say the least! After having set backs in getting my vest made, I thought...WWJD? What would Jango Do? He'd find a way to get the job done, and look spiffy doing so. With that in my head I found a used sewing machine online locally, popped into my go to army surplus store, and then to top it off, went to a fabric store to get all the supplies I needed.

Got out the seam ripper and removed all the velcro patches, pockets, and ties on the flight suit. (Pay no attention to the handsome devil modelling this finished product):





Found myself a pretty cool belt and set of pouches:







With that all sorted it was onto phase 2: making the vest. I picked out some black faux leather material for the vest (Jango inspired), and some grey faux leather that will become my loin cloth and kama. Pictured below with a pocket for colour reference:



I had also managed to get my vest pattern drawn, cut and almost completed by dinner time. However, the internet is not too co-operative at home right now. We are in a rural area where DSL is not offered due to old line conditions in the ground. I will post those progress pics once I get them uploaded tonight after work (fingers crossed).

I welcome any and all comments from my brothers and sisters of Mandalore. Through those offerings of wisdom, I can get better at making this kit become one step closer to OM status!

Oya vod!

[Malek Dair]

Update time verd'ika! After struggling to upload a bunch more of my progress photos, the internet at home has chosen to co-operate!

I am using a faux leather material to have the appearance of leather, like Jango's vest. Love that look. heavy, solid, and flash! Here is my basic vest pattern. I used a sleeveless t-shirt that fits well as a stencil. I have double the material so the inside is the same as the outer layer. No ugly backing to hide, and gives it more heft.



Got out the sewing machine and went to work. This is "Betty". She works like a dream and powers through 4 layers of this stuff, velcro included! :



Stitched together the front and back pieces at the shoulders, and tested the fit. Not too shabby for a first attempt I might add.





The vest sits nice and snug. I have sewn velcro as closures on each side. That way I can have it as tight as I want, and not have to worry about re-doing the sides. Put together some shoulder flap thingines to mount my shoulder bells on, and BLAM-O! We have a vest! Here you can see my foreman, assessing the quality of work:



Please feel free to chime in! Oya vod!

[Aramys Strael]

Good work. You already beat me to suggesting removing the arm pockets and such. The only thing I'll reiterate is weathering the soft goods so that they're consistent with the overall look of weathered armor. Nothing looks more out of place than pristine soft parts and grimed up, beaten to osik armor. Saavy?

Like I mentioned in you armor WIP its the one thing that dings a great kit from passing the first time around. So keep that in mind, vod. Great job with build. Keep up the awesome work.

[Malek Dair]

Thank you for the great input. I'm 100% going to weather the soft parts exactly in the same manner as my plates etc. Still have a bit of work to do yet before I get to that stage. I have a holster to make for a Westar 35, and a sheath for a vibro-dagger, plus a kamma and loin cloth to fabricate. Will most likely do all the soft parts in one fell swoop to keep them consistent with each other.

However, I do have these pics to share with my final progress on my neck seal and vest with everything else so far.





Should be able to have more progress photos and such posted by the end of this weekend.

Oya!

[Kavryn Falco]

Looks like you've got quite a bit of bagging near your arms - you may need to add a set of darts to tighten that up.

[Havelock]

Looks like you've got quite a bit of bagging near your arms - you may need to add a set of darts to tighten that up.

Agreed.  Nevertheless, this is great progress, vod.  Well done.  Keep it up.

[Malek Dair]

Looks like you've got quite a bit of bagging near your arms - you may need to add a set of darts to tighten that up.

Bagging where, In my vest or flight suit? I was thinking darts could help the vest for sure.

[Kavryn Falco]

In the vest.

[Malek Dair]

In the vest.

Brilliant! Thanks for the help!