Mandalorian Armor Project 9: Flak Vest

Prior to making my girth belt, I have never made any type of wearable clothing. Therefore, I had to do a lot of research on creating clothing, sewing tutorials, and vest patterns. Luckily, I found a thread on the Mandalorian Mercs costuming forum from a fellow named Pointoforigin. He created a phenomenal tutorial on how to create a custom flak vest.

Two hours after I started, I finished my pattern. Taking my own measurements was an interesting experience, especially because I didn't have string, or a sewing tape measure. The only thing I had was a length of aircraft cable. Actually, I found a ton of other uses for that cable, like tracing all of my curved lines.

 

These two pieces created one half of my vest pattern. Each piece would be cut out twice, to completely cover my torso.

By a happy mistake, I grossly over ordered material for my girth belt. I was able to pull my entire vest out of the spare duck cloth I had left over.  

This shows both templates, as they were cut out of the fabric. This time around, I remembered to include a half inch of allowance along each edge. This half inch would let me fold over each corner, ensuring that I would have a clean edge around the exterior of the vest.

This vest pattern was designed to be a unisex design, so the original pattern was a darted design. These cutouts are to allows for the maker to adjust the chest size of the vest without  affecting the size of the waist.

The first step of attaching these darts was to fold over the rough edge. 

As I was about to start sewing these pieces together, my grandmother looked over my shoulder and suggested that I use a blanket stitch to close it. The blanket stitch, supported by another row just below, held the seam very nicely.

As soon as I tried the vest on, I realized I made a mistake. The back section of the vest was too small! My grandmother, once again, came to the rescue. Instead of starting over again, she suggested cutting the back piece in half, and adding a panel to it. This extension fit perfectly, and gave me just enough clearance to attach a zipper to the vest.

So this is called a fashion zipper. I've never encountered one before in my life, and naturally, was very confused to find out that it didn't separate when it was unzipped. While this wasn't a huge problem, it makes getting into and out of the vest very awkward.

Mating the sides of the vest went smoothly, but the collar required a bit of modification. For some reason, the back of the vest sat 2" above my neck. I fixed this by folding the tallest portions under the collar and sewing it into place. I would eventually dart underneath each shoulder strap, so that the vest would sit flat upon my shoulders.

After creating the main body of the vest I had a few small tasks left. The first was to attach a pair of shoulders for the shoulder plates to attach to. The last order of business was to attach grommets to the front of the vest. 

The first step in placing the grommets was tracing out the placement of the plates. I threw on the vest and had my friend Jared trace around the edges of each plate. We started with the collar plate and worked our way downwards from there. 

Before I went any farther, I backtracked and quickly made a pair of shoulders flaps for the shoulders to mount onto. This involved tracing the pattern of the shoulder guard, and then attaching it to the vest.
There are two ways of attaching shoulders guards a Mandalorian's flak vest. The first style, Boba style, uses sleeves like you would see on a t-shirt. I chose to use the second type, Jango style, which uses the single flap.

Setting the grommets was remarkably simple. To put grommets into the vest, all you need is an awl, grommets, and grommet pliers.

First, place the awl through the duck cloth. I went approximately 2" through the material.

Then place the grommet through the hole. 

Lastly, flatten the grommet with the grommet pliers. You do need a specific set of pliers to properly flatten the grommet.

Repeat the process 34 times (yes I counted), and you have a functional flak vest. 

In Hindsight:
1) Put Fray-Stop around the grommets. Before putting the grommets through the duck cloth, put Fray-block along the edges of the hole. This will keep the holes from expanding, and will keep the grommets anchored in the cloth.
2) Don't use a fashion zipper. Common sense to most people...

Full album: Imgur

Next Step: Armor Plates