Worst

Post 2 of 2 (or more) today. I need your feedback. I got the riding patches sewn on. they feel even. I finished one leg up with the strap and did an initial sew up. I might take the leg in a bit more but overall how does it look before I finish the second one.

Ok 2 posts incoming. First I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday (and today) and did a little painting. Obviously the helmet is not done but I got my first coat of enamel on and am very happy with how the finish is coming out. I'm going to do a light, high grit sand, clean and another coat today. I also knocked out the snout. After a little hiccup with the gray primer I was using, I think it came out pretty good. Edit: Didn't warrant a second post but here is after my second round of painting. I'm tempted to go one more round but I've run out of day. I've moved it inside to cure.

Duffle bag?

Got it! I honestly had assumed it got Velcroed to the flight suit. But that's even easier. I hadn't thought too much about it yet so maybe I was misunderstanding what I had seen

Small update, I'm not going to post pictures until I finish cleaning up the edges, but I started work on the riding patches today. The patches are glued in place using the fusing material @Chopper suggested and I trimmed the back pattern a little bit as well. I just need to sew up the edges, glue the crotch seam into place and sew the legs back up. I should probably also attach the velcro for the butt flap while the legs are open. But I probably should have marked that *before* I ripped everything out.

Great job @mrbill8128, welcome back to Carida. See you on the other side

That's more or less what I was aiming for with the front part. Does it seem like I should make any adjustments?

Back to Joann's it is! Glad to hear that the back is just removing some fabric. I was mostly going off the CRL photo which looks like it goes much further back, but looking again at the Scout-o-pedia it seems like that might be a bit exaggerated.

Ok, please ignore the bunching and very unflattering photos. My plan is to stitch the leg seams, and butt seam. Then glue everything on to the front. Then pull things into a good spot and glue in the rear as well. Then I'll go back over it with stitching around the edges. I believe the riding patch in the back is a bit too high and the front is looking good. It'd be good to have someone who knows what they are doing weigh in.

Perfect, I'll give a little room to breathe. I can always take it in a little more if I need to. Thanks @Chopper

Question for the collective brain trust. What is/Is there an appropriate amount of return edge on the chest and back armor. This is marked with 1/4 in tape and I don't want to go too far if there should be more.

Ok, took another stab at creating a pattern for the suede patches. This time I cut them out of some spare duck cloth that I had so I can better see what needs adjusted. My plan is to only stitch 3 of the seams and leave the front crotch seam more or less open and just glue the suede into place. Since it's covered by the cod, it shouldn't be noticeable and it will mean I can be a little more flexible on the front and position everything appropriately. I'll try to get it sewn up and pinned in place Wednesday but I'm already feeling more confident that this will be a bit more successful than the last attempt.

Last day of my Scout-cation. I didn't sleep great last night so I'm going to not push too hard. I tested the patterns I made for the riding patches and they don't really fit properly. The back one is perfect but I'll need to rework the front one. Put that on hold until next week. I took a trip to Home Depot and picked up a husky roller tote. Now that things are getting close to completion I should start putting them somewhere other than my office floor. I also stopped at Michaels and got some foam sheets (the crafting kind, not the upholstery kind) for the cod. I'll try to knock that out next week as well. Finally I spent some time cleaning up a few of the armor pieces to get them ready for elastic. I should be able to start knocking out the easier stuff (bicep, forearm, and knees). While I do more research into how to handle the belt, chest/shoulders/back and holster. I'll be posting a lot slower these next couple weeks but my goal is submission by end of March.

Day end report Finished my flak jacket today. This was most of the days work but I'm happy with how it turned out Tomorrow we'll see if I can finish the riding patches. Otherwise I might be making a run to Michael's for some EVA foam for the lower section of the cod

@Aradunif it helps we're both using pattern C. I cut the vest bottom an inch below the waste line on the pattern but again, its probably way too much and I figure I'd just hem it into place. Same with the sleeves, I measured 17" from the highest point but it's also way too much sleeve. You might know better what you need since you can reference your existing jacket.

End of Day report: Today was a loooooot of sewing, and theres still plenty to go. I've corrected the cummerbund as noted by @Aradun. Thankfully I had enough play to keep it pretty well centered in the back while shifting it over. Note that these pictures were taken without adjusting the bund. I've also started my Flak jacket based on the pattern I picked up. I've cut all of my pieces and have begun sewing the sleeves. I've "finished" the left sleeve and will pick up tomorrow. I have wayyyy too much sleeve but should be able to tailor it nicely once my shoulder bells are in place. No good photos of the front and back cuts, but I added about 3 inches to the back cuts, as @mrbill8128did, to account for the velcro. I gave it a little extra just to be sure I had enough post cut. I have 2 more days and am hoping to have all of my soft goods done by the end of the week except probably the cod piece. That mostly leave the armor which I can spend time on in the coming weeks after my daughter goes to bed.

You know what. I thought I was reading that wrong but I was so excited to get it knocked out that I read 6 vertical lines as 6 ribs. Thankfully an easy fix

Decided to shift focus this morning a bit and knock out the cummerbund. The flak jacket will be next since I figured having that complete will let me know if I have enough material for testing the suede patches. Note: It is slightly oversized on me in only a tshirt to make sure I had room in coveralls and the flak jacket Awkward photos incoming:

Day end report: I got one kneepad setup with elastic so I can verify where the riding patches should go. I've created rough templates based on the original soft parts thread as well as @mrbill8128's post since it was one of the few posts I could see the rough shapes. Along with that I've checked them against the actual coverall pattern. Tomorrow morning I'm going to test fit them with some of the black fabric I have for my flak jacket. Additionally I bought the same Simplicity pattern that Bill used for his Flak jacket since it seemed like that also turned out really well (and it was only $2 on sale at Joann's)! Tomorrow I hope to finish my riding patches and get started on my flak jacket.

I took this week off to focus. I have a May 3rd Hospital troop deadline that I'd REALLLY love to hit. Boots are finally across the finish line and I'm pretty happy with them. They aren't perfect but I gotta keep moving or else this will never get done! Next up. Finishing some more of the soft goods, I'm hoping I can knock out the riding patches next.

My new toy arrived. Thanks to fellow Caridan @jfencl1 over at BlasterWorks for the excellent product

One more day I promise! Redid both boot cuffs today. Used a straight edge and glued the velcro before stitching, very happy with how it turned out. On GML's ( @haringjr) recommendation, i went back and added loops. Not the 100% correct vertical position but I'm happy with how they ended up. (Note that the photo shows only one stitch as I verified that it looked ok) I also did a single dogbone to get comfortable with the stitching, I'll likely redo those once I glue these on as the size I printed was feeling a little on the long side.

This is currently my biggest mental hurdle. The boots were the other one so I'm just about ready to take the plunge. I'm excited to see them once they are applied

I did this a few days ago but am gaining confidence. This was my test run for both sizing and learning how to work with the materials. I'm thinking the sizing is actually pretty close and I'm going to try to do both with new cuts at the same time so I can keep settings on the machine about the same. This week I'm going to try wrapping these boots up so I can get started on finishing the rest. It's going to be warm enough to do some armor in the garage

I had followed @Aradun's build thread which used that exact sateen I think: