JennyRuth's Scout Build

[jennyruth]

Just in case it helps someone -- for patterning the vest:

I found a T-shirt that fit well over my undersuit top. Then, I used this tutorial to make a pattern and just modified it where needed (like the neck size and cutting open the back and adding allowances for the velcro closure): https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/draft-sew-raglan-tee-pattern-size.html

[TK-Roamer]

Just joined and appreciate your posts. How did you get through the leather bits in your 2-piece suit? Are you using a heavy duty seeing machine, a standard machine with heavy duty needle, or something else? Thanks!

[Retrofire]

8 hours ago, TK-Roamer said:

Just joined and appreciate your posts. How did you get through the leather bits in your 2-piece suit? Are you using a heavy duty seeing machine, a standard machine with heavy duty needle, or something else? Thanks!

I used a standard sewing machine with a heavy duty denim needle.

[Chopper]

As Pete said, either a denim needle or a leather needle will work.

[TK-Roamer]

@Retrofire and @Chopper, thank you for the clarification.

[jennyruth]

9 hours ago, TK-Roamer said:

Just joined and appreciate your posts. How did you get through the leather bits in your 2-piece suit? Are you using a heavy duty seeing machine, a standard machine with heavy duty needle, or something else? Thanks!

Thanks, glad to be of help. I’m a slow process but I’m getting there

For the leather patches, I used a leather needle. They are sharper than regular needles. My suede was also pigskin suede, which is not as thick as cow suede. I have a standard machine, but it was an investment in a good Bernina about 10 years ago. So, while not an industrial machine, it’s been a good workhorse. I sewed some cow suede pouches for Endor Leia with it, but that’s about as much as I would push it.

[jennyruth]

Now that I will be starting my white part soon, I’m trying to decided where I want to cod piece to attach. Back of the cummerbund? Vest? Any idea what seems to work best and look best for most people?

[Aradun]

I attach my cod to the flak vest in the front with Velcro, and the strap attaches to the back of the FV. I find this keeps the FV from riding up and locks it in place.

 

The CB is attached to the flak vest with two 2” strips of Velcro on the front and the back, which keeps it from shifting and drooping during a troop. I also followed Chopper’s trick and added a tab on the bottom of the 2” Velcro on the back of the CB which gets sandwiched between the Velcro of the belt. That keeps the belt from shifting and drooping in the back, especially with the added weight of the TD.

 

You can see the tab in the photo below.

 

 

Here’s the link to Corey’s thread on tricks to keep everything in place while trooping.

 

http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jennyruth]

On 1/2/2021 at 3:25 PM, AradunFF said:

I attach my cod to the flak vest in the front with Velcro, and the strap attaches to the back of the FV. I find this keeps the FV from riding up and locks it in place.

 

The CB is attached to the flak vest with two 2” strips of Velcro on the front and the back, which keeps it from shifting and drooping during a troop. I also followed Chopper’s trick and added a tab on the bottom of the 2” Velcro on the back of the CB which gets sandwiched between the Velcro of the belt. That keeps the belt from shifting and drooping in the back, especially with the added weight of the TD.

 

You can see the tab in the photo below.

 

 

Here’s the link to Corey’s thread on tricks to keep everything in place while trooping.

 

http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you! Great info.

[jennyruth]

Finally got back to work while I’m waiting for my armor to print.

This is a mock-up for the cod piece. I still have a little tweaking to do, but overall, I’m curious how the shape, size, and placement of the little sewing line looks.
 

[Retrofire]

Hi Jenny! Overall the sizing looks ok but the arc looks a bit low. What typically happens when it’s low is that it’s not easily seen since your cod strap will pull it under. I’ve attached a pic of the CRL photo for you to review. Notice how much higher the arc is? I believe you’ll need to come up around 2-3 inches at least. A great way to gauge how high you need to be is to sew the cod then use a pattern cutout and overlay it on the cod. That way you can move it up/down and get confidence of its location before committing to the needle. @Chopper what are your thoughts?

[jennyruth]

42 minutes ago, Retrofire said:

Hi Jenny! Overall the sizing looks ok but the arc looks a bit low. What typically happens when it’s low is that it’s not easily seen since your cod strap will pull it under. I’ve attached a pic of the CRL photo for you to review. Notice how much higher the arc is? I believe you’ll need to come up around 2-3 inches at least. A great way to gauge how high you need to be is to sew the cod then use a pattern cutout and overlay it on the cod. That way you can move it up/down and get confidence of its location before committing to the needle. @Chopper what are your thoughts?

Thanks! I do have a strap attached that’s pulled under and back. I don’t know if that makes a difference. My first mock-ups actually had it much higher, about 2 inches, but then it was like near my hip bone and lower abdomen and not really near the groin area. I can take some pictures of that one if it helps. I can definitely pull it up some, and I like your suggestion of the pattern cutout. That’s a great idea.

[Chopper]

I agree with Pete/Retrofire, I think the sewn curve is too low on your current cod. If I can also offer some additional pointers, note that the sides of the codpiece depicted in the CRL are not a perfectly straight line, they taper a bit towards the bottom point.

I should say that the tapering observation is more of a level 2 item, but if you're reworking your cod, you might as well take that into consideration. Nice work overall.

 

[jennyruth]

8 minutes ago, Chopper said:

I agree with Pete/Retrofire, I think the sewn curve is too low on your current cod. If I can also offer some additional pointers, note that the sides of the codpiece depicted in the CRL are not a perfectly straight line, they taper a bit towards the bottom point.

I should say that the tapering observation is more of a level 2 item, but if you're reworking your cod, you might as well take that into consideration. Nice work overall.

 

Thank you! I’ll raise it up some more. The tapering is something I noticed after the picture, and I’ll work on that too. 
 

Thank y’all so much for taking the time to give me feedback.

[jennyruth]

Ok, I reworked it some and raised the line and adjusted the sides to have a more tapered look. I tried to use a stand in belt to give a better picture of proportions and such. I have a plan to help with the bunching but didn’t do it on this mock up. Thoughts?

[Chopper]

Much better. Great job.

[Retrofire]

11 hours ago, Chopper said:

Much better. Great job.

I have to echo my counterpart here. The cod looks great. Nice work!

[jennyruth]

12 hours ago, Chopper said:

Much better. Great job.

 

23 minutes ago, Retrofire said:

I have to echo my counterpart here. The cod looks great. Nice work!

Thank you both for taking the time to help me make it better! 

[jennyruth]

I got the “good fabric” cod completed and am happy with how the lack of bunching worked out. I don’t have another set of hands to take a picture, so I’ll have to post it when I get the cummerbund done. I can show how I did the attachments. In the front, I attached with Velcro to the bottom of the vest. For the back, I have seen the videos of making an adjustable strap via a parachute clip. What a great idea! But I thought that I may not want something that bulky pressing into my back, so I experimented with a roll buckle. It seems to work very well and helped me not have to make a precise cut of my elastic, which is helpful when fitting to yourself.

Ironically, the roll buckle I used was left  over from my Endor Leia build 😂

[jennyruth]

Working on getting the strapping ordered/collected for the armor and want to make sure I understand correct about the white straps. In reading the CRL, it seems the only nylon strapping is the 2" strapping that goes along the back of the belt. The 1.5" that connects the chest & back under the arms as well as the drop boxes to the belt is cotton webbing. Is that correct? I would think nylon would hold up better and clean better long term so I want to double-check that I'm understanding that correctly. Also, is there any special tip that I need to know before ordering.

Oh, one more thing--the rivets--do I get aluminum ones?

[Chopper]

6 minutes ago, jennyruth said:

Working on getting the strapping ordered/collected for the armor and want to make sure I understand correct about the white straps. In reading the CRL, it seems the only nylon strapping is the 2" strapping that goes along the back of the belt. The 1.5" that connects the chest & back under the arms as well as the drop boxes to the belt is cotton webbing. Is that correct? I would think nylon would hold up better and clean better long term so I want to double-check that I'm understanding that correctly. Also, is there any special tip that I need to know before ordering.

Oh, one more thing--the rivets--do I get aluminum ones?

Yes, definitely get the 1/8" diameter aluminum rivets. You don't need steel for the purposes of this costume.

As far as material goes, the types of material are primarily specified in Level 2/Lancer. Under Level 1/Basic Clearance it's a bit more general.

For Level 2:

The back of the belt should be 2" nylon webbing

The side straps can be 1.5" white cotton webbing OR 1.5" white elastic as long as the color matches the other strapping. In other words, you shouldn't have bright white elastic side strapping and off white strapping elsewhere.

The drop box strapping should be 1.5" white cotton webbing.

If you only want to do Level 1 clearance, then the CRL just says "white webbing", "webbing material", or "white textile straps", so you have more options if you want to go that way, as long as it's "white webbing".

[jennyruth]

4 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Yes, definitely get the 1/8" diameter aluminum rivets. You don't need steel for the purposes of this costume.

As far as material goes, the types of material are primarily specified in Level 2/Lancer. Under Level 1/Basic Clearance it's a bit more general.

For Level 2:

The back of the belt should be 2" nylon webbing

The side straps can be 1.5" white cotton webbing OR 1.5" white elastic as long as the color matches the other strapping. In other words, you shouldn't have bright white elastic side strapping and off white strapping elsewhere.

The drop box strapping should be 1.5" white cotton webbing.

If you only want to do Level 1 clearance, then the CRL just says "white webbing", "webbing material", or "white textile straps", so you have more options if you want to go that way, as long as it's "white webbing".

Thank you! I'm trying to make things to Level 2 even if I don't get approved for it. I'm so out of my element with armor that I'm paranoid I'm not reading things properly. Thanks for your patience with me as I ask so many questions.

[Aradun]

Jenny, you have a great build thread and ask excellent questions, so if you approach your armor work with the same level of detail that you tackled the soft parts, then there’s no need to be paranoid. You’ll knock this outta the park!

[jennyruth]

2 hours ago, AradunFF said:

Jenny, you have a great build thread and ask excellent questions, so if you approach your armor work with the same level of detail that you tackled the soft parts, then there’s no need to be paranoid. You’ll knock this outta the park!

Thank you for the kind words

[jennyruth]

OK, here’s the cod and cummerbund together. I recognize some tweaking and positioning may need to occur after all the armor gets together. But, I made the cummerbund the 8” that has been assured to fit even a short scout like myself. So, here’s hoping  

I apologize for the poor lighting. 

I realize I don’t have the butt flap on yet. I promise I haven’t forgotten it.