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How do I make a battle vest?

Nny’s armpit
Fri, 17/05/2024 - 03:43

I’ve seen so many cool battle vest here and on TikTok over the years and I want to make my own. But I don’t know which brand of vest i should get, I don’t know if I should stitch or ironed it or how to get a good layout. So to my fellow metalheads who’s been making their battle vest for years, may you help me with some basic knowledge on that stuff?


MortalCoil138's picture

Buy your vest from a second hand store, doesn't have to be expensive.

Go sew on. Iron ons are shit to remove, and when you do it looks like someone jizzed on your vest.

Don't look at TikTok for inspiration.

The best way to get a layout is put the patches on the vest until you're happy with it then sew it down.

Make sure you have excess patches and let your taste mature so your vest isn't all just basic Metallica and Korn patches.

Nny’s armpit's picture

1.Which color of thread you normally used?

2.If my battle vest gets dirty (like food stains, vomit, etc) how do I clean it without damaging my patches?

bad_american1992's picture

Never clean your jacket, the dust and crust are part of the charm

Nny’s armpit's picture

Hmm, so like crust pants?

MortalCoil138's picture

I use all sorts, use whatever colour you want.

Try to wash your vest as little as possible. If you absolutely need to, use some laundry detergent, take your pins off, soak it for a while and gently agitate, rinse and repeat until clean, then hang it out to dry. Do not use a washing machine.

Nny’s armpit's picture

Thanks for the tips bro, appreciate it

a chicken's picture

https://youtu.be/qB4Jan3HJzU?si=1jIy8XBkWIf1qBjy

This video is a great starting point if you're a total newbie, seeing someone craft in real time has been much more helpful to me compared to just reading text. I second Mortalcoil as well, secondhand vests rule, iron-on patches suck. Most vests use black thread but if you wanna get fancy with different colours then fire away. See this forum for advice on de-stankifying your vest: https://tshirtslayer.com/forum/topic/batlle-jacket-cleaning-tips

Nny’s armpit's picture

Thank you fam, highly appreciate it🗿

George thrash's picture

Buy a jacket from a thrift shop or from where ever you can find one
Buy or make patches and pins if you want of some of your favourite bands and sew them on
I really hope that this helps you my friend!

Nny’s armpit's picture

It does help! Thanks! :3

Beer.Browser's picture

Don’t worry about messing stuff up, you can just rip the thread and start over. Learning how to sew is a critically underutilized skill in this modern era. It will transfer over to repairing your clothes as well. So I’d skip the iron-ons. Especially if you’re prone to changing your mind.

Don’t worry about getting it perfect, just do it how YOU like. Sure you can ask other people’s opinions but the whole point of the vest/jacket is to show YOUR tastes and what you value/find cool. Also put on whatever patches you want. Anyone who says there’s “rules” should be ignored.

Nny’s armpit's picture

Thanks for the advice bro :3

no karate in pit's picture

dunk denim in toilet water mixed with beer

trade a kidney for a vintage back patch

have people so disgusted at the album art on said vest they vomit

add spikes to whip posers with

make sure mold grows in the pockets

overlap patches so much it becomes so thick it could stop bullets

Nny’s armpit's picture

Lmao, and don’t forget to make sure it gets crusty xD

nuclearthrasher666's picture

How to make a battle vest in 5 easy steps :

1) Learn how to sew a patch

2) Buy a denim vest.

3) Spend an huge amount of time and money hunting down the patches of your choise (3 or 4 times the price of the actual vest is the norm)

4) Sit on the mountain of patches that you acquired for years, planing the perfect placement ( planing must take at least 2-3 years)

5) After steps 3 and 4 are completed lock yourself away for 1-2 weeks, were you will begin to sew obsessively your precious patches until the vest is complited. You should only stop when your fingers are too sore to continue

And thats how you end up with a proper battle jacket. An item that you invested Absurd amounts of time and money only to be worn 4-5 times a year. And at that point you should be planning to make a second one !

Nny’s armpit's picture

Thank you for this beautiful advice bro🗿🔥

Queen Catsie's picture

This is the way.

Eknim's picture

Nothing is mandatory, everything is allowed. But here are some tips:

Go denim, sewing into leather is a total pain in the ass. You can always wear a leather underneath the cutoff

Always sew never iron

Secure pins down with pin locks or just sewing over parts that stick out repeatedly so you dont lose them

Decide if you want a theme for your vest. For example i did a german style in the past where the patches overlapped but now im going for a vest with stuff spaced out and limited to mostly thrash, black metal and some death metal. But having a mishmash of any bands you like is good too of course.

Personally i prefer avoiding the really obvious bands, id rather use the space to put something less known there so others can find out about the music too. Its a given i like black sabbath so i dont see much point in having them on there for example.

But finally do what you wanna do this hobby is alot of fun.

Envenometal's picture

I don't want to make a big contribution here, except for this one thing.
Personally, I think a back patch is called a BACK patch for a very specific reason:
So that you don't sew it onto the front!!!
Unfortunately, you see that far too often and that can really ruin an otherwise really good vest.

Paganinfear's picture

^^

George thrash's picture

If you get a patch with a red border or a green border or something like that, I suggest that you use red thread on a red border or green thread on a green border etc, because if the border is blue and you use black thread it will make it look a bid weird

webbylolz's picture

i have a very stupid question, I'm not a beginner metalhead, but i am making my first vest, ive been ordering from sites like maximum brutality, murder machine, pull the plug patches, ect. i also have a custom amputated backpatch. but theres one problem. im into many different types of metal. like slam, death, black, thrash, so that is all incorporated into my vest. does that make me a poser? ive seen battle vests dedicated top one type of metal but ive never heard of that being a RULE.

Thane's picture

The only thing that makes you a poser is pretending to like the music or community just to be included. I like stuff from all genres of metal, rock, etc. and I put it all on my vests. Just include what you like.

slayerslayer's picture

what Thane said "Just include what you like." ^ ^ there are no rules.. and usually the first iteration is never the final product. my main battle jacket is 30 + years old , it has evolved over time , never finished , but has a million miles , and hundreds of gigs , mates and memories .

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