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Brag vests seem to go in and out of fashion in our pack. The older boys in our pack weren't interested, the younger guys love'em. If you have an electric rotary cutter, it makes quick work of cutting out the vests. They sell them for sewing but mine came from Home Depot. And fabric glue works well to attach the patches, it is easier than sewing IMO. I still sew them though.

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One other advantage I see for having patch vests is that when other scouts see the different patches other boys have, it motivates them to attend different activities. Once they start participating more, they get "hooked" on scouting!

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We don't use them. I bought my son one and loaded it up with all his patches but he doesn't wear it. Probably because he's the only one in the Pack that has one. I use it as a prop when I go to schools to recruit. Lots of great ideas about making them and passing them out. I have no idea what the scouts do with all the patches they earn.

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The boys in our den did not want to wear the patch vest so we took a binder and got the whole sheet plastic page protectors and slid colored cardstock in each protector. The boys then took velcro and attached it to the patch and then stuck it in their binder on any page they wanted to. They took markers and could write a little something about how they got the patch or when they got it. The velcor allowed them to take it out of the book and wear it on the uniform as many patches have the little button loop. Then they could change the patches as often as they wanted to.

 

We got the binders where they could slide a piece of paper in the front to make a cover - they were able to decorate it however they wanted to.

 

The kids liked this because they could show their binder off. They also had information about where and when and how they got the patch. The only problem - we do a lot of stuff so they have a lot of patches - the binder quickly filled up and they had to move to a bigger binder.

 

Other dens made the vests - so much cheaper than buying it at the scout store.

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Mom : someone created a pattern. The only sewing was at the shoulders. They were able to cut it out in one piece. I don't know if they just made a pattern or used the actual vest to create the pattern. I know they got red felt cheap at Walmart or JoAnn Fabrics. Hope that helps.

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But I am so dense about sewing, this looks to me like you need to cut TWO of these patterns and sew them together? Is that right?

 

No, you only cut one because the material is folded where it says "fold"

 

The fold ends up in the middle of the back of the vest.

 

Cut out the pattern and sew it along the top, turn it so the seam is on the inside and you are done.

 

You probably want to try pinning it together where you are going to sew, before you sew it, to make sure you're sewing in the right place. :-)

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momof2cubs, you cut out the vest in one piece by placing the right side on the fold of the felt. I have my own pattern that is similar. I can cut out two vests across the width of the felt. I open up the felt as it came from the fabric store. Then I fold the edges back to the center so that they meet, kind of like a staple. This way I have two folded edges to work with. Place the vest pattern on the felt with the right-hand side of the pattern, the long straight edge, is aligned with the fold. Check and make sure that it fits so that there will be two layers of felt all around. Then I trace it with a sharpie, remove the pattern and cut it out. If you cut to the inside of the sharpie line, you won't have black marks on your vest. Then match up the front shoulder to the back shoulder on each side and sew a seam. If you fold the seam to the back of the vest and topstitch it, it will look better but most don't bother.

 

Good luck!

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