Parts of the vest

I made the first band too short, so I had to make another one to get enough material for the vest. When the bands were ready, it was time to measure and cut the needed pieces. First, I measured the required length and applied Fray Stay to the uncut band (on both sides of the place where it was to be cut). When the band was dry again, I cut the band in the middle of the treated parts. In the picture below, you can see two parts of a band treated with Fray Stay. The places where it was later cut are marked with black lines.

The parts where the direction of turning the cards was changed (to remove twist in the threads) cannot be used for something like this. Because of that, it is a good idea to plan beforehand and place the reversals so that you can cut the band there. All it requires is that you know the lengths of the required pieces and measure the band as you proceed.

For example, I needed one 6 cm piece, one 12 cm piece and two 10 cm pieces for one side of the vest front. I started by making the 12 cm piece turning the cards forward, then I made a little over 20 cm turning the cards backward (removing the twist created earlier and adding some new in different direction), and then 6 cm turning forward (again removing some twist). Even using this method, I had to open the far end of the setup once to remove twist.

I used Fray Stay for this as it is much better for the purpose than Fray Stop. Fray Stop is really glue and looks and behaves a lot like PVA glue. It's thick and remains visible, unless you dilute it heavily with water. Fray Stay is a bit thicker than water, but still leaves an even surface and is almost invisible when it's dry. (Fray Check looks similar to Fray Stay, clear liquid in a bottle with fine tip.)

The picture below shows all the pieces of the vest front, except the collar pieces, which I haven't cut yet. These need to be hand sewn together and pressed. I'm planning to practice that with the leftover pieces of the band, which I'm going to use to make a vest for the Baha Cat. I want everything I make for Brother Dreary to be as perfect as possible, so I'll try stuff in a smaller scale with the Baha Cat and it may end up having the same kind of costume.

The mail delivered today my order from Little Trimmings. Unfortunately, the buckles I ordered were much too small for this purpose, but they are still very nice and I can use them for some other doll's shoes. Here they are shown with a buckle that's too big. I really need to find something in between these sizes.

I had much better luck with buttons. The ones on the left are those I ordered earlier and plan to use for the vest (the yellow ones). The gold colored are from Little Trimmings and they are perfect for the jacket.

I also ordered some fabrics and simple white buttons for Brother Dreary's shirt. There are enough buttons for two shirts as I ordered two sets of 10 buttons, so I'm planning to make a shirt using that tartan patterned fabric. I still need to find suitable white fabric for the shirt to go with the folk costume. I'm not striving for strict accuracy, but I still prefer using fabric that has the right kind of look and feel.

Related earlier posts:
Brother Dreary project
Socks and the beginning of the vest