The Beavers Back

[Beaverslayer]

We are going to make the liner sides now and attach them to the rest of the liner. Using the same template you used to make the front panels of the vest, mark out and cut a left and right side using your suede. When you are marking the "Yolk" at the top, add 1/2" to the piece, as shown in the picture. This is needed to attach the two together.

Here's what the piece should look like. Make an opposite one for the other side.

Now on the front of the side panel, mask off the 1/2" extra lip and apply glue. On the BACK of the shoulder piece, mask off a 1/2" area and apply glue.

Now press the two pieces together, be sure that you have the front panel facing the proper direction. Then roll the seam.

Now on the back of the piece we want to add some 1 1/8" strips for added strength. Cut and glue down these strips just as we have in the preceding steps.

Now, take some more 1 1/8" strips and apply glue to backside, fold over part way as shown in the picture.

Then fold the other half over, roll together for a good bond.

Cut hte strip so it follows the "V" of the yolk, and apply glue and press and roll together. This is to add some bulk to the suede for lacing purposes.

Mark, punch and lace the same way you did the yolk on the outer shell. It should look like this when done.

Then do the same with the opposite side liner.

[Beaverslayer]

Take the template you have that we used for the liner on the outer pocket. Use this as your template for the inside pocket. You want to lay it out as shown in the picture. Just make a small mark at the top on each side as references. Flip the template over, align with the reference marks, and finish marking the pocket.

You should have a piece of suede that looks like this.

Now apply a bead of glue all the way around the outer edge.

Fold the piece in half, using those 2 reference marks as your guide, press together and roll the seam.

[Beaverslayer]

First off...IGNORE the 2 1/2" demension in this picture.

You want to mark where the inside pocket is to be placed. If the person is right handed, then it goes on the inner left side, vice versa if they are left handed. Place your template 2" from the outer edge, and 4 " up from the bottom point. Mark all along the edge but only a small dash at to top corners.

Now, just to be on the safe side so you don't get glue on places that it isn't supposed to be, mask off the entire area that we are going to apply the glue too. Then apply glue to this area, and also the outer edges of the pocket.

Once you've placed the pocket and rolled the seam, flip the side over and you should see the outline of the pocket in the backside of the suede.

Do the same here with the tape and glue as you just did on the front of the pocket. A;so cut some 1/2" strips and apply glue to them as well. You want this glue seam to be 1/2 on and 1/2 off the seam of the pocket. This will give the suede some bulk for the lace.

Here's what the backside should look like when done.

[Beaverslayer]

We want to use a 1/4" hole spacing on this seam as well, also the thinner lace. Start by making a mark 1/8" past the top of the pocket, then every 1/4" past that. Mark fro one side to the bottom middle, then the other side to the bottom middle.

Start lacing the same as you did on the front pockets. Glue down the tail, and also the first loop on the backside. When your reach the bottom middle, glue tha tail down as shown.

Here's the completed pocket.

[Beaverslayer]

When you attach your "Makers Mark" or "Label" centre and glue it to the front of the liner. Flip the liner over, and with your roller roll the area where it is glued. This will show you where to place a piece of suede to use as bulk for lacing.

Cut a piece of suede to fit the area including lace hole and glue it down. Then you can punch holes and lace in your label.

Here's the completed liner.

Now get a good nights sleep, as tomorrow I think we may have a big job ahead of us. Thanks again for all the compliments, and hope you are all learning as we go.

[Pip]

I am getting excited to see this fnished, its looking realy cool.

[Beaverslayer]

Okay, as I said before, I want to put a weave pattern on the back of this vest. What we need to do is to make a template so we can not only mark the holes, but also see just what it's going to look like before we punch holes through the back of the vest.

Then, once you've made the template, lace one side of it just to get the feel for what it will look like. Better to do this, than to punch all the holes, lace the vest and find out it just does not work right.

You will always want to use an "odd" number of laces for this, using an even number makes one edge of it look way diferent than the other and it takes away from the whole look.

Once you've decided that it's all going to work okay, then cut the lace out of your template and use it to mark the holes on your vest. Make sure that you have it centred where you want it.

Once marked, then punch the holes.

[Beaverslayer]

To weave with lace you want to make your laces 4 times the length of the outer edge of the area to lace.Start at the outside edge, and run your 5 laces through from the back on the 5 outer holes. Glue the tails down and roll.

Now on the front, you want to take the bottom 3 laces and lay them to the side for a minute. The last of the top 3 goes into the second hole on the bottom edge. The next lace goes through the next hole on the bottom, and then the lats one through the next hole.The take the second of the bottom 2 laces and run it under the first lace, over the next and under the next, then through the second hole from the edge. The last lace goes over then under, then through the next hole.DO NOT pull these laces tight, just pull them enough that they lay flat to the vest back. If you pull them too tight they will bunch up the vest back and make things go all funny on you.

Now flip the vest over, and the 2 laces that are at the top edge, bring them back one hole each and pull them back to the front of the vest.

Flip the vest back over, and the first lace on the top pull under then over then under, then through the next hole. The last lace over, under then through the last hole. Thus will give you all 5 laces on the bottom edge, and at the backside of the vest.

Flip the vest back over, and with the first lace, go back one hole and pull to the front. Then do the same with each of the next 4 laces until all 5 are back in the front. Continue on until you've reahed the middle of the weave pattern. It's hard to explain with out actulally pointing to this, but when you reach the middle 5 holes, DO NOT go back a hole and pull to the fron, you only do this on the outer edge of the weave.

Cut the tails off and glue down as shown here.

Now if you flip the vest over and look at the top right of the weave, you will see that there is a stitch missing, the same is with the bottom right. Take 2 of the left over pieces of lace that still have needles on them, and use this to fill the missing stitch. This picture shows you the back view once you've put the 2 stitches in place. Now cut and glue these tails down also. You can make these fairly long to help them from coming loose. In my experience they are never a problem if glued down good. Once done this, take your roller and roll this weave real good to help lay the weave in place.

Here's what the weave should look like on the front and back.

Now you can continue on to the other side, just remember that you want it a "Mirror" image of this side, so do everything the same but backwards...Here's a picture of the completed weave. There will be a lace that runs along the outer edge of this, once we are finished the vest. So it will not look like it is jusy hanging out there where it shouldn't.

Edited March 29, 2008 by Beaverslayer

[Gremlin]

171 pics and still going ..... WOW!! I'll say it again, great tutorial Ken.

The applique on the back looks great. I've done a number of appliques and they can be tricky/confusing for someone that has never done them. Very satisfying once completed tho.

[Wolf]

You are definitely a talented individual!!! Great work! You inspire me!

Wolf