Cummerbund Revisited

During my last troop (with borrowed armour), I found that my cummerbund started to slip down after about and hour of trooping. I kept thinking about that rather than concentrating totally on the troop. My pouches also need a larger area of tethering rather than just the upper hinge too, especially as I was carrying most of the troops wallets and keys in them!

Here are my solutions to my two problems.

I bought a pack of four black military shirt stays to act like suspenders. They have clips already attached, they have adjustment clips, and are shorter then suspenders. One would have been enough on each side, but I wanted there to be room for adjustment, so I neatly joined two together using a decorative zig-zag stitch. The zig-zag keeps the edges from fraying and allows a bit of stretch in the joint. I made small button holes directly on the cummerbund for the stays to attach.

When I put on the cummerbund, I just undo the main Velcro on the back, leaving the under-strap still attached to the Velcro, and the stays in place, and climb into it.

Cummerbund and Pouches Complete!

After spending another evening with the sewing machine and iron, my cummerbund and pouches are complete. :)  I think the trickiest thing about the pouches was joining the inner and outer parts, make sure they all aligned and looked neat. Here are the results...

One pouch ready to be put together. On the Left you can see the upper flap, the middle it the outer pouch, and on the right is the inner pouch.

The pouches and cummerbund completed. Phew! :)

A close up of the pouch with the flap open to show to the detail.

Pouches

Last night I have marked up all the panels for the pouches in 2B pencil to make my seaming easier and more accurate. I also added interfacing on all the panels (but only one set of interfacing per pouch). The interfacing is only on the panels themselves and not on the seam areas, that would make the seams hard to turn out and very bulky. I have also pre-pressed the panels, especially the ones with the interfacing.

Photo of the front and backs of the panels to show how the interfacing was ironed-on.

Close up of the panels.

I would have gone further except for two little issues:

1. I realised I didn't have the 1.5" Velcro at home for the tabs. Purchase of more Velcro will have to wait till I can get into town on Friday.

2. I didn't know if the seam was needed on the outside of the flap of the pouch to where the Velcro goes. After posting a question to BSN, I found I need to have the seam visible on the top of the flap to be screen accurate. That does make it easier to sew. :)

Cummerbund

After a bit of tinkering with the pattern, I have made my cummerbund. It is tailored to a more feminine figure to result in a cummerbund that fits to my shape, but also doesn't have lots of excess material making me look like Michelin Man, and makes the cummerbund look more like the screen one on me. The taper along the upper waist will be hidden by the pouches. The bust area is hidden under the armour.

The cummerbund is made of a double layer duck cotton and a dense iron-on wadding in between.

I have already cut the fabric for the pouches and all I need to do now is sew them and attach them to the cummerbund.

One thing I almost forgot to mention. Prior to sewing, I washed and pressed the duck cotton to get the starch out and allow the fabric to look like it has been worn at least once. It also means it takes the shape that I am trying to get it into better, which will be important with the pouches.