Flak vest material question

Skiff

Jr Hunter
Hi all, I'm in the process of starting my flash vest but I'm having trouble sourcing tackle twill in australia. Could anyone tell me what the difference is between cotton twill and tackle twill?
 
Hi man, here is my Jango Jackets and others that I design.I used semi leather............any quiestion let me know......I have more pictures and others

Copia de CHALECO GRIS (1).JPG
 
Hey mate. Same problem. I do have a vest but I would like to make another. I have seen that 'tackle twill' is the preferred material in a couple of threads but yeah can't seem to find any here in Brisvegas
 
Yeah Phantom almost impossible, I asked at Spotlight and they had no idea what it was, they said they had twill in their furnishing section. Found some that could be usable. about 20bucks a metre
 
I have talked to a couple of seamstresses and they looked at me like I was from another planet when I mentioned tackle twill. I have one that I used for my son and I think it is one made by ladysewforus and it is very nice. Will have to take that with me to a few fabric shops.
 
Its the fabric of the shiny basketball jerseys. Not the ones with holes. I rem some nba teams having these in the late 90s early 2000's.
 
I am pretty sure the original vests were a cotton/poly blend. NOT tackle twill or PolyPro twill.
I have a vest from a ladysew4us done in Tackle twill...& after further comparisons with many references, it is not the proper material.
I have something that I believe to be spot on...just need to get the official name and I'll be happy to share my findings along with photo comparisons.
 
So I decided to use the material found in the furnishing section after a LOT of searching. Has a slight sheen to it, and the reverse is a shade lighter for the neck seal. We'll see how it turns out.
 
from all the reference pics i've been able to find, it looks more like a canvas type of material to me. However there seems a lot of talk about 'sheen' on the material , so i've opted for this material with a twill style weave and a sheen on the good side.
 
I am pretty sure the original vests were a cotton/poly blend. NOT tackle twill or PolyPro twill.

I totally agree. I am also in the "it's not tackle twill!" camp. I still have not traced down the source for where this idea originated. It just seems to be accepted dogma. It's wrong. Until an official source turns up to tell us what it really was, we are left to guess. And I am also guessing a poly blend of some kind. Maybe even a nylon blend. Whatever it was, they almost certainly used the same material on the snowspeeder pilot jackets.
 
I did see at a recycling shop here in brisbane, some sail (boat) material. Didn't have my phone with me to take a photo but it did look very close and would be very sturdy for armour attachments.
 
I did a quick look online. Looks like sails tend to be made from a Dacron fabric. It's tough to see if the material has the desired 'sheen' though...

Piggybacking on the 'snowspeeder jacket material' suggestion, I found this at the Rebel Legion online, from a Snowspeeder Jacket sewing tutorial:

"Preferrably a coated wind-poplin or nylon "jacket fabric" that has a bit of
stiffness in it. It is somewhat in-between a typical windbreaker fabric and a
rain coat fabric.
"

laidout.jpg

It's a light-weight looking fabric with similar drape and sheen to the PrePro flak vest:

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If you're still looking for fabrics. I've found some materials by doing some searching.
The flightsuit is made from: Cotton Twill.
The Flak jacket is from this "Tackle Twill" I did some digging, and it's also referred to as Poly-Pro Twill. Otherwise known as Poly-Cottn Twill which gives the cotton a poly blend, creating the sheen. It's used for lining curtains, and easily sourced. You can buy both heavy duty and light weight versions of the fabric.
 
I just came from the fabric store trying to nail down what looks right to me personally. Ever since it's gotten cold around here, I've been seeing folks in their winter coats and jackets. I couldn't get over how much the fabric seemed to resemble Fett's vest (in the way that it shines, bunches, folds, etc.). Without mentioning this to the sales person at the fabric store, they took me over to the outerwear section and showed me their nylon selection. While they did not have the correct color, the fabric seemed pretty darn close to me. I'm sure there are different weights of nylon fabric, so I am going to try and track something down. If nylon has already been eliminated from being a possibility due to sound evidence, then I apologize for suggesting this. It's just that my tackle twill vest has never seemed that close to me. What do you guys think? Could nylon be a possibility here? Looking at images of other outfits from ESB, it seems as though Fett's vest material is similar to the orange Hoth Luke pilot jacket, as well as other Rebel soldier outfits (I was looking at shots from the Star Wars: Costumes book at Barnes and Noble today).

c003506440179c36ce4f1357ca2fe08d5211b78.jpg
 
It isn't nylon but I'm sure you can find something just as good as tackle twill if not better.
The fabric should not be stiff. Or heavy.
 
Is there a thread here that you could steer me to where someone has reliable evidence that it's not nylon? Not trying to be a pain, I promise.
 
I don't believe there is a thread. But I've spoken with several people who have handled the real vests.
Plus Clothears Costumes (with whom I've worked extensively on the Fett soft parts) made the observation that because of the way the fabric frays around the JP harness slits it is likely a cotton.
Sateen was selected for their early vests and now I believe they use a PU coated material. They have not yet been able to find a fabric with the correct weave and properties. Nor have I.
So really it's a trade off. The tackle twill has a similar weave and sheen to the original fabric but is too rigid and thick.
The sateen isn't the right sheen when dyed and not the right weave.
The PU coated stuff is about the right sheen and softness but not the right weave and is "swishy" (makes noise like ski pants)

So I'd love it if someone found the right stuff. But anything close is probably just as close as what we already have so don't stress the correct weave too much.
 
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