Saturday, March 9, 2013

A-Wing Gaiters - A Tutorial


What are A-Wing Gaiters? They're gaiters worn by pilots of, well, A-Wings.   No, I don't have this costume, but I've made three pairs of these gaiters, so I thought it was time to share the knowledge.

You will need:

1.5 yards bottomweight twill, khaki colored
Thread
1 package beige sew-in velcro (30 inches)

1.  Cut eight (8) gaiter pieces (4 per gaiter)
2.  Cut two tongues on the fold (1 per gaiter).  If you don't have enough fabric to cut on the fold, you can cut it the regular way and sew the top instead).
3.  Cut two strips 18 inches long and 1.5 inches wide  (Approximately, I used my yardstick for a pattern)







4.  Sew center front seams; press open.  You will now have four pieces, we'll call them gaiters and linings, and you have two of each.




5.  Press under 1/8" on long sides of strips.
6.  Pin strip across front of each of the two gaiter pieces, about 3 inches down from the top.



7.  Sew down strips, stitching close to edges; trim ends.








8.  Attach gaiter pieces to lining pieces, right sides together.
9. Stitch around outside edge, leaving a 3 inch opening in the back.
10. Trim corners and clip curves, especially around the lower, middle front.
11. Turn right side out, and press.
12. Top stitch close to outside edges.

You should now have two gaiters like this:





13. Sew the sides of the tongue piece, right sides together.  (sew the top if you didn't cut on the fold)
14. Trim corners and turn right side out, press.
15. Check the length!  Trim if needed. (It should come out the same, but if you used a different seam allowance, it may not.  And it should be about 1/8" shorter top and bottom.  Adjust it to look good!)

 16. Turn the raw edges of the bottom under 1/4", and top stitch closed.





17.  With the right side of the gaiter facing up, slide the tongue underneath about 3/4 of an inch.  Top stitch through the gaiter and tongue, about 3/8' from the edge of the gaiter.

18.  Sew the soft side of the Velcro to the tongue , near the edge of the gaiter.




19.  Sew the hook side of the Velcro to the wrong side of the gaiter's other back edge.



When fastened, the two edges should meet in the middle.




These are not difficult, and it takes less than two hours to do!

Pattern for gaiter piece:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i184/granny-wan/costumes/Gaiters/top_zps785a9cc3.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i184/granny-wan/costumes/Gaiters/bottom_zps4d552370.jpg

Tape the pieces together, matching the lines across the middle.  It should look like this:



If it's too tall, you can shorten it at the top.  The tongue pattern is just a rectangle, 15 inches long and 5 inches wide.   The straps are 1.5 inches wide by the width of the gaiter.  I cut mine about 18 inches and then trimmed the ends off. 

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