battle vest/jacket advice (show yours off!!!)

(hoping i'm posting in the correct category, i wasn't sure where it could belong lol)

i want to see how everyone gets creative with their jacket/vest!

mine is definitely not "finished" yet. all my pins and almost all my patches were made by me (except the Century Child patch).

my questions are:

• how do you feel about mostly DIY vests/jackets?
• how can you best fill space without it looking too crowded?
• where do you usually get patches or how do you make them?
• does your vest/jacket have a "theme" or do you just put on whatever you like?
• what's the best way to wash it?

share stories on how yours started, i'm curious!! i started mine earlier this year after i felt like my jacket was finished. i had way too much fun making my own patches and didn't want to stop. my jacket is much more random than this; though i'm still unsure what "theme" i'll end up with i want it to feel a tiny bit more organized.

the only thing i'm scared of is washing it, if i ever will- my patches are just jeans i cut up + acrylic paint. i know my sewing can survive even the washing machine but the paint is different.

very obvious but kinda fun fact for the end: i freehand everything cause i'm too lazy to make stencils. i know i could make much more detailed and prettier designs if i took some extra time to make a stencil but at that point i would rather save up for an official patch lol

i dont have any good photos of my jacket, but to answer your questions:

• i love the look of diy vests/jackets personally. my best friend and i sewed a bunch of patches onto our jackets together and used them in our senior photos in high school as a small way of matching!
• im a maximalist and i dont believe in "too crowded" unfortunately
• i havent learned how to make my own patches but i like getting mine from a local shop that sells random goodies including local artists' patches and stickers. i also like getting some from etsy
• in a weird way, yes and no. on the back i have cryptids. a huge mothman from a shirt that i thrifted because the shirt didnt fit me, and then a bunch of other cryptid patches. but at the same time, everywhere else on my jacket are just random patches that i liked enough to put on the jacket
• i take all my pins off and wash like normal, ive never had a problem. im not sure if itll be different for handmade patches tho!

i have a photo on my profile of me in my jacket but its not a very clear photo of the patches lol. and honestly, the back of my jacket is sloppy because its from when i was learning how to sew :)

i also don't have any good pictures of any of my vests since i'm redoing the 'good' once but i think i can give advice and answer some of your questions

- diy is always better than bought

-why care about it being too crowded? but if you care about that i advice planning beforehand so no patches overlap. i really depends on how you're organizing them 🤷‍♂️

- don't get patches, i don't want to waste my money on doing something i can do myself? take a pair of old jeans and cut pieces in the desired size. paint with black acrylic (acrylic + a bit of fabric softener so it doesn't crack) and then just eye the design and paint it with white paint (softener is optional here in my humble opinion), i personally don't use stencils. i'll post pictures of the patches i've done so far in a bit, probably tomorrow

- nah, i just slap on my favorite bands although i've though about doing themed.. too lazy and not enough time for that

- don't? i haven't washed mine in a couple years but if you really want to, hand wash it with room temperature water. BUT DON'T SCRUB. put some cloth washing dust or whatever you use in your desired container for your water and submerge the vest, leave it there for a few minutes then come back to it, move it around and twist out the water. repeat until no dirty water comes out and if you need change the water.

lmao i just finished your starting message and realized you're already doing patches kind of the same way as i am. cheers

also i can't stress it out enough don't watch tiktok for anything about vests or anything about the matter. any modern social media, actually. dump that shit. i've seen many people rot because of it. watch old yt videos or ask people (friends, family, etc, idk)

and that's ind of it, feel free to hmu if you have any questions (and i apologize if anything is written like ass, i'm tired lmao)

(ALSO. i fucking love cod, great band, great to see people listening to them)