PART ONE - PREPARATION
If you cannot bear the thought of parting with £50.00 to get your 8th gong strapped on in time for Remembrance, then why not save yourself the cash and do it yourself? It is not difficult by any means, but it IS a time consuming process when done properly. Moreover, when doing your own set you'll be able to add that 'personal touch', attention to detail, and that level of care that no commercial tailor will give you. I have taken a number of sets apart now and have seen all kinds of crazy methods of mounting from varying tailors and gash DIY jobs - none of which have compared to the sets that I have recently put together, one of which I have taken pictures of in order to produce this guide.
Preliminary
Before we begin, you need to get your rule out. Because the maximum side-by-side medals can go are SIX. But most of us simply do not have a wide enough chest to accommodate a six-bar brooch over the pocket of our No.2's / FAD and if that's the case for you, then beyond five medals, they'll need to overlap - which has to be done in two parts. So the bottom line here is that for six medals and upwards you should always go for the biggest bar you can accommodate - it should extend no further than the seam line of your left inside sleeve so that it does not get caught when marching.
Speak to your Garrison tailor or RQMS about getting hold of ribbon and brooch bars. It's demanded up (unlike the miniature ribbon which is commercially produced), so take a packet of biscuits, jar of coffee, good bedside manner - whatever works for you. See what you can get hold of from the list below for free. Everything else, you can order from Mess Dress Ltd at really good prices:
Materials
1. Ribbons
2. Brooch bar
3. Thread (coloured to match ribbons and gold / silver / grey / bronze to match medals)
4. Double sided fabric tape, acid free
5. Pelmet hessian (buckram) - TWO layers of
6. Thin dark fabric (for wrapping around buckram)
7. Fabric glue
8. Black felt (or red felt for Guards Regts)
9. Paper / card (one sheet for ribbon guide)
Tools
1. Scissors (need to be extremely SHARP)
2. Rule
3. Thimble (for punching through two layers of buckram)
4. Snipe nosed pliers (for pushing / pulling that needle through)
5. Needles
6. Sellotape
...now were ready to begin. For mounting up to six medals side-by-side, please use https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/t...r-mounting-your-own-medals-miniatures.177400/ remembering to mark out the buckram to the same width, but 71mm high (instead of 45mm):
For mounting full-size medals overlapped, please read on.
If you cannot bear the thought of parting with £50.00 to get your 8th gong strapped on in time for Remembrance, then why not save yourself the cash and do it yourself? It is not difficult by any means, but it IS a time consuming process when done properly. Moreover, when doing your own set you'll be able to add that 'personal touch', attention to detail, and that level of care that no commercial tailor will give you. I have taken a number of sets apart now and have seen all kinds of crazy methods of mounting from varying tailors and gash DIY jobs - none of which have compared to the sets that I have recently put together, one of which I have taken pictures of in order to produce this guide.
Preliminary
Before we begin, you need to get your rule out. Because the maximum side-by-side medals can go are SIX. But most of us simply do not have a wide enough chest to accommodate a six-bar brooch over the pocket of our No.2's / FAD and if that's the case for you, then beyond five medals, they'll need to overlap - which has to be done in two parts. So the bottom line here is that for six medals and upwards you should always go for the biggest bar you can accommodate - it should extend no further than the seam line of your left inside sleeve so that it does not get caught when marching.
Speak to your Garrison tailor or RQMS about getting hold of ribbon and brooch bars. It's demanded up (unlike the miniature ribbon which is commercially produced), so take a packet of biscuits, jar of coffee, good bedside manner - whatever works for you. See what you can get hold of from the list below for free. Everything else, you can order from Mess Dress Ltd at really good prices:
Materials
1. Ribbons
2. Brooch bar
3. Thread (coloured to match ribbons and gold / silver / grey / bronze to match medals)
4. Double sided fabric tape, acid free
5. Pelmet hessian (buckram) - TWO layers of
6. Thin dark fabric (for wrapping around buckram)
7. Fabric glue
8. Black felt (or red felt for Guards Regts)
9. Paper / card (one sheet for ribbon guide)
Tools
1. Scissors (need to be extremely SHARP)
2. Rule
3. Thimble (for punching through two layers of buckram)
4. Snipe nosed pliers (for pushing / pulling that needle through)
5. Needles
6. Sellotape
...now were ready to begin. For mounting up to six medals side-by-side, please use https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/t...r-mounting-your-own-medals-miniatures.177400/ remembering to mark out the buckram to the same width, but 71mm high (instead of 45mm):
For mounting full-size medals overlapped, please read on.
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