Safety vests are not the most fashionable items. This project was inspired by an instructables tutorial.
For running you need a high-vis vest with reflective elements, that will not rub or chafe while running.
I re-designed the vest to leave plenty of room on the sides where your arms naturally move while running and made it shorter so it would close at the natural waist.
I re-designed the vest to leave plenty of room on the sides where your arms naturally move while running and made it shorter so it would close at the natural waist.
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| Vest design in adobe illustrator |
The fabric is high vis polyester from the utility fabrics section of joann's. I cut the fabric on the laser cutter (Universal Laser cutter, fabric settings). This has the benefit of quickly cutting a fairly intricate pattern, and sealing the edges of the polyester fabric.
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| Laser cut fabric |
The original tutorial used circles of reflective material. I was able to easily cut the reflective iron on strips with a papercrafting punch. This allowed me to make them in all sorts or shapes, including stars.
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| papercrafting punch cutting reflective stars |
Sewn on reflective tape on the front and back for extra visibility.
Test run. Comfortable fit, however wearing a water bottle belt covers the reflective tape at the waist, and many of the iron-on stars are already coming off. On to version 2....
