Angeldmort .

com
Basic Turkish Vest pattern instructions
Copyright 2019

Before you start –

Print the page with the test square and make sure it is coming out the size
marked. If not, you will need to adjust your print settings.

I usually use a serger, so all seam allowances are ¼ inch deep unless
specifically stated otherwise. You can easily add 3/8 of an inch to make
them 5/8” if you need to.

Recommendation 1 – Use 100% cotton fabric whenever possible. Any

active dancing is going to make you sweat, and even 50% polyester fabric
can feel like wearing a plastic bag.

Recommendation 2 – I also recommend getting something CHEAP for the

first time, so if you have to make adjustments for fit, you aren’t out any
expensive fabric on the first one. NEVER user your best fabric for the first
test of a new pattern.

Recommendation 4 - ALWAYS pre-wash your fabric in hotter water than

you will use for your regular laundry to pre-shrink it. It’s terrible making
something you love only to have it shrink on you.

Troubleshooting –
For a limited time, (meaning until it turns into too much to handle or gets
ugly) if you have a question about getting this put together, or if you see a
place where the instructions aren’t clear, or if you really need something
adjusted to fit you better and aren’t sure how to do that, you can email me
via the web page. If I get lots of feedback that I have too many assembly
pictures, for instance, I can reduce the number of pages in the instructions,
or vice versa. I can’t automatically address every idea or concern, or teach
you to redesign patterns if you haven’t ever done that before, but I may be
able to help, and feedback does make for a better product. (Please be
gentle! I’m just a person like anyone else.)

Copyright concerns –
All images, including the pattern piece images themselves, are subject to
copyright. That means you cannot print copies of any part of this pattern or
the instructions, or the pictures therein and sell them.
It does not, however, mean you can’t make garments from this pattern and
sell those. (I do still make and sell costumes, but man… the days of me
trying to do that for a living a WAY gone!) I do ask and really hope that if
you do so, you will mention that you are using my pattern, just as you
would credit a dancer whose choreography you are performing.
Also, please, I know it may sound harsh, but please don’t let other people
copy these patterns instead of buying their own. That’s just unkind to
anyone that creates original work.
It’s not a legal thing- just the appropriate and considerate thing to do, and
makes it possible for me to keep doing this. I have literally spent over 20
years creating my costume patterns from scratch, refining them, editing
them to be the best, most comfortable and supportive pieces possible for
each size. (Not to mention, it’s really easy to wiggle an edge here or there
and then the pattern is slightly different, so it will fit differently, and they’ll
assume it’s my design that’s flawed!)
I also hope you will come post pictures of you dancing and having fun
wearing the outfits you make from my patterns. Decorate them, have fun in
them, and post on my Facebook page about what you did in them! I don’t
get out to as many events lately, but I like to know my creations are. Plenty
of my personal garb has gone to Pensic without me.
So, if you and your fabric are ready, let’s get started.

Supplies needed –
You can make a plain headband with a quarter yard of fabric.
You can make the hat style/bandana hat base with a quarter
Turban rolls require about 1/3 yard of each fabric you want for your rolls,
plus about 2 yards of cotton upholstery piping, no smaller than 1”, per color.
Upholstery thread.
A long soft sculpture needle. Or two or three.
You will need duct tape, and a dowel rod or pencil or other similar item.

You will need some head sized round item on which to put the turban base
while you sew the rolls on. Warning – wig heads are slightly smaller than
actual human heads to avoid stretching a wig, so if you use that without
altering it, your turban will be too small once you get the rolls on. (Trust me,
you can’t sew these on a turban laying flat and have it fit right. It needs to
be stretched out the way it will be worn.)
You may need a needle puller and needle nose pliers.
If you can find some kind of smooth tube slightly smaller than your fabric
tube but slightly later than your cotton piping, that can make things easier.

Printing

Print out your pattern pages .PDF.

Match up the lines, and there are half circles on the connecting lines to help
do this – when they form circles, you are lined up.
Cut out the pattern parts as marked.
The tie/band and rolls do not have a pattern piece.
For the tie - I snip my fabric edge 2” from the end, and tear the fabric
across the grain to make one – keeps the grain straight and it is usually
plenty.
For the rolls – Cut strips of fabric between 6” - 7” wide of whatever fabric
you are using for your rolls. I usually have at least two colors, and at least 6
foot to 8 foot long. This is usually two strips of fabric as long as the fabric is
wide, sometimes three, if my fabric is narrow.
When using cotton, I snip my fabric edge the desired width, and tear the
fabric across the grain to make these – keeps the grain straight, and saves
time.

Cutting your fabric and sewing it up

Lay out the fabric as marked on the pattern, and cut out your pieces.
Cut out/tear off your fabric strips for the rolls.

For the headband style –

With right sides together, sew the center front seam (I start at the back
corner, sew to the center front fold and taper it off at the center front to
avoid a point on the forehead.
Roll hem or do a zigzag on the back edge to cover the raw edge. I like
mine to be a satin stitch look, but if you are putting rolls on this, they will
mostly cover it.
With right sides together, pin the center front of the headband to the middle
of the bottom tie, then pin out to the corners of the headband, and
sew/serge from one end to the other.
Since I’m serging, when I get to the end of the headband section, I switch
to roll hemming without taking it off the machine, and continue down the
edge, hemming all the way around the bottom tie until I get back to the first
headband edge and overlap a bit so it covers the tails.
If you are not serging this, and your sewing machine does not do roll
hemming, you can also zigzag it with a wide stich, so the tie does not fray.
Flip the bottom tie out flat and press the seam open, then up to the wrong
side of the headband and press the seam so it lays flat. Topstitch the
bottom edge of the headband, then up the sides toward the back edge. (I
usually skip pressing, and use my fingers to push the seam out snug so it’s
fully open while I topstitch, but if your fabric is at all stretchy, this can make
a wobbly edge, so be careful if you do this.)

(I usually skip pressing, and use my fingers to push the seam out snug so
it’s fully open while I topstitch, but if your fabric is at all stretchy, this can
make a wobbly edge, so be careful if you do this.)
If your thread will not show a lot, sew the top edge of the bottom tie down. If
it will show too much, you can tack it down with small hand stitches in a few
places.
(If you sweat a lot, you can put a couple layers of soft cotton inside it as a
sweat band. You’ll need to spray it well with vodka after dancing in it to
clean it out.)
Move on to the section called “Adding your Rolls.”
For the hat style –

With right sides together, pin the front corner of on Cap side to the front
corner of the Cap center, matching up the notches, then pin them together
at the back corners. Pin the middle of each piece together, then the middle
of the remaining space on each side, until it is evenly pinned. Sew together.
Repeat on the other side.
Serge or zigzag the center back opening.
With right sides together, pin the center front of the cap to the middle of the
bottom tie, then pin out to the corners of the headband, and sew/serge
from one end to the other.
Serge or otherwise hem the remaining edges of the bottom ties.
Flip the bottom tie out flat and press the seam open, then up to the wrong
side of the headband and press the seam so it lays flat. Topstitch the
bottom edge of the headband, then up the sides toward the back edge.
If your thread will not show a lot, sew the top edge of the bottom tie down. If
it will show too much, you can tack it down with small hand stitches in a few
places.

Constructing your Rolls

Sew the ends of your fabric strips together to make double length strips,
then sew them up the long side to make long tubes. Make sure this seam is
strong, as they are going to get a lot of stress during the construction of the
turban. Turn them outside right.

Take a dowel rod, long pencil or similar long slender and smooth item and
push it into the end of your cotton piping. Wrap the end of your cotton
piping snugly with duct tape to squeeze it down as small as possible and to
secure it to the dowel rod/ pencil/ whatever you are using.

Use the rod to push the piping through the fabric tube. When you have the
piping completely through the tube, remove the rod, and use a heavy
thread to wrap the end of the piping tight so it is small and firm. Tie off
securely.
Fold the ends of the tube inside, and stitch it closed so that all raw edges
are enclosed.
After making a secure knot, run your thread through the end of the piping
inside several times so the two are very securely connected and the fabric
doesn’t shift around the end of the piping.
Holding the end still, start twisting the tube around the piping.
(If you can find a tube, like a vacuum hose extension or something similar
that you can slide the fabric tube over and run the cotton piping through it, it
can make this step immensely easier, as you can twist the fabric tube up
tight around the plastic tube, then you pull the piping through it.)

Try to arrange the wrinkles evenly around so that it creates the illusion of a
scarf that’s been twisted up. How tightly it is twisted is up to you. The
tighter you twist, the shorter the end result will be. I find it’s easier to hold
the covered piping tight in one hand with the fabric tube gathered up in a
wad and twist.
When the fabric tube is evenly twisted down the piping as far as it will go,
secure it with a large safety pin.
Repeat with any other colors you want to make into rolls. Two or three
colors are common.

Attaching the rolls

Using the long needle and the upholstery thread, secure the closed end of
one roll to the corner of the head piece. (The pictures show the headband
style.)

Chose whichever roll you feel is a color you would like to have more
dominant in your turban. Make sure your needle goes back and forth
through the roll and the headband several times, working under the roll so
the stitches don’t show. I make several passes as this is the main security
for the turban.
Place the next color just above this and secure it the same way.
With the stuffed tubes laying at an angle up and across the front, start
twisting the rolls together in whatever way pleases you. I usually just twist
them around each other.
Start stitching the rolls to the base. You will need to go through the base
about half an inch, then up through both rolls, then back down through both
and back through the base – the angle of your needle through the rolls
controls how far apart each stitch is. You need to secure bottom roll very
securely, with lots of stitches.
You want to avoid having the stitches show on the outside. If you can hide
the stitch under a fabric wrinkle, it improves the illusion. I usually don’t
worry about them showing inside the base.
Pay close attention to the angle of the rolls around the head, and to the
angle of the stitches, as this directly affects where the rolls sit when the
turban is complete.

When you get to the far side of the base, decide where you roll should end.
For headbands, I try to end them as close to the tie section as possible,
without interfering with the tie. I usually try to end the rolls with the same
color on top as where I started.

Holding the twisted rolls against the base, lightly mark where each should
end, and push the fabric up so there is extra above that spot on the piping.
Cut the roll off so that there is enough piping to end where you want, then
fold in the ends of the fabric and close it off like you did the first end.
Stitch the end of the color you don’t want on top down onto the base,
leaving enough space for the one you do want on top.
Sew the top color roll’s end in place below and in front of the first end.
Make sure these ends are secure. This spot can get a lot of stress. Try to
avoid the stitches showing.

If you are doing more than one layer of rolls, close up the open end of each
roll as you did when you first made them.
Find a place at the beginning of the row where the rolls can be sewn on
without showing the end.
Twist the rolls, figure out where you want them to sit on the first row, and
start stitching through both layers into the base. If you push the layers
backwards, you should be able to run the needle up through all four rows.
Pull it snugly enough that the stitches between are hidden.

This is where it becomes more soft sculpture than just sewing. There is a
lot of finesse involved in getting the final shape the way you want it. Secure
the end on the other side as you did on the first side.
When you get all the layers you want sewn on securely, you can sew
decoration and embellishment directly to it. It can be steamed to affect its
shape.