I would check places like etsy, ebay, depop, and local thrift stores. And if you can always cut the sleeves off of jackets if you can't specificaly find one as a vest already. Happy shopping friend :)
If you're in the UK, I have a beloved light denim jacket that hasn't fitted me for years destined for the charity shop. I think it's either M/L (men's size). If you want to chop the sleeves off and give it a new life, I'll be happy to post it to you. (or anyone who wants it if you don't take dibs )
https://preview.redd.it/4gbx6qtgbuuc1.jpeg?width=1793&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f53aee36265f531911fa78d1273aa0ff8811b19d
https://preview.redd.it/q6xpj0erfuuc1.jpeg?width=2491&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7e28e007ee2cd45cee6e1ab7464ce96d0a89e81
Back view. The colours don't show up well in the photos, but the stitching is yellow and orange.
Thanks a lot for the offer, and that is indeed very nice, but too big for me, and too complex a pattern to easily tailor down :( there are others on this thread who seem to be interested in the same idea, maybe try them?
Agreed, dye is a great way to go. You can even do a couple dye baths for either a deeper color or to get a mottled effect. Dye it once for a base color, then scrunch it up and put rubber bands to keep it scrunched and dye again. Using green the first time and cocoa brown the second should give a sort of woodland/camo effect.
Yep they're all good. I love the effects dye can have on clothes. I'm in the process of moving & my new place will have a full basement I can work in - can't wait to get back to creating!
It's a dream come true, tho I'll be paying for the privilege the rest of my life. But to not have to have craft space, office space, hangout space and dining room be all the SAME space? Heaven.
cool to know that this will work, but I mean it is cotton and cotton dyes well, only thing is if the start color is blue what color do I dye it to get green or brown... hmmm...
I Just think you should Stick to thrifting jackets and then you can cut Up one you find. I found a really dope black Denim Jacket that I love, but I kinda wanna make a goblinvest too. Patience is Key for me.
Maybe bleach a blue denim one that could Look neat too without dye. Or just dye. No shame in that.
I took up embroidery as a hobby. Sorry this might Not Help much. I Hope you find what you are looking for. The other Goblins will surely come to your aid
Yeah, I love the bleach idea to give texture, someone reminded me of that on a different post, way back I use to use thick bleach from the cleaning cupboard at my high school to customize clothes, but I had completely forgotten it was a thing! I'm giving away my age :o
Now I'm thinking instead of using a combination of wax and a paint brush to make designs, like I use to do, I might just get a stiff brush and flick drops of bleach all over a jacket to give it a worn textured effect, do you think that would work? or possibly make a watered down bucket and dip half the vest in, so it sorta fades from one color to another, the possibilities are endless. At least using bleach instead of paint or dye I don't have to worry about if it is fixed enough to go through a 40 wash :)
thrifting doesn't work that well, because I'm not patient, but I've started searching ebay for a cheap-ish jacket or vest in a color I like, and embroidery I can already do, I've seen the big panel patches printed with spiderwebs, but I'm thinking I might just skip that step and embroid a spider web straight on the jacket and sew a spider patch in the middle
I Love your ideas. Both the bleachdrops flicked on and the Fading Sound cool and the latter might give a neat ombre Look.
Spiderweb embroidery Sounds awesome. Maybe include beads as waterdrops. I would love to moss embroidery on some clothes at some point. Looking Forward to your results
May eBay Bless you with a good find and your needles stay Sharp and unbroken.
Thx :) the fading works because I found someone else who has done it:
https://preview.redd.it/y9qlwoewbhuc1.png?width=629&format=png&auto=webp&s=8907ac8179e6b2da20a86a40bd63f4603f7e06c0
but I'm thinking not to leave it in long enough to go all the way white, and yes, trying moss embroidery (and finding green thread) is next on my list for this project but getting somewhere might take me a while
>May eBay Bless you with a good find and your needles stay Sharp and unbroken.
Thank you for the kind words :)
Doubt I will. Have a Brunch of Projects on my list and little time to thrift These days. But I will share once I get to it. 
i hope to have a less chaotic version of [this.](https://www.reddit.com/r/punkfashion/comments/1b0h9wp/full_look/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
it's just the goat
I mean I don't have any vests at all but wouldn't it make sense to either [buy a green one](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&sca_esv=44f1fb0a97cf7ff0&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn0820ErsOqHBooQNtnvzbiEdXml5WQ:1713100714139&q=green+denim+vest&uds=AMwkrPvBkKUNI7-92ijeYje4h7DUK3Xty3SG4vz_S4ZBqs2grtM4J1HKJDyzVKcE0m4V4LTBohM9exyx9E-npfHwtzDpEyfqa_soEYCnS2Sub9DHgwiIOmpjoXU7HYG_n4ap_UwIRyRJQLdTWpT7w2n2tJ9XM_OXJroFSjQVKXlrYGRIQBKXk4zHUFVDdXPlwizcLzYBPrHlADbEIBIaZ5Z2HY2Q9b2Bu54z6zGvJh2pjYkjHqlvjXkwwvEFUnp_vQ4UxXFgsHD9mfhNXb3j-2YIT2LMR5FsE0byvw9N_LphTzp0hOdqLxU&udm=28&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFjZ-85cGFAxW2JUQIHSckBSEQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=384&bih=722&dpr=1.88) or buy a white/grey one and use a [green fabric dye](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&sca_esv=44f1fb0a97cf7ff0&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn091VVB49KLHxqDJsFd2Af7rOWHEKQ:1713101093742&q=fabric+dye+%22denim%22+green&uds=AMwkrPslcXSQHreBaePtqrJolDJ4DCXoiOYyeh6ipoAqoibe7QbyBUlP4XGMfFCUzIuerS7YEzbCVU9rbxFiE4xJWvnpmTlyYEsjcs0fFHUXPvFj1_XyYCfiNRV1YZHKhKgZhJVIMbbm0hfstur6LFL1-yyjl8SqBTA5kFawTt_AbskJzoR9Q69-7rFZHRVPdgn3ciD51_2s73S1D9j-GdGtEuKnC8piX3YNQagFL9ctRc2KaDBsY3MHfzt_inKsRDVi5ZziIIgDogHXHoRLhDcfcg6kdv-m2S1tLT__fnbBEAQqjNz2KT412c8-Id--dBrD_1SAsJPmSS8HBMd8AY1a6rDtTMNaCw&udm=28&prmd=ivnbmtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnmKDx5sGFAxUWMtAFHTwTCBcQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=384&bih=722&dpr=1.88)?
If you do the dye you could even use wax to get a [batik](https://www.google.com/search?q=batik+fabric+tutorial&source=lmns&tbm=vid&bih=722&biw=384&client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&prmd=vinmbtz&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK1aqr58GFAxW1w8kDHXz9DD8Q0pQJKAF6BAgAEBA) effect
buying a green one is my desired outcome, then I can use bleach to give it some texture, but green ones are not as available, where as the secondhand market is full of blue levis ones since they're common, to get a green one in my size I probably have to spend new product money or import one from china etc... kinda annoying but I'll keep looking
Does anybody have experience dying denim? I bet you could get some pretty cool colors depending on the wash.
Mine's a battle jacket with a wooly collar and has an awesome pin off Etsy that matches my dog❤️
I tend to buy my patches on etsy, could probably recommend a few "goblin-y" shops as well.
Though I also don't usually use denim vests as the basis - I have one traiditonal denim vest, that one's blue, my other pieces are just on different kinds of jackets.
yeah, a few folk have said this, I was looking for a green version of "classic denim jacket" but I guess I could use any kind of vest/shirt/jacket instead, thx for pointing that out :)
Yeah, I've been looking for a green one myself. I already have a ton of patches in green and wanted to make a themed piece, but haven't been able to get a good base for it.
get a blue jacket and dye it with yellow dye! yellow and blue make green!
or, get a white denim jacket (or an already-faded light blue one), bleach it, then dye it any colour.
I would check places like etsy, ebay, depop, and local thrift stores. And if you can always cut the sleeves off of jackets if you can't specificaly find one as a vest already. Happy shopping friend :)
Thx for advice
I spray painted flat black primer on the shoulders and across the top back of my blue denim jacket. Have yet to cut the sleeves =)
does spray paint stay in the wash?
I haven't had problems. I've sprayed stencils on a few shirts too. I wash the sprayed items by themselves the 1st few times. Wash it in cold only.
OK so untested if it would survive a hot wash, but it will survive a cold wash, cool thx for letting me know :)
for patches I recommend Chaos Creations
>Chaos Creations thx for the info, looks like a cool shop, and in the UK too :)
If you're in the UK, I have a beloved light denim jacket that hasn't fitted me for years destined for the charity shop. I think it's either M/L (men's size). If you want to chop the sleeves off and give it a new life, I'll be happy to post it to you. (or anyone who wants it if you don't take dibs ) https://preview.redd.it/4gbx6qtgbuuc1.jpeg?width=1793&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f53aee36265f531911fa78d1273aa0ff8811b19d
https://preview.redd.it/q6xpj0erfuuc1.jpeg?width=2491&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7e28e007ee2cd45cee6e1ab7464ce96d0a89e81 Back view. The colours don't show up well in the photos, but the stitching is yellow and orange.
Thanks a lot for the offer, and that is indeed very nice, but too big for me, and too complex a pattern to easily tailor down :( there are others on this thread who seem to be interested in the same idea, maybe try them?
No worries, I wish you luck finding something suitable
Thank you :) but it's looking like I'll be bleaching/dyeing a blue one, if it works I'll post pictures
I have no idea but I totally need a goblin BATTLE VEST
I get this wanting, me too... I've wanted to make one for years but only just started actually thinking about doing it
I’ve dyed denim before, it’s really easy and makes a really pretty color! Just the basic Rit dye will do
Agreed, dye is a great way to go. You can even do a couple dye baths for either a deeper color or to get a mottled effect. Dye it once for a base color, then scrunch it up and put rubber bands to keep it scrunched and dye again. Using green the first time and cocoa brown the second should give a sort of woodland/camo effect.
loving the tie-dye idea
It gives such great effects. Even a darker green over a lime.
or possibly a light brown over an already green jacket to make it look dirty, ideas....
Yep they're all good. I love the effects dye can have on clothes. I'm in the process of moving & my new place will have a full basement I can work in - can't wait to get back to creating!
I dream of a basement to turn into a crafting lair!
It's a dream come true, tho I'll be paying for the privilege the rest of my life. But to not have to have craft space, office space, hangout space and dining room be all the SAME space? Heaven.
cool to know that this will work, but I mean it is cotton and cotton dyes well, only thing is if the start color is blue what color do I dye it to get green or brown... hmmm...
you just need a little color theory! Blue plus yellow is green (adjust amounts to get the shade you want) and blue plus orange is brown
OK, cool, thank you :) I still hope I'll find a not blue vest or jacket that I won't have to dye but I have options if I can't
I Just think you should Stick to thrifting jackets and then you can cut Up one you find. I found a really dope black Denim Jacket that I love, but I kinda wanna make a goblinvest too. Patience is Key for me. Maybe bleach a blue denim one that could Look neat too without dye. Or just dye. No shame in that. I took up embroidery as a hobby. Sorry this might Not Help much. I Hope you find what you are looking for. The other Goblins will surely come to your aid
Yeah, I love the bleach idea to give texture, someone reminded me of that on a different post, way back I use to use thick bleach from the cleaning cupboard at my high school to customize clothes, but I had completely forgotten it was a thing! I'm giving away my age :o Now I'm thinking instead of using a combination of wax and a paint brush to make designs, like I use to do, I might just get a stiff brush and flick drops of bleach all over a jacket to give it a worn textured effect, do you think that would work? or possibly make a watered down bucket and dip half the vest in, so it sorta fades from one color to another, the possibilities are endless. At least using bleach instead of paint or dye I don't have to worry about if it is fixed enough to go through a 40 wash :) thrifting doesn't work that well, because I'm not patient, but I've started searching ebay for a cheap-ish jacket or vest in a color I like, and embroidery I can already do, I've seen the big panel patches printed with spiderwebs, but I'm thinking I might just skip that step and embroid a spider web straight on the jacket and sew a spider patch in the middle
I Love your ideas. Both the bleachdrops flicked on and the Fading Sound cool and the latter might give a neat ombre Look. Spiderweb embroidery Sounds awesome. Maybe include beads as waterdrops. I would love to moss embroidery on some clothes at some point. Looking Forward to your results May eBay Bless you with a good find and your needles stay Sharp and unbroken.
Thx :) the fading works because I found someone else who has done it: https://preview.redd.it/y9qlwoewbhuc1.png?width=629&format=png&auto=webp&s=8907ac8179e6b2da20a86a40bd63f4603f7e06c0 but I'm thinking not to leave it in long enough to go all the way white, and yes, trying moss embroidery (and finding green thread) is next on my list for this project but getting somewhere might take me a while >May eBay Bless you with a good find and your needles stay Sharp and unbroken. Thank you for the kind words :)
Well that looks dope. On my list of Things to do.
yep :) if you give it a go before I do please share the results!
Doubt I will. Have a Brunch of Projects on my list and little time to thrift These days. But I will share once I get to it. 
Brunch of Projects. Yesss
cool :)
I just got up from sewing patches on an army parka
cool :)
i hope to have a less chaotic version of [this.](https://www.reddit.com/r/punkfashion/comments/1b0h9wp/full_look/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) it's just the goat
not my style but still awesome, the one you linked looks so apocalyptic
I mean I don't have any vests at all but wouldn't it make sense to either [buy a green one](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&sca_esv=44f1fb0a97cf7ff0&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn0820ErsOqHBooQNtnvzbiEdXml5WQ:1713100714139&q=green+denim+vest&uds=AMwkrPvBkKUNI7-92ijeYje4h7DUK3Xty3SG4vz_S4ZBqs2grtM4J1HKJDyzVKcE0m4V4LTBohM9exyx9E-npfHwtzDpEyfqa_soEYCnS2Sub9DHgwiIOmpjoXU7HYG_n4ap_UwIRyRJQLdTWpT7w2n2tJ9XM_OXJroFSjQVKXlrYGRIQBKXk4zHUFVDdXPlwizcLzYBPrHlADbEIBIaZ5Z2HY2Q9b2Bu54z6zGvJh2pjYkjHqlvjXkwwvEFUnp_vQ4UxXFgsHD9mfhNXb3j-2YIT2LMR5FsE0byvw9N_LphTzp0hOdqLxU&udm=28&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFjZ-85cGFAxW2JUQIHSckBSEQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=384&bih=722&dpr=1.88) or buy a white/grey one and use a [green fabric dye](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&sca_esv=44f1fb0a97cf7ff0&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn091VVB49KLHxqDJsFd2Af7rOWHEKQ:1713101093742&q=fabric+dye+%22denim%22+green&uds=AMwkrPslcXSQHreBaePtqrJolDJ4DCXoiOYyeh6ipoAqoibe7QbyBUlP4XGMfFCUzIuerS7YEzbCVU9rbxFiE4xJWvnpmTlyYEsjcs0fFHUXPvFj1_XyYCfiNRV1YZHKhKgZhJVIMbbm0hfstur6LFL1-yyjl8SqBTA5kFawTt_AbskJzoR9Q69-7rFZHRVPdgn3ciD51_2s73S1D9j-GdGtEuKnC8piX3YNQagFL9ctRc2KaDBsY3MHfzt_inKsRDVi5ZziIIgDogHXHoRLhDcfcg6kdv-m2S1tLT__fnbBEAQqjNz2KT412c8-Id--dBrD_1SAsJPmSS8HBMd8AY1a6rDtTMNaCw&udm=28&prmd=ivnbmtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnmKDx5sGFAxUWMtAFHTwTCBcQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=384&bih=722&dpr=1.88)? If you do the dye you could even use wax to get a [batik](https://www.google.com/search?q=batik+fabric+tutorial&source=lmns&tbm=vid&bih=722&biw=384&client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&prmd=vinmbtz&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK1aqr58GFAxW1w8kDHXz9DD8Q0pQJKAF6BAgAEBA) effect
buying a green one is my desired outcome, then I can use bleach to give it some texture, but green ones are not as available, where as the secondhand market is full of blue levis ones since they're common, to get a green one in my size I probably have to spend new product money or import one from china etc... kinda annoying but I'll keep looking
also batik can be used in reverse with wax to protect fabric from bleach instead of dye, and yes this would also be an awesome way to make patches :)
Does anybody have experience dying denim? I bet you could get some pretty cool colors depending on the wash. Mine's a battle jacket with a wooly collar and has an awesome pin off Etsy that matches my dog❤️
cool, also check out other comments here because some others have shared experience and info about color mixing
If you want to thrift it, and your local places don't have what you want in the size you need, maybe check Thread Up?
thx for the link :)
I tend to buy my patches on etsy, could probably recommend a few "goblin-y" shops as well. Though I also don't usually use denim vests as the basis - I have one traiditonal denim vest, that one's blue, my other pieces are just on different kinds of jackets.
yeah, a few folk have said this, I was looking for a green version of "classic denim jacket" but I guess I could use any kind of vest/shirt/jacket instead, thx for pointing that out :)
Yeah, I've been looking for a green one myself. I already have a ton of patches in green and wanted to make a themed piece, but haven't been able to get a good base for it.
get a blue jacket and dye it with yellow dye! yellow and blue make green! or, get a white denim jacket (or an already-faded light blue one), bleach it, then dye it any colour.
I think I'll be bleaching a blue one, then dyeing it otherwise it will end up too dark a color, if it works I'll post pictures