Brownie Girl Scout Vest/Felt Tab Set: Uniformity and Individuality
Written: Oct 17 '09 (Updated Oct 17 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: durable uniform, handy tab, looks sharp for displaying awards, more user friendly than the sash
Cons: have been addressed by GSUSA - extending the vest, changing the fabric of the tab
The Bottom Line: You can't go wrong with a Brownie Vest and Tab for a Brownie Girl scout uniform.
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| jdhauer's Full Review: Brownie Vest/Felt Tab Set |
My daughter has just started her third year as a Brownie Girl Scout. The program has just about finished transitioning from a three year program to a two year program so she is one of the last girls who will be a Brownie for three years.
One of the first items we purchased for her was a Vest and Tab Set. Most of the troops in our area have chosen to wear vests rather than sashes which I am happy with for various reasons that I will outline later in this review.
The Felt Tab is a small piece of chevron shaped brown felt with a pin at the top. You're supposed to put your WAGGS (World Association of Girl Guides) pin and your Brownie Girl Scout pin on the tab. It makes it easier to move your pins from your vest to a shirt should you ever choose to move your pins. The only thing you ever need to be in uniform is your pin - the rest is extra. All Girl Scout levels have a tab, in different colors depending upon the level. The Felt Tab was discontinued last year and replaced by a gabardine tab which is stiffer but more durable.
As for the vest, it's made of a sturdy brown cotton/polyester blend fabric and it comes in regular and plus sizes from Small to Large. It's my recommendation to buy up a size, both for growing room and to make sure there will be room enough for all of the patches your scout will be earning.
This was a big problem when the program was a full three years as there simply wasn't enough room on the traditional bolero vest for all of the patches a girl would earn. My daughter is a bit of an over-achiever as she has already earned 90 Try-Its (Brownie "merit badges") in two and a half years: all but three from the Try-It book and more than a small handful of Council's Own awards from across the country. I ended up buying additional fabric and extending her vest in length by four inches to have more room. I still ended up putting two rows of Try-Its on the back and will not have enough room for everything by the end of the year. Unfortunately, the majority of the girls in the troop are having similar issues with running out of room.
This will no longer be an issue as the program is now only two years and the traditional boleo has been discontinued and has been replaced by a vest that is...four inches longer in length. Take a good look at your second grader and make your size decision based upon her actual size (and how much you expect her to grow over two years) rather than by how much room you'll need for awards.
As for cleaning, the vest is machine washable but I have worries about how colorfast the patches are as well as the stick-to-it-iveness of the iron on patches. To take off the iron on patches, you dampen the patch and iron over it to release the adhesive. So, I worry about a damp vest in a hot dryer. As a troop, our girls take off their vests or don't wear them when they are eating or engaging in messy activities. They are worn over other clothing so they haven't needed to be cleaned so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll never have to have it done!
I really prefer the vest to the sash because the sashes tend to fall off and twist around. When the vest is worn, it looks uniform and stays looking uniform. While I found there was not enough room for all of my daughter's awards on the vest, there would have been much less on the sash. You can't extend a sash - especially since they are cut on the bias.
When her years as a Brownie are over, my daughter would like me to turn her vest into a pillow to keep on her bed. I think it would be a bit scratchy but I also think it would look really neat and make a great reminder of an excellent three years.
Recommended:
Yes
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jdhauer
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Location: Virginia
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