Need help putting hubby's uniform items in shadowbox

[redbug119]

My husband was a Scout for years, attaining the Eagle Scout rank. I thought it would be great Xmas gift if I put his old uniform (minus the pants), sash with merit badges, and Eagle Scout medal in some sort of frame for him for Xmas. I saw the shadowbox/frame in the Boy Scout store on-line and they show things removed from the sash and shirt, but I really don't want to remove them. He also has several items from when he was a member of the staff at Philmont that I would like to include. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can put this together so it will be correct as to placement of the medal and other items such as neckerchief and slide?

[resqman]

I have seen numerous sports jerseys mounted in a shadowbox frame.

 

You would just need a large box to place the entire shirt. You may have to pull the front down a bit more than the back to get the sleeves to roll over to display the patches on the sleeves. The sash only fits one way across the shoulder once the badges are sewn on so that should be easy to figure out. Medals are worn on the pocket flaps.

 

The Philmont items could be attached to the back of the box in the corners to help fill the empty space around the shirt. Or alternately you could have a small box of just Philmont items.

 

Just remember, once you make this shadowbox, he may want to hang it somewhere. A frame of the entire shirt may be very large.

 

For my cub scout, I used his old shirt as the backing of the shadowbox. That way we are using his old shirt but are able to display the patches in a smaller frame. I removed the pocket from the front of the shirt and sewed it to the back of the shirt. I used spray adhesive to attach the back of the shirt to the back of the shadowbox. I then used hot glue to attach the patchs in a pleasing design. He is only a Webelos I so he still has a few more items to add to the Cub Scout shadowbox. Our Webelos decided to wear the tan shirts. He is excited and wanted to show it to his den.

 

I mounted my old patches in the standard frame from the scout store. I did not have my old scout shirt. I removed the merit badges and mounted them in the frame as well. I was an explorer and did the similar thing because I did have that shirt.

[Hunt]

I would just like to add a word of caution, just in case this is intended to be a surprise gift--I wouldn't cut or glue anything with respect to these uniforms unless your husband is aware you're doing it.

[emb021]

My dentist is an Eagle Scout. Somehow scouting came up, and when he found out I was involved in the program, pulled me into his office to show me a large shadow box (I want to say it was about 3 foot x 3 foot) that contained his boy scout shirt, explorer shirt (one was inside the other), his merit badge sash, (OA sash I think), and medals. Shirts were folded to fit in, but the main part of the shirts were visible.

 

 

[redbug119]

Thanks to all who replied. It will be a surprise, and there is NO WAY I would cut up his shirt unless I wanted to end up in divorce court! :-)

I am going to take the shirt, neckerchief with slide (his original one), hat and sash and what looks like an old handkercheif to my local framer who is familiar with archival framing and go from there. Thanks again.

[Hunt]

"Thanks to all who replied. It will be a surprise, and there is NO WAY I would cut up his shirt unless I wanted to end up in divorce court! :-)"

 

Are you sure he doesn't surrepticiously go and put the shirt on once in a while? (For many of us, unfortunately, this would be an impossibility.)

 

[redbug119]

No, even tho it's hanging in the garage with the winter clothes (don't know how it ended up there), I don't think he puts it on - and I know it wouldn't fit him anyway. The box I got everything out of was way up in the attic, and the Eagle Scout medal/pin is still in the original box with a tie clip in a dresser drawer that he never goes into. I doubt he even knows it's there!