I need some assistance!
I made these two very nice shoulder plates with deltoid and bicep armor pauldrons for an original Sith costume I'm working on. I took the Witcher pattern from Much Props (find it on YouTube) and modified it to make it a little Sith-y-er. Unfortunately, when getting to the strapping part it got a little light on directions and I'm not getting the results I wanted.
I'm having a bit of a rough time coming up with how to strap them on myself. I did manage to put a loop of elastic on the bicep areas that keeps them in place on the lower end. I attempted to attach these to the shoulder plates with a couple of elastic bands from the plates to the upper deltoid pads but it was not very mobile. I haven't figured out how to keep the shoulders on either. This is where I need the help! I would like to continue to use the 1" elastic banding (and some velcro if necessary) to achieve this.
PLEASE YE GODS OF COSPLAY...I beg your help
Alright bud, let's think. Given that I was gonna hijack the base design for my costume and also not do the cross-chest straps, your problem could be my problem
let's ignore the bicep pads for now. The key is the shoulder pads themselves need to stay on your shoulders.
For my costume, I wanted these to sit on my shoulders over the tabbards and NOT have velcro between them so I could revert to the original Jedi costume sans armor bits.
I had two ideas in mind to accomplish that:
1) My tabbards are held to the tunic by velcro along the shoulder ridge. Add a double-sided velcro strip (male/female sides) to the underside of the shoulder pad that is only fixed at the ends (or at least the end by the neck). To wear it, you flip it upside down, slide the tabbard into position so it's velcro strip attaches to your strap and the strap acts as the new mate to the velcro on the tunic.
This is like a sandwich which I shall now draw badly in ASCII art:
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP+ NECK
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT__| NECK
TVTVTVTVTVTVTV__| NECK
PVPVPVPVPVPVPV-+ NECK
SVSVSVSVSVSVS
SSSSSSSSSSSSS
P = shoulder pad
T = tabbard
TV = tabbard under-velcro
PV = "loose" velcro strap only anchored to the shoulder pad by neck (underside so it's hidden)
SV = tunic shoulder velcro strip fixed to the shoulder of the tunic
S = shoulder of the tunic
that -+| stuff is me trying to show that strap is attached to the pad
2) I had this idea for my cape originally, but imagine a neck piece for the back of the neck that goes across your shoulder blades with "wings" that go across the top of your shoulder for these pads to attach to. Basically a third piece that connects the pair and holds them in place. I can't draw that easily...
3) duh. velcro. Assuming your costume is NOT modular in that you want different presentation modes, put some velcro on the underside of the shoulder pads along the shoulder ridge axis and afix the corresponding velcro to the outfit you've got that the pads would be worn with. If it's fabric, consider stitching the velcro to it, not just relying on the "glue"
As with all uses of velcro in costuming, do not just rip costume bits off to remove. The glue/fabric can't take that force. Be gentle. Says that on my Jedi Closet garb because she uses Velcro for all these things. It'll hold for wear, but it can't take a yank to strip out of it.
Those are rough ideas. What is actually under these pads? What's the back of your costume look like as well? Are you planning for modular modes of dress like I am to shift from Jedi version to Sith?
