How to attach armor pieces/accessories to a costume?

[sweet_magic]

Is hot glue the only way? I'm asking because I'd like to find a way to attach armor pieces (shoulder epaulettes) to my costume, yet to be able to remove them any time if I ever have to wash my costume.

Suggestions???

[KillaBeeSwarm]

Why not velcro? Or maybe fabric shoulder straps?

[The*Fallen*One*]

When creating my Automail Arm, I used standard split-pins to join the pieces together. This could work for your armor as well. Just make a hole where it is to attach, re-enforce the hole with a grommette, and then you can just push the split pin through the hole, flattening down the sides to keep it in place.

[Koumori]

It depends what your piece is made of. I attached the shoulder epaulets to my Relena costume with velcro so I can remove them and they won't get squashed in transport. The armor on my Samurai Yuna costume is made of plastic, but backed with foam, and I actually attach that to my costume with straight pins through the foam.

[matt363]

bolts and screws work, but they're uncomfortable.

[R1KKu]

I found large black snaps at Joann's that I used for my Samurai Rikku to attach the armor to the robe, and they held up pretty good. You would just have to attach something to the back of the armor to sew a snap onto.

[Eidolon Bird]

Depending on the weight of the armor (if it's largely foam-based), I second the snaps idea. There are a variety of industrial strength adhesives - epoxy, E6000 and others that you could use to attach the snaps to the armor. Just test it out on a scrap piece first to make sure the glue doesn't eat through anything as some of them are wont to do.

Velcro also works well, but I'm not too fond of the stuff - I've had the prickly side catch and snag nice fabric.

[DianaTenoh]

When creating my Automail Arm, I used standard split-pins to join the pieces together. This could work for your armor as well. Just make a hole where it is to attach, re-enforce the hole with a grommette, and then you can just push the split pin through the hole, flattening down the sides to keep it in place.


split pins? I dont think I've ever heard of them. sorry to crash the thread but I saw it and thought it'd help me as well. could you (or maybe some one else) elaborate on what a split pin is?

[Andrea]

I use industrial-strength velcro. The problem is that the industrial stuff seems only to come in sticky-back form instead of sew-on form... so I usually hot-glue the hook/fastening side to the inside of the armor (the adhesive comes off too easily on most materials I've tried, despite being allegedly industrial), and use the soft side of the regular kind to sew onto the clothing, since the soft half is the same thing on both kinds of velcro.

Which leaves me with a ton of the soft half in sticky-back industrial, and a ton of the hook half in sew-on regular, but there are enough things that I don't actually need the strength of industrial velcro for that I can reverse the process and sew on the normal-strength hooks and glue/stick on the industrial strength soft stuff.

Of course, when you make stuff like full-plate, you can just strap it on and not worry about having to attach it to anything, which is one reason I've been favoring full-plate lately. :D

[vasher]

*cough*

Apologies for the thread de-railment, but it seemed better to use this one than start another...

Anyways, how strong is the velcro or snap button method? I need to attach some poofy shoulder armor (typical anime 'looks like it's attached at one corner' armor) to myself... somehow. It's made from a little bit of fiberglass and a lot of resin, so it's not particularly light weight, and I tend to run into things/roll around on the floor, etc. >.>

I think for the main pauldron, I can use a strap and buckle system around my shoulder, but for some of the upper arm pieces, I'm worried that they'll just slide down. :\

How is real armor held on (I'm thinking SCA style...)?

[Fire Lily]

I avow for the Industrial Velcro attachment method. I used this on my Eirika pauldrons to keep it affixed to my breastplate. Also, to keep them on my shoulders, I used a U shaped double piece of coated wire hanger to provide height. The pauldrons slide hanger first underneath the shoulder straps of the breastplate, then velcro to the front of the breastplate along the clavicle.

Pics to help:
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/TJbuffy1/?action=view&current=06-12-07_0030.jpg
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/TJbuffy1/?action=view&current=06-14-07_0336.jpg
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/TJbuffy1/?action=view&current=Shoulderhowto.jpg

By split pins, I think they mean brads - you know, the little round metal pins you use for office supplies that have 2 prongs underneath that can be pushed down in opposite directions. Here, try this:

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&prodCatType=0&catalogId=10051&productId=85440&cmArea=SC1:CG821:CL10105

How is real armor held on (I'm thinking SCA style...)?

Leather straps and buckles. That's pretty much how all my armor for my Alicia costume is fastened. A great site for visual references is the Armour Archive. They give you real patterns for real historical metal armor and the pictures helped me greatly when trying to approach armor making from a foam stance. http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

[DianaTenoh]

I avow for the Industrial Velcro attachment method. I used this on my Eirika pauldrons to keep it affixed to my breastplate. Also, to keep them on my shoulders, I used a U shaped double piece of coated wire hanger to provide height. The pauldrons slide hanger first underneath the shoulder straps of the breastplate, then velcro to the front of the breastplate along the clavicle.

Pics to help:
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/TJbuffy1/?action=view&current=06-12-07_0030.jpg
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/TJbuffy1/?action=view&current=06-14-07_0336.jpg
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/TJbuffy1/?action=view&current=Shoulderhowto.jpg

By split pins, I think they mean brads - you know, the little round metal pins you use for office supplies that have 2 prongs underneath that can be pushed down in opposite directions. Here, try this:

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&prodCatType=0&catalogId=10051&productId=85440&cmArea=SC1:CG821:CL10105



Leather straps and buckles. That's pretty much how all my armor for my Alicia costume is fastened. A great site for visual references is the Armour Archive. They give you real patterns for real historical metal armor and the pictures helped me greatly when trying to approach armor making from a foam stance. http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

thanks for answering my question ^_^, and posting those links. hope every one else finds them as helpful.