Hi, does anyone have any suggestions, patterns , etc for building the neck armor/collar? As best as I can tell it will need to be open on the back and connect together. I'm particularly wondering how people think it would be best to join on the back (Velcro, clasps, buttons, be unseamed somehow (no split), etc}?

Many Thanks.

I have never made this costume, so you'd have to take my suggestions with a grain of salt, but here is what I would do:

Start with a dress form which has a full-sized neck to it, or make a body cast (a simple duct tape cast would do) of your shoulders and neck. It is VERY difficult to determine patterns on your own body, because when you lift your arms to put in the pins, you also raise your shoulders and distort the shapes of everything. Even if you have someone else helping, you still run the risk of repeated pin-stabbings! It's much easier to use something that you can just set on the table in front of you, and turn to see every angle.

Using a heavy, fabric similar in thickness and stretch to the pleather you are going to use for the neck piece, drape it over the form and experiment. Try different cuts, different angles. If something doesn't work, toss it aside and try something else, all the while feeling grateful that you're not ruining your good pleather. Pin everything together inside out, so that the seams are on the outside, and just keep experimenting until you find something that you're really happy with. Use lots of pins, so that there aren't big gaps hanging open, and make sure the lines of the seams are straight and smooth.

When you have the design all figured out, take a Sharpie and trace the seam lines. It will end up looking like a dotted line, since you'll have the pins in the way, but that's fine... just get the lines recorded.

Use the sharpie to label the different pieces. If it's a stacked pattern, label the pieces from the top to the bottom. Label what's in the front, and the back. If it's a lot of pieces, it might even be a good idea to sketch what it all looks like on a piece of paper, and match the labels to the sketch so you won't risk forgetting what goes were.

Then, take the whole thing apart. Lay out the pieces of fabric, and use the Sharpie again to solidify and improve the lines. If the lines tend to jump back and forth, smooth it to a straighter (or curved) line that can be easily sewn.

Remember when you use these pattern pieces to cut out your pleather, you MUST leave plenty of room for the seam allowances! I usually leave a whole inch more than what my patterns ask for, just to be on the safe side!

For the closure in the back, I would most likely use a tab that is permanently sewn on one side. It would go underneath the collar, and would velcro to the other side. By placing the tab underneath, it creates an easy to open and close option, it would be solidly connected all the way up and down so that nothing gaps open too much, and iit also provides a black surface that would fill any cracks that might be visible between the two sides of the collar. If you just use clasps or buttons, I would fear that the collar would gap open in between those places, allowing your neck and the top of the shirt to be visible.


Hope that helps... and doesn't make things even more confusing!

Pam :-)

Many thanks Pam, I'll give those suggestions a go and see where it gets me.

I have a thread on the Alpine Garrison page documenting my progress here:
http://alpinegarrison.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=7424&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Making some progress, just need to get the makeup sorted out and make a success version of the neck and shoulder armour.





Any suggestions about the neck and shoulder stuff are appreciated, I've had a lot of trouble making it work, thanks.

Yay another Ventress I do love her look so much.

What are you planning on making the neck piece from? It will affect the easiest way to do so

I have made a neck seal for a Human Predator costume from roofing silicon (using the nozzle as a handy means of making lots of vertical ridges) but had contemplated making it from corded vinyl The vinyl I have is a very very soft and so I can mold it to fit quite easily. My dress form has a thicker kneck than I do so I'm going to have to cut it down a but before wearing it again!

If you want a neck piece that moves with you, you maybe best off making the support and the top layer from soft stretchy materials. If you want a more rigid look it would be a good idea to build you support first from say canvas or duck and then apply the top layer to that.

Both ways had their pros and cons in terms of ease: the stretchy will be a little less reliant on fit as the strength allows for some ease in fitting. But it will be a pest to sew as it will stretch as you sew!
The canvas will make a nice stable non stretch base to work from which will mean you have a very clear guide on where and how to sew the top layer on. But you will need a perfect base to start with as it will not stretch and mold to your shape.

As for fastenings... I love snaps. Both sew in and two-part smack-the-heck-out-of-them types. Also an invisible zip can work nicely, especially if the base of your neck piece is wider than your head so you can take it off. My neck seal has a zip longer than the neck seal itself so it tucks into my armour. Otherwise I would not be able to slip it over my head!

You could also go the molded route and use latex or silicon

i made mine the way Pam suggested..via a dress dummy, mockup patterns and lots of cutting and shaping as i went for the over the shoulder to neck collar.
i used a smooth rubberised pu fabric..thickness of synth leather but with more give. used same fabric for gauntlets too.


its wrinkled there as i have my arms up but when theyre down it lies flat.

love your progress thread on the alpin garrison. If you need help with the bald cap application i wrote a how to guide which should be in the makeup section.

Many thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I am using the same material as I used for the vampbraces (gauntlets) and think it will be good. A neighbour of mine who is into costuming is helping now with the Neck armour. I've destroyed a couple turtlenecks to cipher out a working pattern for it, hopefully it will be successful.

Yes the Alpine Garrison progress thread has been fun. One of the Garrison's Darth Maul's, who is a master make-up artist, is going to assist with the makeup for my application photos at the Garrison Meeting on Saturday. I'll post some here if they turn out well, thanks!

How is Cardiff this time of year? My husaband and I spent part of our honeymoon there many year ago.

ahhh Cardiff, someone has finally turned the spring switch on so when it is sunny its lovely with all the daffodils growing everywhere, though its still chilly!

Sounds nice, we finally had the snow clear here and then a day after got two more feet of it.

My neighbour made most of the neck piece and it is working well, just need to tweak a couple details and then I should be good to go.

Thanks for everyones help and many suggestions, I'm off today to the Annual Garrison Meeting to get some help from one of our brilliant make-up artists and take my application photos.

MOST IMPRESSIVE!!! wow love how sculpted it is to you, that fabric youve used is wonderful! You also have a brilliant figure grrrr

cant wait to see this with all the makeup too.

Wow! gorgeous! It really does fit like it was sculpted

Thanks for the kind words. Timing didn't allow for makeup. The guy who was going to help me with it was C3PO and he had to get in his costume. We discussed getting together next week so he can show me how to do the makeup and get photos taken.

As for the shirt, after much searching I finally found one I liked the style of. Unfortunately it was a women's size medium. I made significant alterations to it, so now it is closer to a miss' small. I was able to get it it sit flat by using suspenders running from front to back so I'm not constantly pulling my shirt down.(see below)



If anyone is interested, there are a couple of other photos taken last night posted on the Alpine Garrison's site.

I have submitted my 501st application so hopefully everything goes ok.

i love the fact your saber hilts join! Mine are cool ( love my sabermaster for making them) but they are built with recharge ports, instead of using batteries and the ports are in the ends of each hilt. We did try to come up with some way of having some slot over piece that would allow the two pieces to join but never got round to it.

So what do the suspender straps attach to? i guess they sit under the skirt?

The suspenders (garters for those not UKers) clip to the bottom of the shirt run a;ong the inside of my thighs and then clip to the back of the shirt. I'm really happy with how it keeps the shirt in place.

I'm happy with how they connect. The are just male and female garden hose ends. I've added "quick connect" ends to it so they can go together and come apart with just a flick. (can be seen in the alpine thread, page 2). That was a suggestion made by our new Garrison CO.