We often say that it’s important to build your costume in layers- to break down your costume into more manageable pieces to sew or build. Here is an example of how we did that for Jayce!

Here’s Jayce, he’s a pretty cool guy, but he’s got a lot going on. He’s got knee armor, gloves, greaves, a coat, some chest…thing? and this collar that stands up in a way collars really shouldn’t. I’d show you my terrible drawings breaking it down, but I’m not sure you’d be able to really make heads or tails of them, so here’s how we broke down the costume into layers, and the order we put them on!

We started out with a long sleeve under armor shirt, the pants (with a belt holding them up, the belt secured in the back), the shoes, and the shoulder armor strapping.

The strapping was inspired by a side gun holster- front and back both clip on to another strap coming from each side of the shoulder, and the shoulder is held on and supported by the strap going around his arm, and down to his belt.

Next, the coat!

Then the chest armor. These pieces are all glued together but were originally three separate pieces. It’s held on by a strap that goes around his neck, like some weird awesome medallion. The straps on the side are purely cosmetic.

Then the greaves and knee armor! These are held on by snap clips and straps that run around the back of his leg. The armor on the shoes are from worbla and glued on there.

After that, the collar. The front part is tucked in behind the chest piece.

Lastly, the finishing touches! Gloves, bracer, and both shoulder armors are strapped on and ready to go.

 

We’ll probably have a nice tutorial up at some point on the mace and costume, but this post was to demonstrate the importance of layers!