Muscled thorax fastenings

[Chris B]

I made my Roman subarmalis with a linen body that opened on both sides. I basically made it like a modern ballistic/bullet proof vest or like the cuirass itself. I made the front panel and back panel with a small overlap at the top and sewed them together. Then I left the seams open where the flaps would go and padded the shoulders more. I made the flaps out of two rows of leather, stiched the two rows of leather together and then stitched them into the subarmor. Then I simply used loops and strips of leather down both sides to close it. You could just have one side open, but I opted for both for potential weight gain with age. The stich and transition from linen to leather is hidden completely by the armor. One note is that the leather makes it rather on the heavy side. I intend to do the same for my Greek armor but with two layers of linen rectangular flaps with fringe, two rows of leather circular, and four rows of linen on the shoulders. Just some ideas. Good luck.