What about continuing on with the lattice deformer but adding joints and weighting it to wrap it around the mesh. Like I said before. Doing this is not the way to go. But I figure I would attempt to help. You can also go into Zbrush and use a matchmover brush on it to lay it on the surface. In C4D we also have not only a surface deformer but also a shrinkwrap deformer in the character tabs to place things on objects as well.