The Armour Archive

I have just finished making a pair of chainmail chausses to go with my chainmail coat, turned out goodish (also a normal coif, not pictured).
As you can see in the picture the coat is open in the front and held closed by chains and hooks, however this leaves a gap that I am not too crazy about.
Also I don’t want to transform it into an hauberk, as it's meant mainly for costume purposes rather than fighting (think LARP), so I like that it looks a bit more flashy and special, even if it's not practical.
The jacket is good to wear and fits well (good weight distribution), as I can take a few shortcuts when it got an open front and don't need to be pulled over the head, the way to arms are connected is irregular, there is a sort of bag at the shoulders outside for good movement and things are neatly connected at the armpit, (usually it is the other way around) but it works really well, so why bother changing it? Even though now I know it's wrong...
The chausses are worn connected to a belt hanging at "normal belt position" rather than true waist, that works best for someone with my composition, hehe.
The wire is 14g stainless steel, 8mm ID, with a rather low aspect-ratio this makes very dense and heavy chainmail. Combined everything is about 70lbs twice of what is should be, I guess. I made it that way because I did not want it to be see-through, as chainmail with too big ring or this wire easily gets, but originally it where only meant to be a vest, so the weight got kinda out of hand as I got addicted to "mailing".

To the point: The chausses are kind of weird to move around with (too much weight pulling at the front of the belt). And they don't cover my... rear! I want full leg/rear protection. Suspenders did not really work that well with weight distribution, but they were connected to the back of the belt, not the chausses, that might be why.
So my plan was connecting the chausses together like a pair of pants and add some square pieces of mail to cover the belly and back, much like overalls, dungarees, whatever Mario is wearing, (not an English native).
This will hopefully be pretty comfortable with some straps and belts to keep it together. And also solve the belt problem. Also it will look like I am wearing a normal "closed front" vest under the coat, so there is no mailless gap begging to be stabbed. And most importantly full leg protection.

I am posting mainly hoping to get some input on the chainmail overalls idea. Also to show off my, beginner mailworks for review by people who actually knows ARMOR.

I'd secure the chausses to their own belt, put on over everything else you have on, and SCA-Engineer School Of Design the use of the belt with its own suspenders, like a stocker's lifting belt, for as you have discovered, heavy dense pieces of metal have to hang off of certain parts of you to stay up at all -- for instance, either shoulder. And it's troublesome if the weight is hanging from some inconvenient point. Try moving the suspension point around to the side of your hips, right at your trousers outseam. About where you holster a cell phone, or forward of there. See your trouser outseam in your bottom pic? -- follow that.

You may find making a C-belt (Search on it here) a good belt solution, and suspender straps may be buttoned or permanently sewn onto that.

The usual suspension points for armor, mail or plate, are the shoulders and the hips. Helps if you have a waistline, as more of you then exhibits the correct taper (one broadening downwards) to keep stuff from sliding down. The tops of the calf muscles are also a place for keeping anything below them at proper elevation -- as you are doing with the garter below your knee. Anything tapering from the other direction will never hold armor up no matter what you try. I don't think you want to use Frankenstein bolts!

You can lighten sleeves by tapering them with the "hole row contractions" found in Trevor Barker's Butted Mail, Section 3.3. Considering the heft of your project, you may wish to trim it back with some tailoring to the sleeve taper and the waist.

Now you know why some of us here are going to the trouble and four times the personal man-hours of doing riveted mail. Having it fifteen times as strong for 5/8 the weight of 14 gauge wire, and it's still steel and not even case hardened is a good thing too.

Coverage of the derrière -- that really was done by the hauberk skirts -- period. Full stop. Chausses tended to not rise much above thigh high anyway. Not only weight and cost, but comfort in sitting in a saddle all seem to factor in -- mail chausses were horsemen's gear. The horse handled the crosscountry schlepping. For making chausses look like chausses, think making the things like stockings rather than blue-jeans. And wear them over hose/tights, not blue jeans. This tends to mean a laced closure at the back of the ankle over the Achilles tendon to snug up everything there, and shoes that form-fit also, typically turnshoes whose makers can be found searching around this site.

And welcome and well come to the Archive!

Thanks for such a lenghtly and helpfull response, I'll be sure to try moving the chausses connections to the belt. Also fitting the sleeves to reduce weight seem very sensible, that simply had not occured to me, he.

Hi there, welcome to the AA, Nice work on the mail. You may want to try one of my C belts, you could mount a mail skirt to it and point the legs to it. The coned shape of the belt keeps it securely in place where it belongs. Theres no better way to suspend leg armor in my opinion.

Have a good week

Pitbull

Sir Gaston (M.K.A. Chris Gilman) did his chausses by stitching them directly to fabric and leather hosen. Basically, tight fitting pants. His only cover the the feet, ankles, shins, calves up to behind the knee. But it seems like a great idea. But it would require some tailoring of the mail to get it to fit so nicely. It's on my overloaded plate of todo as well.
I've split my hauberk up the middle as well. When split, the weight of the links pull outward to the side, causing that gap in front. Mine was even more severe until I stitched it to the gambeson all the way down. I've also stitched it around the collar and the cuffs, to prevent it from creeping or shifting over-top of the gambeson. I would also suggest tailoring the sleeves so that they are closer to the forearms (yet still enough room for you to slip your hand through).
-Cian