The Armour Archive

Hey Guys,
im currently trying to sew a gambeson. as manual im using the Basic-Armouring.PDF.
so far :


Now im not sure if i can construct the quarters with straight edges to archieve a nice fit. in the manual the pattern looks more like the right one.


The Question: Does that matter alot?
- Please critique, advise and comment!!

You can, but the 2nd one fits better.

IMO, I would add 1-2" on those edges, and trim it after assembly for a good fit.
Remember that depending on your padding material and quilting pattern, it will shrink a bit. Specially on the perpendicular directions of your quilted lines.

My wife made my daughter and I gambesons - and she said to add 1-2" to the edges. You can always trim off the excess.

Some more hints:

Wash and dry the material prior to cutting out the pattern pieces. (My wife used double faced quilted fabric from Hancock Fabrics.)
Another helpful hint was to make sure you have armpit gussets. She made ours with long triangle shapes of an old pillowcase. It makes a huge difference in mobility.
Edging tape works really well to finish off the edges of the gambeson.

Hope that helps


John

hey,
thank you for your help;
Johnion-a question about those gussets, how does that look like , could you make a simple paint drawing for me?

Use the righthand pattern; it's more 14th/15th century. The curving center seam puffs your chest out a little relative to your waist -- a big-chested, narrow-waisted look.

The gusset would look like a slice of pizza, two straight sides and a rounded end, and probably reach from the armscye, or arm hole, to almost your elbow.

thanks;
so like this?


how deep should that 'slice of pizza' be? starting at around waist and going to almost elbow?

Yes, the green check-mark, and about as shown, which would put that gusset into the bottom of the armscye in the pattern pieces in your pic, not all the way down towards your waist. (Don't bother making the arm-hole that big.) As I said, starting near the armpit and ending near the elbow.

If you find you simply have too much in that upper sleeve with the gusset in, rip it out again and cut the gusset narrower to remove the excess cloth.

This should give fairly easy fit in your upper arm, which you want for mobility. Enough to slide your flat hand and straight fingers into, between the sleeve and yourself without difficulty. The forearm sleeves is to be tighter and should fit about like, oh, two thick coats of paint. Like a sweater sleeve conforms to your arm. Can't really push your hand into there.

Even the "à grands-assiètes" armhole only goes somewhat farther down your sides towards your waistline than the usual kind of armhole. Most of that armscye's huge size is scooped out of the upper back, the pectorals, and the shoulder -- the shoulder seam runs about 3cm from neckhole to arm hole in that style. You're not making one quite that extreme -- a different style, every bit as good.

I based mine off of the same pattern as I do my tunics. The article "T-Tunics: The Period Way".

The shoulders are too wide, I would halve that lenght, in this way you will be able to raise your arms without pulling up the gambeson.

The back centerline should be shaped too.

Remember that Basic Armouring PDF is quite old, thus the information within could be a little outdated.

I suggest to switch to Medieval Tailor Assistant for modeling issues.

yeah , i shortened the shoulders and it moves way less now when i lift my arms , thanks i didnt forget to shape the backline aswell.
but i dont think that the basic amrouring pdf is outdated , since making gambesons hasnt changed alot haha

'Tis a mature technology, after all.

http://www.cottesimple.com/

Front:


Back:

Thomas is showing you a grands-assiètes type layout.

after 6 hours cleaning my raw wool and 28 hours of sewing in the past days things are finally shaping up man i cant stop working , im obsessed with the will to get that thing done!! ill make some pictures soon ...

its going pretty slow since i started this as my first sewing project but im already damn proud of what i've done so far , even more under the circumstances that im a 16 year old pupil and the only one who's helping me are the awesome people on this forum!!

Edit; forgot to tell that its all hand sewn!

Where do you find the basic armouring pdf?

Thanks!

doner765 wrote:thanks;
so like this?


how deep should that 'slice of pizza' be? starting at around waist and going to almost elbow?

Before you cut and set-in that green checked gusset, put on the garment, belt is securely around your waist and lift your elbow so it is pointing up with your forearm on your head. The gusset has to be long enough IN THIS POSITION or the gambeson will not move properly. If the gusset is to short then when you throw certain off-side shots you will have to lift your gambeson (and anything belted or pointed to it) with shoulder and arm muscles. Paradoxicly, if the armpit is cut high and tight then the amount of gusset you need is smaller.

Sean

thank you very much sean!! extremely helpfull post there )

Curious as to how this progressed.

Any updates?

sorry im very busy with school at the moment ; in the winter holidays after christmas i'll continue my work

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished gambeson!

I've revamped my website so all old hotlinks to images are no longer working. I have a bunch of redirects, but only at the page level, not the image level. If you go to the link below, you can see the articles from which those images come (all except the "cdb_pattern" one; those are no longer available for public view. Sorry.)

http://cottesimple.com/articles/

Thomas MacFinn wrote:A bunch of image hot links..

and im going on;)



the back part(middle) looks bit darker because its wet from washing

Tasha,

Is the pattern going to be in the article?

RPM

im not sure if a pattern would be useful for anyone, since everyones body is differently shaped;)

also, do you people think i should continue it by hand or finish it with a machine (i got my hands on one lately)? ive been working on this for about 60 hrs now and im worrying it wont fit anymore when its finished(im still growing)

if you make it with bent arms you will have less bunching on the inside of the elbow (look to examples like the zuparello)... you can make the sleve in two or four parts to achieve this...

That basic armouring PDF + the one from White Mountain Armoury just were keen in me making my 3 layer linen gambeson.

Looks good... I bought a generic tunic pattern from Joann Fabric. That did the trick for me, but I extended all the edges a couple inches so that I could "quilt" it.

I never got around to making sleeves, and I prefer it that way since I am portraying a 10th Century personna. I figured keeping it simple would be better.

Are you planning on encasing this in a more decorative cloth?

I've got to say... I am impressed with the amount of effort you are putting into this. I could not imagine hand sewing everything . Keep up the good work!

Oddvarr

CT03 wrote:if you make it with bent arms you will have less bunching on the inside of the elbow (look to examples like the zuparello)... you can make the sleve in two or four parts to achieve this...

yeah ill do bent arms , thank you anyways

Oddvarr wrote:Looks good... I bought a generic tunic pattern from Joann Fabric. That did the trick for me, but I extended all the edges a couple inches so that I could "quilt" it.

I never got around to making sleeves, and I prefer it that way since I am portraying a 10th Century personna. I figured keeping it simple would be better.

Are you planning on encasing this in a more decorative cloth?

I've got to say... I am impressed with the amount of effort you are putting into this. I could not imagine hand sewing everything . Keep up the good work!

Oddvarr

Thanbk you very much Oddvarr,
i wont encase it in another cloth, because i like the simplicity of the linen fabric, it is beautiful on its own in my opinion
About the Hand sewing, I gave that part up. there Are still things that have to be hand sewn , but i can't take it anymore haha ,i want to get it finished now:) this afternoon ill join the front to the back

Torso is done in sewing terms:)) just need to make a lacing for the Front and the Sleeves to Finish it





What do You think about it? Please Comment

Looking good so far!

Let us know how it feels when you take a hit. I am curious to see whether or not the Horizontal pads feel different from the vertical on shots.

small update;) i hope to get it done within the next couple of weeks!

Looks good so far man...keep it up!