Voiders

[Sir Crispin]

I have the riveted mail for voiders. I have a linen arming coat, strongly built. Now how do I attach the voiders to the coat? I know H. E. sells their coats with holes for pointing voiders but in the illustrations I've looked at I don't see any ties. Were they tied on the inside? That seems uncomfortable. I could just sew them on with strong thread but I would have to cut them off to wash the coat and that seems like a lot of work. My main concern however is to do it as it would have been done.
Any advice?

[Klaus the Red]

I believe I have seen voiders/gussets pointed on in 15th or 16th century paintings. However, the last time I ran this question by a recognized authority, whom I believe was Erik Schmid, I seem to recall being told that there is no strong evidence that either technique (direct sewing or lacing with points) was used more than the other, but both are plausible. It's easier than you would think to tack a piece of mail onto a sturdy garment using waxed linen thread in a whip-stitch through the links along the edges, and really easy to remove it, so give it a shot. Once you find the place you want to keep things, you may want to install an eyelet-and-point system at your leisure for the long term.

Klaus

[Sir Crispin]

Thanks. I sewed the coat by hand so stitching the voiders on by hand didn't scare me much. It was the thought of doing it every time I did the wash. I'll probably start by whip-stitching then move to pointing.