The Armour Archive

So I'm working on my first gambeson. It's patterned on the gambeson by St. Deborah James in Brian Price's TOMAR. So I bought some canvas, I'm sewing my inner liner now. I also bought some batting(80/20 cotton/polyester) for the padding. I had intended to do it in horsehair, but that's not quite convient. This first gambeson isn't going to be perfect by any maeans, so I will be replacing it in the next six months.

So I'm wondering, how thick do I want my batting. Understand this garment is going to be worn under armor. Any feedback is appreciated.

Under plate? 1 - 2 layers of batting.

Next go-round on the batting, insist upon 100% needled cotton quilt batting, such as by Warm & Natural brand.

I should have been more specific, I plan to wear leather lamellar over the aketon.

On a related note, it's comin galong nicely. I've pretty much finished up the upper chest on the inner liner, and i'm going to start on the waist and whatnot soon. I should have a finished inner shell. Of course, minus the buttons and edges. But enough that I can begin o nthe sleeves, which I think should prove a little more irksome.

Speakingof sleeves, is it best to construct multi-part sleeves by individually sewing them to the body, or should I construct the entire sleeve first, and then sew it on?

Entire sleeve, and sew it on.

Two layers of batting then, perhaps three on the points of the shoulders. You can use an armyng-cote to carry your kidney plates, on the inside with a bit of padding between self and plates -- which would yield three layers. Put the plates in pockets and you can remove them for laundering.

I always double up whatever thickness I use, at the shoulders and outside of the elbow. I don't have any padding at all inside the elbow.
Currently my standard set-up is two layers of cotton towelling (old bath towel works well), with four and zero where appropriate

Please, for your own sake, throw out the 80/20 and find some 100% cotton. I can tell you from personal experience that even the 20% poly makes a huge, negative effect on a gambeson's ability to shed heat.

100% cotton batting is most easily found for quilt making, but that is very expensive. Try looking for upholstery batting, which is usually raw cotton.

What about horsehair? Brian price recommends it in TOMAR.

Verjigorm wrote:What about horsehair? Brian price recommends it in TOMAR.

Horse hair is found in some helmet liners but all the padded armors or arming cotes we have examples of are stuffed with raw cotton.

Where can one get horse hair?

C

I can't imagine that horsehair would be less than raw cotton.

I'm curious how well it washes too. I have no idea.

Aketon: from the arabic al quton, that is cotton.

Corby de la Flamme wrote:I can't imagine that horsehair would be less than raw cotton.

I'm curious how well it washes too. I have no idea.

Aketon: from the arabic al quton, that is cotton.

And what about the smell of it after it gets your sweat on it. I never met a horse that smelled like roses.

I found horse hair on line and it ain't cheap. Anywhere from $50-250 per pound.

C

Strongly agree with other posters, unless you are going to fight in the snow get some 100 percent cotton batting or fill. They have 100 percent cotton batting at Jo-ann fabrics among other popular chain stores.