The Armour Archive

after looking over some awsome pics lately i decided i needed an aketon under my mail.

just as general questions:

make patterns off of exsisting tunics or should i make it bigger?
if bigger, how much bigger?

one or 2 layers of linen per side?

are the gussets in the armpits as padded as the rest of the gamb or jsut slightly?

should i attach the arms up hight on the shoulder blade, or make them start say where a tee-shirt's arms sleeves start?

------------------
Wolf
"She barks like a she-ass, but has that stare of a woman thats perminantly moist between the hams"-- the Advocate

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/wolf/

There are many many good and less good pattern for such thing, when you design your personal Gambison, you must take into account that it must be like non wearing it.
I mean, it can't limit your movement especially raise your arms over the head, touch your hands between them with straight arms and so on.
For this reason you should make it a little larger at shoulder height, the sleeves should start more near the neck than a normal T-shirt, and when you raise your arm the must not lift the side of the gambison.
Allow extra space at the elbow. About the padding this vary depending a lot of factor (kind of armour, kind of fight,ecc) but you can consider to pad a little more the part that have more weight on them and that are easily it (shoulders).
Surely around here there is someone more expert on the topic... so we wait further tips and tricks

Don't pad the underarm gussets, and consider eyelets there for ventilation. Consider ventilation eyelets anywhere you'd like, in fact.

As for armholes, great big ones -- think "tanktop undershirt" with the sleeves flaring like a trumpet's bell to fit -- give remarkable freedom of movement along with a body-hugging fit. They're often called arms à grands assietes.

However, for under mail, you're probably wanting something that isn't so 14th-century -- so look over the garb in the illuminations of, say, the Maciejowski Bible -- I think they are primarily bliauts. Knee to calf length, some padding, a surcoat overall -- yeah, I can see it.

------------------
"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone..."

[This message has been edited by Konstantin the Red (edited 12-13-2003).]