On armour (LRP/Re-enactors)

[redhillian]

Yo! Hat Dudes!

I'm buying some armour, from Armchair Armoury, specifically the welded back & breast listed here, as they've got a good reputation, the price seems right and I know the piece in question is what I'm after having tried on a few bits and pieces at the Elerscar Kit Fair the other weekend.

What I'd like some help with (and I'm looking at several particular individuals here) is what to wear under it. I know I need a padded layer of some sort, and Velvet Glove seem to have a few items here.

Would I better off with a gambeson, or an arming jacket? And what's the real difference??

Is making a decent layer at home a possibility? ephrael's quite good a sewing, but the machine may not be up to the strain of multi layered canvas and padding. Are there better prices / options to be had elsewhere? In an ideal world, I'd go to coventry this weekend, but I'm Airsofting in Yorkshire, so that's not going to happen.

Any hints, tips, advice and leads gratefully received. Cheers!

Comments

[irdm.livejournal.com]

I can but suggest you talk to George at Maelstrom.
I don't think she hoards her patterns :-)
She & Karl are both into metal armour thmeselves, so can talk you though the options, prices, (tell you what size you are :-) )

As far as *I* can see, the difference is that the arms come off and arming jack.

[redhillian.livejournal.com]

I was hoping to get stuff sorted in time for M'froth, so I can wear the armour there (as I have a lammie for it and everything!)

[irdm.livejournal.com]

Having seen various in production, I'd guess the "fasten on arms" is easiest, as the sewing of the arms to torso looks A Big Job (looking at mine).

As said below, make sheet of padded material (with crisscross sewing lines) and then crop that to make the parts. You could make each front and back torso section just hemmed and then laced together. Could then get snug fit...
Possibly sew torso as one piece but split up front and laced...

[areteus.livejournal.com]

I'd offer you Sarah's to borrow for one event while you checked out options at stalls at the event but I very much doubt it would fit... It just about fits me (and makes me look like a fat old man in the process... much like wearing her doublet does... :) ).

Maybe do as Trev suggests and go for a thick underlayer as a temp measure until you can source a proper one, possibly at the event itself.

[richc.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest you could get away with anything fairly padded under the armour until you can buy/make a jack. Personally I wear a thick canvas jacket I picked up from somewhere random under exactly the same type of back and breast.

[ajon.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's a hunting jacket I picked up in Camden and thought would do you for this very purpose :)

[areteus.livejournal.com]

I remember someone telling me that gambesons/arming jacks take an absolute age to make yourself as you need to sew the length of it several times to make it work properly.

May be possible to do this with a sewing machine if you use linen or some other 'light' material but this will not make a 'proper' gambeson. If you want a proper leather one you will probably meed to do it by hand and that will take hours as it is really fiddly.

A cloth gambeson is also not as good a protection against chainmail shoulder and other problems associated with armour wearing as a leather one.

[trevor-davies.livejournal.com]

Not getting too armour geeky - but gambeson and arming jack were actually pretty much interchangeable terms for the same thing historically (in the same way that breast plate / cuirass are basically the same thing). Nowadays, people tend to use "gambeson" for a slightly shapeless padding under maille, whilst "arming jack" tends to be used for the slightly more tailored padding worn under plate.
It is more than possible to make something at home that will work as a padded underlayer, especially if you're not after too much historical accuracy. I used two layers of neutral coloured quilted fabric from my old local fabric shop and simply made an over the head, sleeveless padded thing for under my maille. I put two extra layers of padding under the shoulders to support the main area of rub/weight, and managed to do it on a *very* old sewing maching. I've also made a leather-covered elizabethan-styled one which was lovely, but something went wrong around the neck line so it's sitting festering in a box until I can be motivated to rip it apart and start again.

Trev

[damianobf.livejournal.com]

I would say an arming jack (and then going to look at the velvet glove description thats what they seem to sell it as)

An arming jack in theory can be designed for your plate so can have things like mail attached down the sides and in gaps where the plate doesn't sit (mine did at one point when i took my mail apart and used it as a mail skirt and extra mail on my arming jack with my plate then decided I wanted my suit of chainmal back so reassembled it)

I added extra padding on the shoulders as that is where I found my plate used to bite and needed to spread the weight.

TBH the look of the velvet glove ones are very thing layers of quilting I would check to see how think they are but if it is only say 2 outer layers with a layer of wadding or similar in between you ought to be able to do it yourself on a domestic machine.

I also suggest you want to the arming jack to fit properly and not bunch under the plate armour.

Anyway hope that helps a little.

[(Anonymous)]

I've got one of the velvet glove arming jacks - and its very good (made to measurements).

They do two thicknesses of padding: "normal: LRP" and "thick: re-enactment". The latter is what you want to go for...

[belisarius-534.livejournal.com]

That was me..

[nathan-h.livejournal.com]

When I needed a gambeson/arming jacket for my chainmail, I found a cheap and easy option. I got a 'football manager jacket' from a charity shop (sheepskin and fur on the inside) which did the job just fine.

[sarahlascelles.livejournal.com]

I made a gambeson. It was a bloody nightmare. If you do it properly you sew the channels first then sew the stuffing in. If you cheat and just sew a thick layer in it doesnt breathe. You'll need a pretty heavy duty sewing machine.