In The Shield Wall | Top Q&A

Hi! As promised, today I’m going to show you how I made my own Gambeson, otherwise known as padded armor. It was a type of light armor, worn underneath chains, or as the main armor of lesser warriors. It consists of several layers of linen that are sawn together, to create a protective layer that is able to absorb the shock of the blow and prevent cuts and punctures. Historically, early medieval gambesons would have been made of several layers of linen, usually between 17 and 21. However, for the purposes of re-enactment, it’s like much better and more practical to use linen. fabric on the outside, with wool or similar padding inside. So what materials do you need? Here is a list of what I used:

cheap wool blanket / mixed wool fabric
linen and or coarse linen / felt
sewing thread firmly, preferably linen
quality needle
pins (many)
chalk, pencil
measure and LOTS of patience

I made my gambeson in the simplest possible design – a vest with lacing arms. Such decor would have been very common in Viking times and was much more practical than ready-made arms (and much easier to make, too). gambeson will look like. I looked at other people’s projects and in the end, I measured myself. I also used my own t-shirt as the base shape, modified to look like a gambeson. Here’s the basic sample I came up with:Then I adjusted the measurements, making it larger and leaving more space. Trust me, it’s infinitely easier to make a shirt too big and then trim it, than to make it bigger when you think it’s too small! Pattern includes front and back pieces, and an arm. The front piece will be cut into two pieces, allowing it to be attached when put on. The arms will be removable and tied to the vest once the gambeson is complete.As you can see, I used three layers of wool to create the padding for my gambeson. It strikes a good balance between protection and weight, and provides a better, more realistic look to my gambeson, than the thinner padding. The choice is entirely up to you. Remember, the more padding you add, the heavier and hotter the gambeson will be!This is the front end, cut into two even halves.This is the back of the gambeson, with the split in the middle. This split offers better mobility and improves your agility, which is necessary if your gambeson is longer to the waist. My Gambeson is almost knee-length, to protect my thighs, and this split reaches just above my tailbone. if i need any adjustments. Once I’ve made sure the gambeson fits, I’m ready to stitch the cushion back together. Remember to check the fit of the garment at each sewing stage so you can make the necessary adjustments. I’ve done some to dig in the whole process, to make it more consistent. Remember, measure twice, cut once!I used raw, undyed linen for both the face and cover of my gambeson (inner and outer layers of fabric, between the padding being “clamped”). It’s a realistic and very durable material, and when I’m painting a warrior with a limited amount of money, the undyed material makes more sense than the dyed material, which will be more expensive. If you want a colored gambeson, do it by all means, just remember with us the authentic colors and shades, and on board all remember it’s a suit of armor, not a piece of fashion and practicality is the top thing that linen must face. / The case is about 5cm bigger than the pad, as you can see This is because I folded it over the pad and then sewed it together, like the picture below. It’s important to leave some space and there’s no padding in it, just the folded edge of the side facing. It will be very important, when putting the whole gambeson together later.Read more: how to attach soundbar to tvI left about 5mm of the hanging edge, to sew the pieces together later. You can see the stitching running about 3cm from the edge, this is intentional, as this makes it easier to put them back together later and gives better resilience to the finished product.Once the side of the fabric was sewn, I began sewing the outer shell, using the exact same method as before, with a larger piece of linen, folded and sewn into the padding, creating a single piece. complete.You can see that again, only about 5mm of the linen edge remains.As you can see, there are two stitches on this side of the piece – this is intentional, as separating the stitches creates a sturdier edge of the material. It’s also easy to distinguish the inside and the case, as the double stitching is visible on only one side of the piece. This way, when you put the gambesons together, you can easily assemble them the right way without having to wonder which side is which. , like I did with the front end. Now, after creating and finishing the individual pieces, I’ve got three gambeson pieces that need to be stitched together. I did it by sewing the edges of the pieces together, like this:Note, this time I sewed close to the edge of the material. This is why I made the linen sections larger than the padding, so when I sew it together the linen can be sewn together separately without having to punch the needle through the padding, This creates a tighter, sturdier stitch and makes it far more elastic and easier to move, once the armor is finished.After the stitching was done, I flipped the assembled pieces over. I sewed it together, when they were “inside out”, so that when it was “out”, the seam was hidden, like with all clothes.Read more: how to go from dx12 to dx11I built the arms the same way, just don’t attach them to the main part of the gambeson- they will instead. I don’t have a tailor but I’ve had no problems with them) and are much more durable than decorative sewn ones. There’s also more freedom of movement, without any restrictions on your arms. They also provide a convenient ventilation system, something very important when wearing armor! To make the lanyard, I had to make a so-called “agilet” hole, through which the laces would come out. I made them with nails, and then widened the holes using a pencil:Remember to make holes at least 2cm from the edge! This is to ensure that they won’t create a tear through your armor, which is what happens if you do them too close to the edge.Then I used linen thread to sew around the hole, using a jump stitch – this way the hole is made bigger and more durable, but not only that – it looks better! The same border was also placed on the front piece of my gambeson, to lace it together. You can use straps instead, but lanyards are much cheaper and so I used this option instead. Currently, quilting is usually done BEFORE the pieces are sawed together, as it can cause shrinkage. I did it my way instead, as my stripes are spaced far apart, so there is no shrinkage on the material. The reason why I stretch my straps is twice as wide. Firstly – it’s easier and takes half the time, compared to if I do it all together. Second – as a less skilled fighter I almost wear armor that takes less time to craft and is therefore cheaper. Then I sew along those lines, making sure the fabric doesn’t move as I do. Tight and sturdy stitching makes the armor stiffer, more resilient and gives the final look. Homely!Finally, using leather shoelaces available from any cobbler/shoe repair point, I laced up and stitched all of my armor together, to create a complete gambeson. It took almost two months to make and was painful in the thumb, but it was all worth it if I now have my own authentic gambeson, ready for battle!I hope you enjoyed this post until next time!!! Read more: Green hell how to save