Captain of the Anarquendor - part 2
Last time, we focused mainly on the undershirts of the costume. Now we continue with the gambeson!
When wearing any kind of armour, it's nice to have a padded gambeson to protect your skin. It makes wearing the armour more comfortable, as there are no sharp corners poking into any unmentionable bits. (Armpits. I personally think they should not be mentioned in polite conversation very often)
A padded coat, which is basically what a gambeson is, will also have the added bonus of keeping you warm, keeping your skivvies out of sight, and, very importantly, distribute the impact of an oncoming sword on a larger bit of skin.
Of course, I'm making a costume for a larp, and generally speaking we don't see many real swords, although those Germans do have a habit of aiming for the head.
Mostly, I just want a padded coat under my chainmail because aluminium will chafe.
Hurrah! My fabrics are here!
Thanks to a link on a friend's LJ I found these lovely emerald greens. The dupioni caught my eye straight away, and I couldn't resist it. The linen was exactly the same shade. Well, on the website at least.
At first I thought that a dupioni gambeson would be a great idea. Everyone knows silk is sturdy, right? Luckily, before I spent a fortune on dupioni I asked the nice people over on advanced_sewing and those comments persuaded me to see reason. Dupioni shreds, apparantly. Into tiny smithereens.
So the silk doesn't match the linen. But I had already bought linen at the market for an overcoat. Let's see...
The rings match none of them very well. But lucky, lucky, and lucky again. These green rings aren't the only rings in the chainmail...
Now this is the point where you're probably picking up your jaw from somewhere below the keyboard...
Yes that's the chainmail. I'm using gold and green rings in a "Japanese" pattern. More on that next diary, I promise!
Honest!
As you can see, it doesn't really matter what colour the gambeson is, because the main colour of the chainmail will be gold. The green will just fade into the background. The only reason I will wear a green gambeson instead of a black one is that it'll be more elvish.
So now it's pattern time!
I drafted a pattern, again from the basic block. Please note that I drafted these patterns in April, back before you all gave me some excellent advice on sleeve shapes. This was also before I happened to work on the undershirts, so at this time I had no idea that the pattern ease I was using would not be sufficient for a high-energy jumping-and-bouncing-around article of clothing.
Marking the waistline, just to see if that's at the right height.
I chose to include a continuous rolled collar. When I was assembling the gambeson I realised these never work for me. I always have to fudge the seam allowance near the shoulder seam and it never really works out. As you can see...
Moment of truth!
Yes, as we knew it would be. The darned thing is too small and my boobs are too big once again. Story of my life. I have a waistline you could bake eggs on but the ladies... *sigh*
And do you see the green basting thread I used to mark the waistline? Well, hello there... what are you doing up so high?
That's what shooting bow will do for you, even if my technique is horribly off in this picture.
Back to the drawing board. Like with the undershirts, I draft again but with more ease. I also add a different collar.
More waistline marking...
The fabric I'm using for Mock-up #2 has absolutely no stretch at all, just like the polyester I used for mock-up #1, but this cotton sateen also has some holes. Well, it's just a toile, right?
Hey look, the Epic pose is working...
And so is shooting bow!
I made a mistake in drafting the sleeves and the cap is too high and also too wide. The surplus of fabric is heaping up at the sleeve head, which you can really see in these pictures.
After I made this mock-up, I drafted a new sleeve head for the undershirt as well, so I can re-use that for the gambeson. With the addition of the gusset, (thank you all!), I'm confident I'm sure it's even better.
I'm very happy with the second mock-up. It's comfortable, I can move around in it and when I'm not posing dramatically it will drape well and is flattering. Even if it's not historical (it wasn't meant to be, since I'm an elf) or fitting well for couture garments, I'm sure nobody will mind once I put my chainmail on over it.
The last thing to do before I can start on the 'real' gambeson is pre-washing the fabrics. I iron them dry, which makes them easier to store for now.
Next time I will show you how the chainmail is progressing. Because yes, I am crazy and am building that myself as well.
Crossposted to my own journal
When wearing any kind of armour, it's nice to have a padded gambeson to protect your skin. It makes wearing the armour more comfortable, as there are no sharp corners poking into any unmentionable bits. (Armpits. I personally think they should not be mentioned in polite conversation very often)
A padded coat, which is basically what a gambeson is, will also have the added bonus of keeping you warm, keeping your skivvies out of sight, and, very importantly, distribute the impact of an oncoming sword on a larger bit of skin.
Of course, I'm making a costume for a larp, and generally speaking we don't see many real swords, although those Germans do have a habit of aiming for the head.
Mostly, I just want a padded coat under my chainmail because aluminium will chafe.
Hurrah! My fabrics are here!
Thanks to a link on a friend's LJ I found these lovely emerald greens. The dupioni caught my eye straight away, and I couldn't resist it. The linen was exactly the same shade. Well, on the website at least.
At first I thought that a dupioni gambeson would be a great idea. Everyone knows silk is sturdy, right? Luckily, before I spent a fortune on dupioni I asked the nice people over on advanced_sewing and those comments persuaded me to see reason. Dupioni shreds, apparantly. Into tiny smithereens.
So the silk doesn't match the linen. But I had already bought linen at the market for an overcoat. Let's see...
The rings match none of them very well. But lucky, lucky, and lucky again. These green rings aren't the only rings in the chainmail...
Now this is the point where you're probably picking up your jaw from somewhere below the keyboard...
Yes that's the chainmail. I'm using gold and green rings in a "Japanese" pattern. More on that next diary, I promise!
Honest!
As you can see, it doesn't really matter what colour the gambeson is, because the main colour of the chainmail will be gold. The green will just fade into the background. The only reason I will wear a green gambeson instead of a black one is that it'll be more elvish.
So now it's pattern time!
I drafted a pattern, again from the basic block. Please note that I drafted these patterns in April, back before you all gave me some excellent advice on sleeve shapes. This was also before I happened to work on the undershirts, so at this time I had no idea that the pattern ease I was using would not be sufficient for a high-energy jumping-and-bouncing-around article of clothing.
Marking the waistline, just to see if that's at the right height.
I chose to include a continuous rolled collar. When I was assembling the gambeson I realised these never work for me. I always have to fudge the seam allowance near the shoulder seam and it never really works out. As you can see...
Moment of truth!
Yes, as we knew it would be. The darned thing is too small and my boobs are too big once again. Story of my life. I have a waistline you could bake eggs on but the ladies... *sigh*
And do you see the green basting thread I used to mark the waistline? Well, hello there... what are you doing up so high?
That's what shooting bow will do for you, even if my technique is horribly off in this picture.
Back to the drawing board. Like with the undershirts, I draft again but with more ease. I also add a different collar.
More waistline marking...
The fabric I'm using for Mock-up #2 has absolutely no stretch at all, just like the polyester I used for mock-up #1, but this cotton sateen also has some holes. Well, it's just a toile, right?
Hey look, the Epic pose is working...
And so is shooting bow!
I made a mistake in drafting the sleeves and the cap is too high and also too wide. The surplus of fabric is heaping up at the sleeve head, which you can really see in these pictures.
After I made this mock-up, I drafted a new sleeve head for the undershirt as well, so I can re-use that for the gambeson. With the addition of the gusset, (thank you all!), I'm confident I'm sure it's even better.
I'm very happy with the second mock-up. It's comfortable, I can move around in it and when I'm not posing dramatically it will drape well and is flattering. Even if it's not historical (it wasn't meant to be, since I'm an elf) or fitting well for couture garments, I'm sure nobody will mind once I put my chainmail on over it.
The last thing to do before I can start on the 'real' gambeson is pre-washing the fabrics. I iron them dry, which makes them easier to store for now.
Next time I will show you how the chainmail is progressing. Because yes, I am crazy and am building that myself as well.
Crossposted to my own journal