Show Us Your Kits and Harnesses! -- myArmoury.com

Aleksei Sosnovski · Posted: Thu 24 Mar, 2011 11:27 pm Post subject:

Ellison D, what strikes when looking at your armor is:
- fauld looks too wide and tassets seem to be out of place due to that.
- greaves are too "thick" at the ankle. This is probably the most wide-spread problem of reproduction armor.
- gauntlets seem too big for that style of armor, another common mistake of reproduction armors.
- spaulders don't cover enough area and resulting open gaps at the shoulders are very good (for your opponent that is, not for you )

All above-written is my personal opinion. And sorry for criticizing your armor. I did not mean that it is bad, I just wanted to point out what could be improved to make it even better.

Dan Rosen · Posted: Fri 25 Mar, 2011 12:00 am Post subject:

Here's my soft kit.

I have a morion, English bill, and sword but I don't have a good picture of me with them.

My target is English common man late 1570's-1580's. The linen canvas doublet, wool breeches, and wool cloth hose were all patterned and fully hand-sewn by me. The shirt, shoes, and hat were made by other but did finishing work by hand on them. Ideally they'll be replaced by hand-sewn stuff down the road too.

Robert Hinds · Posted: Mon 28 Mar, 2011 9:16 pm Post subject:

Glennan Carnie · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 2:02 am Post subject:

Dan Rosen · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 8:51 am Post subject:

Thank you Robert and Glennan!

I improve and develop further my pattern each year; I'm self taught so I figure out the tricks and how to apply the period nuances slowly. The doublet is definitely too low yes , but it's not always exactly at the natural waist in every primary source image I've seen either.

There are several things I'd fix on this one. The center front does end right at my bellybutton and rises closer to the natural waist at the sides and back- I tried to make the front dip a little lower as some of the earlier period doublets in Patterns of Fashion.

As for the hose, there's a good chance the next pair of those will be fuller at well. This pair was 20-30" inches larger than my waistline originally and then pleated in. I'm working on a massive pair of unpaned woolen trunkhose that end about my mid-thigh at the moment. There's around six or seven feet of material horizontally in them!

Glennan Carnie · Posted: Tue 29 Mar, 2011 12:19 pm Post subject:

Dan,

I've come to realise there's no such thing as a 'perfect' garment - there's always something 'I'll get better next time'!

If it's any consolation my first pair of mid-16th Century trunk hose only got worn once before I realised how wrong they were and they were 'retired'. And they were completely hand-sewn, too.

We live and learn.

Norbert Keller · Posted: Sun 03 Apr, 2011 3:57 am Post subject:

Hi there!

Here are some fresh pictures of my kit Happy

Chris Kelson · Posted: Mon 04 Apr, 2011 7:17 am Post subject:

Norbert Keller · Posted: Mon 04 Apr, 2011 12:19 pm Post subject:

Hi there!

Thank you very much! Happy

They are made by the tailor of our team. The material is -somewhat thicker- cotton. Feels and looks like 100% cotton, but I think it's sewed together with some modern material for streching, nothing special, just need to walk with eyes opened wide in shops.

Chris Kelson · Posted: Tue 05 Apr, 2011 2:32 pm Post subject:

Interesting, some might complain that it isn't wool, but considering the difficulty that at least I have had in getting a wool that is both affordable (a big problem, a lot of supposedly more accurate and appropriate wools cost so much I can't actually afford to experiment on my meager budget) and works properly to get that tight but stretchy fit, I find that quite understandable that your group has gone for a different route to get the look right.

Norbert Keller · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 12:57 am Post subject:

Hi!

Well, in my opinion, you just can't craft that tight hoses from wool, what fits well too (but tightness would be the goal, considering the fashion of that age). And considering the fact, we mostly wear those in summer, I wouldn't like to wear woolen cloth, apart from my cape.

Glennan Carnie · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 2:09 am Post subject:

Stuart Thompson · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 2:17 am Post subject:

Excellent pic's Glen Big Grin

great impression.

Chuck Russell · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 3:30 am Post subject:

Mikael Ranelius · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 3:41 am Post subject:

Norbert Keller · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 3:53 am Post subject:

Hi!

Nice kits, Glennan! Are your hoses made from linen too? I also had one, but it always had been tore/ripped (dont know which word fits better in English) near the line of the seam, didn"t work at me, so after that, I switched to cotton.

Of course, I can miss, I don't have such routine yet. Perhaps later I will try out wool hoses (and will pray for unusual summer days with less than 35 Celsius degrees Happy

)

Edit:

Glennan Carnie · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 5:44 am Post subject:

Randall Moffett · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 8:18 am Post subject:

Glennan,

I'd love to hear about the linen hose and your thoughts on them. We have not tried going back to linen hose since we moved to mostly wool outer clothing. The other day I came across a large order for linen hose in Ireland and made me want to give it a try again. That said I think we have gotten it for wool hose.

I found one of the biggest improvements was ditching the string ties on my braes for a belted version.

RPM

Glennan Carnie · Posted: Wed 06 Apr, 2011 8:33 am Post subject:

Hi Randall,

Linen hose work fine as long as you tailor them properly. The trick (or skill) is to understand where the leg changes shape when it moves (for example - the knee) and allow movement for that, and where the leg shape remains unchanged during movement..

I don't want to give too much away - consider it the Mysteries of the Hosier!

The biggest problem with linen hose is getting them on and off without splitting them - particularly as linen tightens up as it gets wet!

Like you, I moved from a string to a proper leather breech girdle to hold my breeches up. The difference in comfort is remarkable!

(EDIT - Just realised we've hit 1000 posts; and with a comment about comfortable underwear! Woot!)

J. E. Hyväri · Posted: Thu 07 Apr, 2011 2:17 am Post subject:

We do not have very hot summers here in Finland, but last summer we participated in Poland to the 600 years anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald / Tannenberg / Zalgiris. It was close to 40 degrees celcius and moist, but people coped well in their woollen hosen. It was the armour some guys were struggling with.
(Great battle and fun event. Dozens of mounted knights, tartar and livonian mounted archers, some 20 cannons, dosezens of handgonnes, hundreds of archers, of the over 2000 warriors + some 200 000 spectators. The noise alone was incredible.) Here is a link to the official site, with a lot of pictures and in them people wearing wool:

http://www.grunwald1410.pl/index.php?art=10114

One good thing about fashion prior to mid 15th century is that when it gets too hot, you can roll down your hosen to knee high Razz

. I is a bit like the medieval equvelance to shorts. The trick in making fitting wool hosen is to cut the cloth in about 45 degrees to the line of thread. This will increase the strecthc, though whith quality wool this is not necessary. I would not recommend anyone to make hosen from linnen or cotton, because they are not stretching materials, nor authentic for the purpose.

This here below is a link to a picture of my 14th century finnish peasant warrior kit. The picture is not taken in Poland (where I used my full armour), rather here in Finland on an ancient hill fort of Kapatuosia. The hosen are loose around the ankles, because they are rolled down, but if they are fastened at the hip, they fit perfectly:

http://saariad1389.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p7230257.jpg