• General Notes
• Disclaimer
• Fabrics and Gambesons
• View I
• View II
• View III
• View IV
• View V
• View VI
• View VII
• View VIII
• View IX
• View X
• View XI
• Links

General Notes

First, my qualifications to make these statements: I have been an authorized SCA heavy weapons fighter for just under twelve years now (as of January, 2002 CE) and a marshal (Middle Kingdom) and a chirurgeon for seven. I have fought in tourneys and wars in seven kingdoms, against opponents from all the kingdoms, and both fought and marshaled at most of the "major wars." I have seen and fought against everything from the traditional Tu-Chuk bikini and kidney belt to Maximilian plate armor. I am male; I have trained both male and female fighters.

I have also played briefly with a live-steel group. Some of what I’m saying applies to them as well.

The most important thing is to make sure your armor fits properly. In my experience, more injuries are caused by ill-fitting armor than almost any other source.

My philosophy of armor design and manufacture is that safety must come first, last, and always. After that, authenticity of appearance, fighting effectiveness, and avoiding pain come in as factors, in an order to be determined by the individual fighter.

I recommend, in all cases, unless you are yourself both an experienced tailor/seamstress and an experienced fighter and marshal (and sometimes even if you are), that you make what some seamstresses call a "sloper pattern" before you touch your more expensive fabric. This is a version of the garment made of the cheapest fabric readily available in order to try it on and see where adjustments are needed. Go to the fabric store and find the cheapest fabric they have on sale – you’re not going to wear the sloper pattern in public, so what do you care if it’s covered in yellow rubber duckies?

This sloper pattern can also be put on and shown to your local marshal for his/her opinion ("If this were of x material, what would you think?"), before you have touched (and potentially ruined) your more expensive fabric.

If you wish to contact me, either to ask me a question or to comment on my notes here, my email address is vlad@sewingcentral.com . If something’s unclear, please tell me and ask me questions. If this has helped you, please tell me. If you (or your local/regional/principality/Earl marshal) think I’m full of it, please tell me, and tell me why, so that I can make these pages better. I don’t promise to agree with anything anyone sends me, but I do promise to read it.

--Lord Vladyslav de Jaffa, APF, Esq.

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Disclaimer

This document represents the opinions of Lord Vladyslav de Jaffa/Doug Browne, and him alone. This is not an opinion from your Crown or Earl Marshal. Unless you live in the Middle Kingdom, this is not an opinion from a marshal warranted in your kingdom. In any case, consult your local marshal. All armor must be inspected by a marshal before you may use it on the field, whether you are King or commoner.

Before you make any armor, you need to check the rules for armor in your Kingdom. Chances are, you can find these rules on line -- look in the Links section of this document. Consult your local marshal.

No liability is assumed by Sewing Central, The Merlion’s Tale, Lady Elisee du Lyonnais/Ms. Lisa Browne, or Lord Vladyslav de Jaffa/Mr. Douglas Browne for what you do with these patterns and/or advice.

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Fabrics and Gambesons

I strongly recommend making your gambeson out of cotton or linen. Both are period fabrics for much of Europe (by the mid-13^th century, Italian merchants were buying the entire Egyptian cotton crop – Janet Abu-Luhgod, Before European Hegemony : The World System A.D. 1250-1350), and it has several advantages: it is cool, it breathes, it can be machine-washed, it breathes, and it is cool.

Light wool fabric, believe it or not, is actually one of the better fabrics to use as well. It breathes and can be machine-washed, and it wicks away sweat rather well, leaving you much cooler than you’d think from wool. 10,000 Scotsmen can’t be entirely wrong, can they?

Either of those fabrics is much better than most synthetics. If you must have synthetic fabric to achieve your desired appearance (it’s this gorgeous brocade…), I strongly suggest lining it with cotton.

A fairly nice sleeved gambeson. Wouldn’t mind having one of these myself… The plates over the hip area are a godsend. This area, right above your leg armor and right below your body armor, is a rattan magnet. I don’t care how good you are, you will get hit there at some point, and those hip shots that miss the plates hurt. An armored skirt of some sort like this is also the only practical way I’ve seen to armor your buttocks against wrap shots.

Note that the plates, if used, do not cover the kidney area and that this, thus, does not, by itself, meet minimum armor standards for body armor anywhere in the Known World. No matter what kingdom you live in, you must have "hard over soft" protection over your kidneys and your cervical spine (upper spine area, typically covered by a gorget). Some Kingdoms have more stringent requirements -- check them out before you build armor.

I recommend adding extra padding (which it tells you to do at this point) around the kidney area and on the sides if your "hard armor" does not include such padding. Society armor rules require one quarter inch of foam or the equivalent under hard protection over the floating ribs and kidneys. Please note that the kidneys are not right above the belt line, where many fighters wear their "kidney belts": they are just below the bottom of the rib cage, in back and on the sides.

I also recommend adding padding and/or plates where you tend to get hit, unless this will substantially hinder movement. This should be obvious; my years of teaching fighters have convinced me that it’s not.

I recommend leaving out the underarm gusset in favor of leaving this open, particularly if you fight in a comparatively warm climate (Note: personally, I consider anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere and South of the Mason-Dixon line to be in this category). This is period (it’s a documented practice among Crusaders), and the venting this creates will help keep you from overheating.

Yes, it is theoretically true, a sufficiently hard blow that hits just right under the arm can kill (there are clusters of blood vessels here around the lymph nodes). However, not only has no one ever been killed that way in SCA combat, but one layer of cloth will not protect you against such a blow. While many Special Forces soldiers have allegedly been trained in this killing technique, I do not believe that it is a likely threat on the field of SCA combat.  Consult your local marshal.

A similar gambeson, with no undersleeves and with the addition of a "renal belt" (kidney belt). The plates over the hip area are still a godsend. This area, right above your leg armor and right below your body armor, is a rattan magnet. I don’t care how good you are, you will get hit there at some point, and those hip shots that miss the plates hurt. Some kind of armored skirt is also the only practical way I’ve seen to armor your buttocks against wrap shots.

If you are planning on using this pattern as your only body armor, you must, no matter what kingdom you live in, add extra padding (which it tells you to do at this point) around the kidney area on your back and on the sides. Society armor rules require the equivalent of one quarter inch of closed-cell foam under hard protection over the kidneys. Please note that the kidneys are not right over the belt line, where many fighters wear their "kidney belts": they are just below the bottom of the rib cage, in back and on the sides.

If you are planning on using this pattern as your only body armor, check out your Kingdom rules in the Links section of this document. Consult your local marshal.  You will also need, at a minimum, "elbow cops" (hard protection over your elbows) and some hard protection on your wrists and neck, depending on your gauntlets and helm, respectively. I strongly recommend some "hard" forearm protection and hard protection on the shoulders and collarbones.

Note also that "women are strongly recommended to wear a one-piece breastplate, made from at least heavy leather, that covers all soft tissue to minimize the risk of transmitting impact directly to the breast and underlying tissue." – West Kingdom Marshallate rules, but the advice applies anywhere.

I also recommend adding padding and/or plates where you tend to get hit, unless this will substantially hinder movement. This should be obvious; my years of teaching fighters have convinced me that it’s not.

Make sure, before you build this, that the plates will meet your Kingdom’s armor standards for "hard protection."

This piece of armor should fit snugly but comfortably over your gambeson. If it is too loose, it will slip down, leaving you vulnerable to serious damage (you can survive with one kidney or with spinal damage, but shock may kill you and I guarantee that either injury will, at a minimum, severely cramp your style). Make the gambeson first, and wear the completed gambeson for fitting the renal belt.

This is an interesting gambeson. The crotch piece gives it the High and Late Middle Ages "codpiece look," and could actually be quite functional. Make absolutely certain that piece 4 is cut right: the inside upper thighs are NOT where you want to be rubbed raw by fabric and/or leather (or, if you do, you’re not my type, go bother someone else :-).

This armor does not, however, have the hip plates of views 1 and 2.

Note the convenient fact that piece 4 opens in the front and is easy to reach: if you never have to use the rest room while you’re in armor, you’re not drinking nearly enough water. Make sure that the fastenings for it are secure, however, for reasons that will become obvious if you think about it (if they don’t, email me and I’ll explain…).

One interesting note for women: this armor could, theoretically, if piece 4 were constructed with hard-over-soft components and appropriate padding/plating were added over the kidneys and in the pelvic area, meet Society rules for a female fighter with no other torso/groin protection. Please consult your local marshal (and, if he/she is uncomfortable assisting you, other marshals and/or female fighters) before you build this gambeson with that purpose.

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Views IV and V

Note that hard-over-soft protection is still required over your knees.

Make sure that you flex in every direction you can think of while these are being fitted; I’ve seen fighting hose split at the crotch during combat, and it’s not funny. It is dangerous, especially if you don’t have your groin protection fastened to your groin by any other methods. Ouch, to say the least.

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View VI

See my notes on views IV and V.

This crotch flap is very practical for male fighters, which is why people in period used this style. As I’ve said before, if you never have to use the rest room while you’re in armor, you’re not drinking nearly enough water. Make sure that the fastenings for it are secure, however, for reasons that will become obvious if you think about it (if they don’t, email me and I’ll explain…).

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View VII

These cuisses (thigh armor) are quite practical, and period-looking, too (13^th- 14^th centuries, especially). They can be worn either alone, with a hard-material knee-cop attached, or under the "full metal legs" of later period armor. I do not recommend pockets in cuisses for anything other than your (hopefully laminated) authorization (and membership, if required) cards: getting hard objects in your pockets driven into your body, because they’re under your armor, hurts a lot.

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View VIII

A surcoat is a wonderful thing for those fighters whose body armor is not 100% period in appearance (and most of us have been there) – it can cover a multitude of sins. If you put your arms (or those of your household) on the front, you can go from "Who’s that guy who got hit with the ugly stick?" to "You look mahvelous, dahling, simply mahvelous" in one step.

The front and back slits in this design were, in the original, for riding a horse; for foot combat, such as what we do in the SCA, they’re good for movement.

This is pretty straightforward: it’s not required SCA armor, and I really don’t have any comments on it.

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View IX

A "Cyclas surcoat," or tabard. A tabard is almost as good as a surcoat (see view VIII). A tabard is the simplest covering for armor to make, but the least covering. If you’re a self-described "stick jock," this might be for you… Note that it is longer in the back than in the front; that’s on purpose to cover your buttocks.

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View X

This design is based on View VIII, not view IX. It’s a looser surcoat with a higher slit in front and back. This is a matter of personal taste, and all my comments on View VIII apply.

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View XI

This is a shorter surcoat, which is less encumbering of movement, but doesn’t hide your legs. It does, however, have sleeves that cover your shoulders and upper arms. All my comments about surcoats on View VIII still apply.

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Links

The SCA.org Combat Arts page

This has links to:

• The Society Marshal's Handbook (has general Society-wide rules, etc).
• Kingdom Standards (note that these rules are IN ADDITION to the above Society standards).
• Various articles and webpages about combat and knighthood.

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