Medieval Gambeson Costume

My cosplay buddy does an amazing array of fun things, including medieval longsword fighting.

As a novice, apparently, you aren't allowed to have armour or a real sword to start with. But you can wear armour padding (and I would think this would be a good idea anyway).

So my friend looked into it and discovered that she didn't like what was on offer. She asked me if I could make her one. After some research of my own, I figured that I could.

It's called a gambeson. Wikipedia says that a gambeson (or aketon or padded jack or arming doublet) is a padded defensive jacket, worn as armour separately, or combined with mail or plate armour. Gambesons were produced with a sewing technique called quilting. Usually constructed of linen or wool, the stuffing varied, and could be for example scrap cloth or horse hair. 

My instructions were:

• thigh-length
• as thick as I could make it
• full-length sleeves
• underarm holes
• ties up the front
• stiff, stand-up collar

This picture from Pinterest was the template that we both decided on, but in blue:

To further complicate it, the materials had to look like they would have been available in Medieval times, as the gambeson would be worn at events where there were rules about appearance. 

But added to that: people were going to be hitting this fabric with swords. How do you make something that tough?!

I pondered this and decided on a type of denim for the outer layer. Denim is made from cotton, and this was finer than that used for jeans. It passes the test on a visual level.
Two layers of wadding in the middle.
And a third layer attached to pre-quilted, soft denim for the inside.

This was as much as would pass through my Janome machine, which is not a commercial sewing machine.

You can get patterns for gambesons, but I'm using patterns less and less as I find that they don't fit people's bodies the way that the stupid, annoying pieces of paper say they should.

So I cut a paper pattern off a slim-fitting coat that I owned (she is smaller than me) and started pinning. 
I laid out all four layers and pinned them all over with safety pins so there was less chance of movement, and then laid the pattern over this. My scissors didn't like cutting through that much fabric and cotton, but it was better than cutting out four individual layers and trying to make them match up.

I made the garment in 6 different pieces:

• collar
• back panel
• front left panel
• front right panel
• left arm
• right arm

I cut the big pieces out first, to make best use of my materials, and then cut the sleeves out on the leftovers. There was still big enough "scraps" to make both sleeves and the collar.

I quilted the pieces together (like a sandwich) with parallel lines, all vertical except for the horizontal midriff section on the body of the coat. 

Every edge was overlocked, using the stitch on my sewing machine (I didn't have an overlocker at this stage). I then bound all of the edges with bias tape that I made myself as well, to seal them properly. Then it was a matter of joining the pieces together.

There is a gap from mid-waist down to knees, so that the coat will wrap around to the back and fit better. This also prevented the material bunching up too much when the side laces were tightened. You can see the wrap in the photo above.

There are laces up both sides of the gambeson, to make it more fitted and pull it in tighter. You don't want the tip of a sword catching in anything. I made all of the ties with twice doubled-over strips of navy cotton bias tape.

The closures on the front made me swear. It took me months to find bar and loop closure that I was happy with, that emulated bone. But when I tried to sew them on my machine snapped several needles trying to get through the glue in the middle of the them! So I gave up and put ties on instead.

The wrap around to one shoulder was unplanned, but it worked out for the best. She can leave the top couple of ties undone to walk around normally, but tie it all the way up to spar.

The final touch was a blessing. Armour back then was often inscribed with crosses or blessings, for the protection of the wearer. My friend is a European Knight-in-training, so I wanted it to be as relevant as possible. I decided on a variation of a bible verse:
But he walked through them, all the way.
It's from Luke 4:30, when Jesus was attacked and the mob tried to throw him off a cliff, but he just walked away and no-one could touch him.

It sounded like the kind of thing you might associate with knights and battle. I wrote it on a scrap of white with a fabric marker, and left the edges of the material ragged, like it was old cloth. I sewed it on the inside of the back with a cross.

It broke a few needles, this project, but I was very happy with how it turned out:

Final product on the woman herself (who wishes to remain anonymous he he he):