[Paul Moore]

Hi everyone!

I haven't been on here in quite some time, so I thought that I would give an update of sorts. I was finally able to get enough pieces for my Knight's Templar costume to effectively wear it for for Halloween. Basically, I dressed up to hand out candy, lol! Now that I have had a chance to actually wear the darn thing, I noticed a few things...

The gambeson/maille combination does not really allow for as much free range of motion as I would have thought. Being in Florida, you might imagine that I was sweating a tad bit while geared up. I was having a really hard time bending my arm to get my hand near my face which made trying to drink a glass of water very cumbersome.

The maille is a little bit long on the sleeves. If I let my arms hang on my sides, the maille will droop and it extends a good bit, says 4 or 5 inches past my fingertips. Trying to wear the gloves that I bought is tough because the maille effectively 'bunches up' at the wrist and the gloves really can't fit over top of it.

For some reason, my hauberk doesn't have the slits up the front or back which makes trying to sit in a chair very difficult.

I have been researching gambesons on this site and I think I may have found the issue. The gambeson that I currently have is from Stahlgilde. It is a great piece, but I think that it was designed to be either worn over the maille or as armor by itself. I feel that if I could find a thinner gambeson to wear under my maille I could gain more range of motion and potentially allow the maille to fit better.

Anybody have any recommendations?

Also, I figured that I could just 'adjust' the length of the sleeves by letting them hang past my fingers, marking the area by my wrists, then just cut through the actual loops to remove the excess?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!

[Iagoba Ferreira]

I have this one since many years ago. Very lightly padded with cotton (the stuff aketons are made of ), several sizes avalaible, and it's possible paying a bit more to have it made to measure with the colour of your choice (I ordered my custom Roman subarmalis there too).

http://www.costumbresmedievales.com/index.php...ducts_id=9

Tested in 40° Spain. Not the same humidity of Florida...

But it is a Spanish website, I don't know if that could be a problem for you.

[Luka Borscak]

What do you have as a regular medieval clothing? Two firm tunics or one two layered have been plenty enough for me to wear for comfort under mail.

[Preben B]

https://www.medieval-market.com/

You could check these guys out, they will make entirely to your measurements and if you email them about requests and customization to current items they will do that as well, for example remove collar, no collar, different ways of closing it, longer or shorter.

They also let you chose how many layers of padding you want and have an alright choice in colors, it's not a massive amount , personally I suggest asking for color samples and they will send you an envelope of every color they got, and if lining color is important to you make sure to mention that as well, or they might just chose something.

Their turnaround time is about a month, I've often gotten my stuff faster than the original ETA, also they are running a 10% off everything sale until christmas.

I would say either one of these would be of a type fitting a crusader, same model but different patterns for the chest
One note on the neck parts, they don't have a measurement for the length of your neck/throat so I tend to opt for no neck or half-length necks from them, but I also feel I am getting choked if anything touches my throat so it may just be a "me-problem"

And make sure you specify 1 layer of padding if you want it really thin, their default is usually 2 or 3 so that gets quite thick.

https://www.medieval-market.com/details.php?id_towar=60&s=1
https://www.medieval-market.com/details.php?id_towar=514&s=1

Hope it helps you!

[Mark Moore]

I tend to agree with Luka. All I wear under my mail is a sturdy tunic and a padded high-neck arming collar, Of course I wear a steel gorget and pauldrons, so the collar makes it nice.
Have you looked at Lord of Battles gambesons on KOA? To me, they look pretty thin---more like a thick shirt. The Get Dressed for Battle models all look waaay over-stuffed. The LOB's are also padded with natural wool, whereas the GDFB's are padded with poly-fill. The wool would be much cooler.
Just my two cents, fwiw. .....McM

[Paul Moore]

OK, thanks for the quick replies everyone! Time for me to start answering some questions and fill in some gaps...

Iagoba Ferreira: Thanks for the link. I checked out the site. Thankfully, they do have a on board page translator so site navigation was a snap. The gambeson that you linked to does look relatively thin and has a good price point to match. I just need to contact them to see if it can be made in black.

Luka Borscak: To answer your question about medieval clothing, the answer is none. To be perfectly honest, what I wear as my baseline is a compression shirt and compression pants from Under Armour from their Heat Gear lineup. I understand the ironic nature of wearing Under Armour under armor, lol, but I like wearing it because it has a sheen type feel to it that allows the gambeson to slide on and off easier and is highly breathable. It also keeps the sweat locked in so it hopefully won't saturate into the gambeson as easily.

Preben B: Thanks for the link. The pictures on the site do show it to be relatively thin looking, however, I did see the section where I could customize the garment with only 1 layer of batting which should help in cutting down the thickness even further. Plus, less material should directly equate to less weight and less heat retention as well. I just need to contact them about the customization and to see if I can have the garment made in black.

Mark Moore: You always see to pop up in my posts somehow, we aren't related, are we? Lol!! Anyways, I did check out the Lord of Battle gambesons and they do have an attractive price point as well. The garment seems to me to be quite long as in that I believe that the maille will not cover the entirety of the gambeson. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing...maybe just an aesthetic reason?

Something else dawned on me as I was writing this post and going over garment sizes. When I first started this armor journey I was a much bigger person, tipping the scales at around 290lb-300lb. At the time, my overall chest dimension was 50 inches in circumference, and I remember having a hard time finding a gambeson that would, for lack of a better term, 'accommodate' me. That is why I went with the piece from Stahlgilde, as they had a XXXL version that would fit me. Due to this fact, I had chainmail Jeff custom make my haubergeon based on the outer dimensions on the gambeson, which I do believe at the time was somewhere around the 52 inch mark for the chest, 20 inch for the upper arms, etc. As of the writing of this post, however, I am currently at 245 lbs and as I measured my chest dimension I was astonished to find that it is actually closer to the 43-44 inch mark now. Obviously, this will allow me to purchase a smaller gambeson, which in turn, may allow the maille to fit better than it did previously.

Any thoughts on whether the size difference would allow my current maille to fit better if the gambeson was properly sized to me instead of being bigger?

Once again, thank you for any suggestions regarding this matter.

[Preben B]

Paul, I can confirm to you they have no problem doing it in black linen if you decide to go for them, I have samples of all their colors in front of me.
Just make sure you also ask for black lining unless you want it in another color of course, if not you risk them just picking a color for it.

I also forgot to link you this: https://www.medieval-market.com/probkimaterialow1.php?mat=1

It shows their available colors, however the thumbnails do not always represent them accurately which is why I had them send me physical samples.

As for thickness I have a gambeson from them in 1 layer of thickness and can confirm it is very nice and flexible, does not feel restrictive as long as the measurements are correct, I retain 100% effortless movement.

Sadly I can not make comments on mail size and the like, but congratulations on your weight loss!

[Kuo Xie]

Hi, you don't say what period armor you're putting together, but here is what I use for mid 14th century:

http://www.revivalclothing.com/agincourtarmingcotte.aspx

It's not really padded like a gambeson, but the linen cloth is thick and tough, almost like a canvas. It fits more closely than a gambeson, which allowed me to tailor my mail for a better fit, which in turn makes wearing additional elements over the mail much easier. The arming points along the lower edge are very handy for tying leg harness if you ever go that route.

[Mark Moore]

We could possibly be related. I'll just call you 'Cuz' from now on. ......McM

[Paul Moore]

Update:

Just wanted to let everyone know that I went ahead and ordered my better fitting (hopefully) gambeson this afternoon. I ended up going with the piece from SPES Medieval-Market (thanks Preben B) and I am just waiting for them to confirm the order and send the itemized invoice. It should take roughly 30 days to manufacture and another 30 days to get to me here in the states. Also, I just wanted to let everyone know that they have a website deal. I was in email correspondence with Michal and he told me that he has special offers for groups with a website. If this site places a logo with a link to their website than they will give a constant 5% discount. I don't know if this even applies to the site or if the moderators will allow it, but it was something that he wrote to me so I thought I would pass along this information!

Thanks again for all the help!
Paul Moore