Chain shirt sag

[Leganoth]

Well as you all know, chain shirts with long sleeves tend to sag on your forearm. any way to fix this problem i dont want a wizards sleeve  and itd be too much to tuck into gloves

[Sir Brian]

If it’s butted maille you can tailor it a bit by removing some links, same principle if it’s riveted except it will be more labor intensive and requires the appropriate tool for the rivets. A simple and expedient method whether your mail is steel or aluminum is to snip the excess links and lace the gap closed with hemp, leather or corded laces. 

[Sir Wolf]

ya i tailored my sleeves as well. i hated the sag look.

[Sir Edward]

Absolutely, if you can manage it, you want to fix this. Almost all off-the-rack mail these days has tube sleeves. To fit correctly, they need to taper from the shoulder to a thinner size at the elbow, and can be a thinner tube for the forearm.

I call it the "wings of mail" problem, because of how they can flap about.

The main reason they don't taper them for you is that everyone has different sized arms, particularly when you take into account different amounts of padding that you might wear with it.

The biggest mistake you can make is to take out too much material. We all do this the first time, if we're not careful. You need to leave enough material to allow the elbow to flex. I STRONGLY recommend test-fitting by using a lace or butt-links to pinch together a portion of the sleeve where you intend to cut out material, and try it on over whatever foundation garments you use (whether gambeson or just a shirt, or whatever). You'll find that you can't bend your elbows if you try to be too aggressive about it. Remember to do the removal on the underside of the arm, from the armpit to the elbow at a diagonal taper, and then a straight line on the underside of the forearm if the sleeves are that long.

Once you know where you can make your "cuts", you can then go and remove material by undoing the rings as Sir Brian mentioned, and then close the new seam. This is actually easier than making your own mail, in that the pattern is already laid out for you. Even though you'll work on a diagonal, re-adding the links to close the seam is pretty straightforward and doesn't take too long. It'll only be confusing if you haven't worked with mail much.

If you're using riveted mail, I'd recommend erring on the side of taking out too little, rather than too much. You can always adjust again later. I'd still close the seam with butt-links either way, as it'll be hidden on the underside of the arm and will make the work go quickly. Too much room for mistakes with rivets. Or, as Sir Brian mentioned, you can just lace the seam shut.

In the end it makes a huge difference in how the armor fits and moves with you. It'll be more comfortable and look better too.

[Sir Rodney]

The biggest mistake you can make is to take out too much material. We all do this the first time, if we're not careful.

Don't I know it. 

[Sir Edward]

The biggest mistake you can make is to take out too much material. We all do this the first time, if we're not careful.

Don't I know it. 

I know, seriously. I was super careful, and still ended up putting links back in.

[Sir Brian]

The biggest mistake you can make is to take out too much material. We all do this the first time, if we're not careful.

Don't I know it. 

I know, seriously. I was super careful, and still ended up putting links back in.

The primary problem in all actuality is you generally know how you want the shirt to fit but you can’t accomplish the needed adjustments while you wear it and have to guess when either having someone else wear it or having it on an armor stand, or you have to rely upon someone else’s comprehension skills after you try to convey your desirable outcome of said tailoring attempt.

[SirNathanQ]

With the shirt I have coming in, I plan to use cords to keep everything close. one on the middle of the bicep, another on the elbow, cut excess and lace forearms, and another cord on wrist. You see period images of cords actually threaded through the armour tying it down.

[Sir William]

Sir Brian actually uses cord to bring his mail in tight- he showed it to me and I liked the look of it.  You can't tell that it has bell sleeves...which is exactly what I'm working with now.  Too lazy to tailor, think I'll go the cord route until I can get a shirt made custom.

[Thorsteinn]

In period it was common to tie in the mail just above the elbow as I recall.

[SirNathanQ]

You can also see it at the wrist and I think (I may be wrong here) at the bicep. Mathew Paris's Drawing of a Praying Crusader (1250) has them.

[Leganoth]

Oh god that seems as if it would be confusing, I would rather have someone whos done it before do it for me, but i dont know anyone like that

[SirNathanQ]

I'm sorry, I was dead wrong. Matthew Paris's piece lacks any arm ties.  However, I did find that the late 13th century, the effigy of Sir William de Valence does have lacing at the wrists and elbow.

[Sir Ulrich]

Most off the shelf maille is baggy, not really that much of a problem if you're using a short sleeved haubergeon but if you want to do a full hauberk like me it can be a bit of a problem. I suggest if you're doing butted maille to tailor it, that shouldn't take too much time as I used to make TONS of that stuff back in my first days. Just keep in mind you gotta keep some slack so you can move around your arms.

I think I'm going to do the arm tie for my maille as well it's relatively tailored but fits pretty well. Just need someone experienced to show it to me in person, unless I'll do some trial and error next time I wear it.

[SirNathanQ]

well my GDFB hauberk just arrived yesterday, and it really is not bad at all. The biggest alteration to the sleeves will actually be to remove some of the length (Sometimes I find it will almost fall into my palms!)

But it should be easy. Working with Riveted flat ring maille is much easier than I thought it would be. I already added a horseman's slit in about 45 minutes yesterday.