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Reinforcing points on arming clothes

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Sir James A:
What tools are required?

A seam ripper (if removing existing points)
A hole punch / awl
Leather for reinforcing points
Laces/Points (if you have none)

Why do this?

A common point of failure on arming clothes is "tear out" by the arming points. The leading causes of it are heavy plate legs or mail that is tied too tightly and pulls on the points when doing extended movement. To try to minimize this, reinforcing tabs are used. Sometimes they are sewn directly to the garment, sometimes they are held directly to the garment by the points. Typically the "two hole" points will be sewn directly to the garment, and the "four hole" points will be held on by the point.

Is it period / historically based?

Pointing is not only a highly adjustable and versatile way to attach armor, it is also a period method of attaching items to a "foundation garment". From "How a Man Shall Be Armed":


--- Quote ---The doublet must be strongly built and the points must be set about the bend of the arms. And the breast before and behind and the gussets of mail must be sown unto the doublet in the bend of the arm. And under the arm the arming points must be made of fine twine, such as men make for crossbow strings and they must be trussed small and pointed as points
--- End quote ---

Shoe laces are not a period point (though they are cheap/convenient); for a more accurate point, I recommend the Historic Enterprises waxed points with metal aglets; the process for them is simple, and I will cover that in another tutorial. This tutorial shows the points the arming coat came with; they will be replaced.

How Do I Do This?

If you have existing points, remove them. Use a seam ripper to carefully break the thread holding the tab to the garment. I prefer to work from the "leather" side, as it is easy to differentiate the thread holding the leather on from the garment itself.



If you had no points on the garment before, this is where you start. We have a clean slate. You will need a helper to position your armor on you so that the points will be in the most appropriate place. You can use a single arming coat for multiple sets of armor; to do so, there are two options: (1) ensure that your points are placed at the HIGHEST point necessary and use longer points, or (2) add multiple sets of points.



Now, mark your 4 holes to attach the tabs with. Once the holes have been punched, we can attach the tab. Start by folding the lace in half, and lacing each half through one side of the tab (this part is underneath the tab in this picture). Then, pass the laces through the outside of the garment to the inside, and back outside again. The leather tab is sitting upside-down in this picture to clarify how the lacing sits.



Now, simply flip the tab face-up and pull the laces through the 2 empty holes on the tab, like this.



Repeat for any other necessary points, such as multiple leg points, chausse points, etc.



To finish off the points, you can tie them so they do not loosen while armor isn't attached to them. When you tie them, tie them tight enough to hold them firmly in place, but not so tight that it folds the leather or fabric. I have dual points for my legs, points for my arms, and points for my shoulders. This is how the coat looks.



Seeing the picture reinforces that my next project should be some sit-ups....

I've found the four-hole method to be much better. It allows the arming tabs to be removed for machine washing (IF your garment can be machine washed!!). It also spreads the load across four points of stress instead of two, and by the "loop" of the point being at the leather instead of the fabric, the majority of the load is carried on the leather, instead of the fabric - which is exactly what we want.

Final Notes

The leather tabs are from Historic Enterprises (http://historicenterprises.com/).
* If you want to make your own tabs, leather, leather punches, and a "pattern" for the leather tab can all be acquired from Brettuns Village Leather (http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/).

The arming coat is from Revival Clothing (http://revivalclothing.com/).

Period style waxed points can be bought at Historic Enterprises (http://historicenterprises.com/).

Sir Wolf:
very nice  8)

Sir Patrick:
Thanks for posting!

Sir Brian:
Well done and thanks for adding this! I might be able to add a little bit of info onto this if you don't mind with adding arming points onto gambesons. I'm currently adding arming points to my new revival clothing linen gambeson for my MT shoulder cops. ;)

Ian:

--- Quote from: Sir Brian on 2011-12-28, 18:34:43 ---Well done and thanks for adding this! I might be able to add a little bit of info onto this if you don't mind with adding arming points onto gambesons. I'm currently adding arming points to my new revival clothing linen gambeson for my MT shoulder cops. ;)

--- End quote ---

My wife went through several leather needles trying to sew points to the shoulders of the revival linen gambeson.  It's extremely layered at the shoulder joint.  We found it's best to go very slow and methodically or plan on breaking a few needles.  Eventually we got it, but it's a test of patience.  Well, who am I kidding, eventually she got it, lol.  The thickness of the garment at the location where I neded the points really precluded hand sewing.

Sir James, great guide!

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