14th Century Arming Coat Patterns?

[Sir Rodney]

I’m looking for suggestions and recommendations for a mid-fourteenth century arming coat pattern.  Here’s what I’m thinking:

I’d like to be “historically responsible” to 1350’s southern England / northern France.
Pattern recommendations are preferred because funds are tight and I can sew.
The garment will see a lot of wear and tear in SCA style rattan combat.
While the garment will not necessarily need to meet living history group standards, it would be nice to bring my game to the next level.
 
I’ve found patterns for sale from “Reconstructing History” Kass McGann and “Tailoress” Tasha Kelly, both of which seem well researched and reasonable.  Has anyone had experience with these or other patterns?

[Sir Wolf]

i made the coharde(sp?) from kass err i mean reconstructing history and it was easy.

[Sir Patrick]

I made mine from the Cote Simple website. Pretty easy.

EDIT:  White MountainArmoury site, not Cote Simple.

[Ian]

Huge vote to Tasha's pattern, here's the cote I made from it:

http://modernchivalry.org/forum/index.php/topic,2516.msg36290.html#msg36290

[Sir James A]

Second vote for Tailoress/Tasha just from the results of Sir Ian's

[Thorsteinn]

Constructing a Heavy-List Gambeson: Tips and Techniques

http://whitemountainarmoury.com/pdfs/armingCoat.pdf

[Sir Rodney]

Wow Ian, I missed your threads here and on myArmoury!  I really like the grand assiette sleeve construction.

My current rig started as a standard gambeson that I heavily modified over the years as I figured out proper body mechanics.  I still wear a single layer “pourpoint” under the gambeson to get my legs to hang correctly and not ride up when raising my arms.

I like the idea of moving to a single garment made with proper materials and technique in order to save weight, heat, and arming time.

[Ian]

Wow Ian, I missed your threads here and on myArmoury!  I really like the grand assiette sleeve construction.

My current rig started as a standard gambeson that I heavily modified over the years as I figured out proper body mechanics.  I still wear a single layer “pourpoint” under the gambeson to get my legs to hang correctly and not ride up when raising my arms.

I like the idea of moving to a single garment made with proper materials and technique in order to save weight, heat, and arming time.

Thanks Scott! Not only do I like the CdB pourpoint because it's more historical, but the switch to just one garment versus two is so much more comfortable and less encumbering.  It makes a huge difference in how good you feel in harness to shed those unnecessary layers.

[Sir Rodney]

I finally buckled down and ordered the pourpoint of Charles de Blois pattern book from “Tailoress” Tasha Kelly and her wonderful La cotte simple web site.

Now I just have to wait for the mailman to deliver!

[scott2978]

I'm currently making a CdB with Tasha's pattern, and so far it's fairly easy. The initial steps of making a mock garment from muslin is a great idea. You might want to brush up on your tailoring jargon, I had to figure out what a "selvage" was for instance, but none of it is especially hard. Sewing all the parts together by hand is the worst of it, the patterns and instructions make it really easy.

[Sir Rodney]

The mailman has delivered!  It’s time for some reading, shopping and maybe even a new thread.

[Ian]

Others can chime in with their preferred sources, but I got all my linen from http://fabrics-store.com/.  I recommend the canvas weight for the outer shell, and the medium weight for the liner.  If you're going to pad it with batting, I recommend a 100% natural fiber batting of your choice.

[Sir Wolf]

thats usually the best place to get linen

[scott2978]

That's where I get all my linen also.

Question: Why use heavier linen for the outside? I'm currently pinning my pattern to the medium weight linen to cut the final garment, and I was thinking... why not make the whole thing out of this? Any advice?

[Ian]

Maille. 

The canvas weight stands up to the maille, dirt, grime, straps etc... the medium weight is going to get torn up.