Sir Ian's success in making one of these persuaded me to do the same. This is from the pattern by Tasha Kelly. I have to say this is one of the best period patterns that I've worked with, for any era. It is precisely engineered with excellent instructions. Despite all the piecing and quilting there is nothing hard to do in this pattern. Lots to do, and tedious, but no single part of it is difficult. I made mine from some left over linen/cotton fustian that I had on hand with an unbleached linen liner with one layer of cotton batting. Mine is a hybrid. I added a standing collar for when I wear mail in my c1300 knight impression to keep the mail off my neck. Should I ever decide to suspend leg armor from it, I'll tighen up the side seams so I can cinch it tight.
If you can sew at all, you can make one of these. I did not hand quilt this, but with only 10 or 12 hours more work, you could add that cool feature. Get lots of thread. I went through 3 spools.
