Alex Arming Jacket
This jacket was the second many arming jackets, and certain of many more to come. They are so much fun to make and a lot of fellas pay top dollar to have a custom one made. They are an essential part of a medieval fighting kit and you really don’t want a jacket that doesn’t fit well because then it hinders your movement, which can lead to injury because you couldn’t block some freight train sized person coming at you with a pole axe. This jacket was certainly the prettiest that I made. I had just learned basic embroidery as well as how to use a laser cutter at the university so that really had to be implemented into this project. Furthermore I wanted more options with this project so the design differed quite a bit from the last one. Ultimately though it turned out stunning and to this day people are jealous of my arming jacket.
Design
As always you start with a design. I chose the red and blue becuase its very evocative of english royalt and when I made this jacket I had intended to make an english set of armor to go with it. Gouache, colored pencil on tan paper.
Final Product
The Pattern
Unfortunately I didnt think to take a picture of my pattering process. But here they are, all cut, again with siginificant seam allownace to account for the many layers of fabric.
Mockup Fitting
I didnt have a manequinn of myself so I invited my good friend and talented seamstress, Courtney, to come over and help me true up my patterns.
Layers
Turns out red and blue linens are more expensive that white, so i got white for the inner layers of the shell and lining.
Back Panel
Here is the back panel just after I finished quilting all the layers together. That gold thread is striking.
Bodice Fitting
So far so good.
Sleeve Cap
Heres a cap fitting, just like James’ jacket I didnt attach the sleeves to the jacket, but this cap here which hinged at the neck of the bodice by two laces giving me alot of lateral mobility with may arms; essential for good fighting.
The Forearm
I opted to lace these on to allow my elboes to flex more unhindered.
Fitting the Collar
Funny enough I made this pattern and forgot I had intended to do embroidery on the color. SO, i actually had to take this off and start over.
Lasered Felt
I didnt trust myself to be able to make such perfect cuts by hand, so I had a laser cutter cut out the blocks for the embroidery.
Embroidery
The blocks were glued down, and then using a very simple stitch, I embroidered over them. The blocks gave the embroidery a 3dimensional look.
Closures
Once the collar was on I added all the leather closures and points.
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