ooh, finally a subject I could talk you into the ground on. I make between 50 and a hundred bits of assorted padding a year.
First of all, depending on which bit of the 15th century you're talking about, it's so much more likely to be either a padded jack or an arming doublet than a gamby / acheton - gambesons really died out in the 14th century in favour of garments similar to the 'coat armour' (my term - nobody's yet agreed on a definitive name) of charles IV of france, which were worn over the armour. The doublet (pourpoint) of charles de blois is often referred to as a piece of padded armour, but it's now generally accepted by most to be a civilian doublet that's padded to give it the necessary shape, and toughness to maintain its corset-like grip on the abdomen of the wearer. At the end of the 14th century and start of the fifteenth, padding was all colours under the sun (green, red, blue and grey seem to have been the most popular - but yellows, oranges and assorted others can be seen in manuscript illustrations, and the coat armour of the black prince in canterbury cathedral has the royal arms on it in velvet). These were gradually all dropped in favour of white for jacks - although arming doublets were still in colours - usually reds, blacks and greys. There are numerous illustrations of later C15th jacks, most notably the st ursula triptych, by memling, which shows one straight quilted and one knotted (one of them also has arm chains, though I can't remember which offhand). jacks can be worn with no armour, or with partial armour (for full harness, you'd need an arming doublet, as the stresses are completely different). there are quite a few references to padding at this time (late 14th - late 15th) - including: mention of 'northern soldiers' arriving in london during the wars of the roses, wearing jacks padded with flax, and another that mentions them being padded with 'tow'. there's a sumptuary law, forbidding the jack makers from using 'rotten linen' (some unscrupulous non-guilded types methinks). there are references in the clothing accounts of the black prince to fustian and 'cotton wool' (i.e. raw cotton fibre) being some of the materials used. references from the french of rows of english archers in white (though it's not 100% clear whether this refers to a white english livery, or a jack). a reference in the accounts of a polish count to the purchase of fustian, cotton and black velvet for the making of a padded coat - and chains to run down each quilted tube. records of a booming cotton industry in southern germany. entries in the records of the docks at plymouth receiving raw cotton in quantities that would fill containers today. records of padding all the way through the middle ages being soaked for weeks in assorted liquids to make it stronger / waterproof / more resistant to archery and swordblows (including oil, vinegar, wine, fish oil (they must have truly stunk to high heaven!!)). references to coverings of rich material or leathers (including deerhide, and deerhide soaked in various stuffs (as an aside, the chinese used rhinoceros)). obviously, the london guild was the company of tailors and linen armourers - thereby indicating that linen was the most frequently used material as to existing examples, I've already mentioned the two charles's padding, and the black prince's - there's also the rothwell jack, and the one in a collection at the met. (although they're now both believed to be 16th century - as are the fencing doublets in edinburgh and nurnburg). and of course, the lubeck and stendahl jacks, which are all mid 15th. the most interesting (because they're made for 'ordinary' people) are the lubeck jacks, which are made in fustian and cotton, and painted with some sort of black stuff (no one is sure what it is or why it's there, and it could have been added at any point in time - one can't be certain when). although the construction techniques and materials may have varied (silks and velvet outer layers for the rich, and fustian or flax for the poor, and different paddings - raw cotton, raw flax, tow, straw, raw wool, recycled ripped up cloth, layers of cloth (looseweave fustian or flax) - most of the existing garments I've mentioned, are made in exactly the same way, the only variation being the material of the outer layer. (I should reiterate that the lubeck / stendahl ones are soldiers jacks, not rich ones.) they're made up as two sandwiches - an outer one and a lining one, and using fustian with cotton padding. The inner layer is fustian, (raw) cotton, fustian, and the outer is fustian, (raw) cotton, fustian, and outer layer (either more fustian or something richer). The two sandwiches are made up as completely separate garments, each sandwich quilted through individually, using incredibly small stitches, and sewn together only around the edges when finishing them. I can't comment on patterns, as I use the old tailoring 'drawn on the cloth' technique, and cut everything from scratch based on measurements. now when making jacks I use either cotton quilt batting, and pre wash it all before cutting it (so much simpler than trying to cut it then wash), or woollen blanket type material (which would make a hand wash only jack). an average jack or gamby would have around four layers of wool, plus the outer and lining (I usually use linen or flax, again pre washed), or around 10 layers of quilt wadding (normal cotton soft and warm, as it comes on big rolls), made up in two 'sandwich' layers (won't go under the machine foot in one go). the cotton is far harder to stitch - the cotton's more dense - but gives the quilting a much better definition. I don't know if they're compatible with US machines, but I use schmetz needles in size 120 (the biggest) when making jacks. I also always hand backstitch in the sleeves using waxed flax thread (after I bent the needle carriage on my machine I do!). If you find the company of st george website (gerry embleton's group), you can download copies of their newsletter, the dragon, and I'm sure there's an article in one on how to make a jack. Also, if it has a front (or any other) opening, don't forget the port piece! Debs. PS some pics of padding are on my website at www.paddedarmour.com (the bit on the history of padding's not done yet (not enough hours in the day :o) ) PPS several european historians with an interest in this subject are currently trying to catalogue all surviving padding in the world. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
