Stormquilt Hand Made Padded Gambeson | Charcoal Cotton Canvas Over Wool | Channel Quilted Body, Standing Collar and Brass Grommet Lacing | Medieval Gift | RK-1474

A gambeson is the piece of kit that makes everything else on this site work. Mail without padding under it transmits the whole force of a blow straight through to the body, and plate without padding under it slides, rubs and bruises. The quilted arming jacket solves both problems, and it was worn on its own by enormous numbers of ordinary soldiers who could not afford anything else. Layered textile is genuinely protective. Period accounts describe arrows failing to get through thick quilted coats, and modern testing has repeatedly confirmed that a well built gambeson absorbs far more energy than its weight suggests.

This one is cut and sewn in Memphis, Tennessee in charcoal cotton canvas over a wool batting, quilted in narrow vertical channels through the body and the sleeves. It has a standing collar lined in natural cotton, a front closed with brass grommets and cotton cord, and contrast black binding at the cuffs, the hem and the collar edge. The folded linen shown beside it in the photograph is a studio prop and is not included.

Specifications

Why the quilting runs in channels

Look at the stitching and you will see it runs top to bottom in narrow parallel lines rather than in a diamond grid. That is deliberate and it is the historically dominant pattern for a reason. Channel quilting traps the batting in long tubes that stay full, so the padding cannot migrate and leave you with a thick waist and a thin chest after six months of wear. It also lets the jacket bend around the body horizontally while resisting collapse vertically, which is exactly the behaviour you want when a mail shirt is sitting on your shoulders and trying to compress the padding under it.

The narrower the channel, the stiffer and more protective the jacket, and the harder it is to move in. The channels here are cut at a middle width, which gives real loft under mail without turning the jacket into a barrel. Wide diamond quilting looks handsome and pads poorly, because the batting simply pools in the middle of each diamond.

The standing collar is the other detail worth noticing. It protects the throat, it stops a mail coif or an aventail sitting directly on the skin, and it keeps the neck of the jacket from folding down flat under a helmet. It is quilted through the same as the body rather than being a plain doubled band.

Materials and construction

The shell is cotton canvas, which is not linen and is not pretending to be. Canvas is chosen because it takes hard wear at events, it does not shred at the stitch lines the way loose weave linen can, and it holds dye evenly so a charcoal jacket stays charcoal rather than going patchy at the shoulders. The batting is wool. Wool is the right filling for an arming garment because it stays warm when it is damp, it recovers loft after being crushed under armour, and it does not turn into a mat the way cheap polyester wadding does after a few washes.

Grommets are solid brass, set through a reinforced facing rather than punched straight into single layer cloth, so the lacing pulls against a doubled edge and does not tear out. Seams are sewn and then bound, so there are no raw edges inside to fray against your shirt.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On a textile piece like this the engraving is cut into a leather badge that we stitch to the chest or the upper sleeve, so tell us which you would prefer. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

A gambeson is made to a stated chest size and it is not infinitely adjustable, so this is the part to read twice. Send us your chest measurement at the fullest point, your natural waist, your back length from the base of the neck to your waist, and your arm length from shoulder point to wrist. We build with room for a shirt underneath and nothing more.

The important thing to understand is layering direction. A gambeson goes on under armour, so it should fit you fairly close. If you size it up in the hope of comfort, the mail or plate that goes over the top has to be sized up too, and the whole harness starts to hang badly and shift when you move. Conversely, if you are buying this to wear on its own as a coat, tell us and we will cut it slightly fuller. The lacing at the front takes up around two inches of adjustment either way.

Care

Do not machine wash it. A quilted wool filled garment that goes through a washing machine comes out with the batting bunched at the bottom of every channel and it never fully recovers. Spot clean with cold water and a mild soap, brush the surface with a stiff clothes brush to lift dirt out of the weave, and air it thoroughly after every event rather than folding it away damp. Hang it on a broad hanger or lay it flat; a narrow hanger will distort the shoulders over time. Keep it away from moths in storage, since the filling is wool, and use a cedar block or a lavender bag rather than a sealed plastic bag, which traps moisture. If the cord lacing frays, replace it with plain cotton cord of the same diameter.

Forged in Memphis

This jacket was cut, quilted, bound and finished in our own shop in Memphis, Tennessee alongside the steel work. Nothing here is drop shipped from an importer catalogue with a label sewn in. Because it is ours from the pattern up, the lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings covers the stitching, the grommets and the binding on this piece, with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This gambeson is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Quilt channel spacing, the exact tone of the dyed canvas, the loft of the batting and the set of the collar all vary a little, because each one is cut and sewn by hand from natural materials. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Can I wear this on its own?

Yes. Plenty of medieval soldiers did exactly that. Tell us at the time of ordering if it is going to be worn alone and we will cut it a little fuller so it works as an outer garment.

Will mail fit over it?

Yes, and that is the primary purpose. Remember that it adds an inch to an inch and a half all round, so size any mail or plate going over the top accordingly.

Is the filling wool or synthetic?

Wool batting. It recovers its loft after being compressed under armour and it stays warm when damp, which synthetic wadding does not do as well.

Can I machine wash it?

No. Spot clean and air it. Machine washing bunches the batting inside the channels and the jacket never regains its padding.

How hot is it to wear?

Honestly, hot. Any quilted arming garment is. Cotton canvas over wool breathes better than a synthetic shell, but plan your water and your shade at a summer event.

How long does it take to ship?

Processing is one to two weeks because each jacket is cut to your measurements. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• One channel quilted gambeson in charcoal cotton canvas
• Brass grommets and cotton cord lacing, fitted
• Spare length of cord lacing
• Care and storage card
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in brigandine and gambeson, chainmail armor, plate armor and viking armor, or read the guides.