The outer shell was made in 13 pieces - front bodice left and right, back bodice left and right, front peplum left and right, back peplum left and right, front collar left and right and back collar. The outer pieces were cut from lightly fulled grey wool. The torso and peplum were padded with two more layers of undyed wool.These 3 layers were first held together with stay stitching, as shown in red on the left image.
The 3 layers were then quilted together using a straight stitch, as seen in grey, on the lower right corner of the left image.
Once the outer quilting lines were finished, the edges were graded. This meant trimming the two padding layers back so as to remove the bulk were pieces would be stitched together. Without this step, there could be up to six layers of wool in a seam, which would have made an uncomfortable and visible lump. I was then able to sew the side and shoulder seams through the grey wool, only.
I used a combination of straight, stab and back stitch. Stab stitch was used were it was difficult to insert and recover the needle in a single motion, as it allowed me to have more control over much stitch would be visible from the outside. The back stitch was used to give more strength in areas that were likely to be under additional strain, such as immediately below the armscye on the side seams and the outer edge of the shoulder seams. Straight stitch was used where ever possible, as it is much faster.
When the pieces were joined, the seams were felled. Some were laid to the side, for added strength (if a seam opens there is another row of stitching to hold the pieces together before a hasty repair). Others were opened and flat felled. The decision for which process would best suit each seam was based on how much strain the seam would be under as well as how the pieces naturally sat flattest.
The seam allowances around the curved armscyes were clipped before flat felling.
The lining was made from undyed linen.
This inner jack was based on the following styles.
Boccaccio's Decameron, 1430-40 French translation
This inner jack style is shown several times in this document. Common features include a narrow waist, curved armscyes with straight sleeves (not a wide grande aissette style, as shown in the image on the right), front closure and full length sleeves. The length in this case is to the bottom of the groin. Due to my high waist, although I made my arming jack in the same ratios of bodice : peplum length, this resulted in my jack finishing higher up the body than the one shown above.
1430 There are straight horizontal on the upper thigh of each man, which could be additional articulations on the upper edge of the cuisses or could be representations of horizontal lines on the lower edge of a jack.
Speaking again of eyelets as closures, there is a range of evidence for their use during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The following website has a great range of extant and textual resources on hooks and eyes.
The extant jacks and the textual references to jacks in this webpage suggest that pure linen and fabric of a cotton/linen (fustian) blend would be appropriate. I used wool on the outside before I was aware of this information. At the time, I had reviewed a lot of images and the artists appeared to treat the jack fabrics in the same way as other items I knew to be made of wool, such as town robes and women's gowns. Further more, there were some French images showing what seem to be corrizana's with sleeves of matching fabric. As far as I know, the corrizana has no or short sleeves, so hypothesised that it may be possible that the sleeves were from the jack worn underneath, of a matching fabric. I will use cotton/linen, linen or a skin next time.
Interestingly, one of the extant jacks, which is heavily padded, has only 3 pairs of hooks and eyes - one at the neck, one on the chest and waist. I have included *a lot* of pairs up the centre front of my jack, rather like the use on a doublet or gown. Perhaps I will try just 3 pairs next time, though I suspect I will sew eyelets down the front of this jack at the same time I add the eyelets to attach the hose.
Janet Arnold's 'Pattern's of Fashion' shows two more extant hooks and eyes (pp. 16, 24), though these are not on jacks and are from a later time.
The webpage refers to an Italian item with hooks and eyes.
The woman on this page says she has an extant hook and eye. I would love to see it.
France, 1440 This beautiful brigadine (which can't be a corrizana, I am told, because corrizana means 'little breastplate' which this does not have) is pretty much exactly what I want. I believe that any arming jack under it would be shorter than the maile shirt or would be visible at the hem.
And finally, for your entertainment, here is a pourpoint, which I may consider wearing under (seems the logical way, and I have spoken to a re-enactor recently who wears hers like this) or over (because that may explain the different coloured sleeves seen on these items) my jack to point my leg harness to.
