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As for my body protection I have gone with a hidden plastic reinforced surcoat. Tasha helped me make it, well she made it I just added the plates. Cet helped with putting the plates and and showing how to do the work, and he showed me how to do some of the belt work as well. It is constructed of 4 layers of linen and 4 layers of canvas in the plated area. The canvas was to reinforce the rivets and hopefully making the whole garment hold up better.
The reference picture that was used to construct the surcoat was this one to the right. As you can see from this image that plates are riveted into the surcoat clearly and the length of the surcoat is long. Also, you can note that the aketon is red and the reference wearing chain maile under the garment. The image is from Wienhausen Monastery, German, c1270. David Edge calls it a “reinforced surcoat”.
For the construction of the plates I cut a 3 x 5inch plates out of barrel plastic. I went with plastic for two reasons:1) It was free 2) I know and can work with it easily. In the middle of some of the plates I cut holes to all air and sweat to pass though. I am hoping it helps with cooling. Each plate has four mounting holes in each corner and about 1/4 inch apart.
The belts on the back of the garment were sew on to the body of the garment using waxed linen thread. The buckles are from Rayon’s Quite Press and they are set with a brass plate. This could help is keeping the buckles and belts from being damaged quickly.
The following images are of my finished product with me in my layerd more peroid armour. The first layer is a linen tunic, than a short sleeve aketon, maile and than the reinforced surcoat.
The dark blue / black was chose because of my household colors. This is a bit of a side note but it is a less than historical color for this garment.
-H
As I stated in ” Getting my First Period……. Kit together“ I have been working on a few peice of my armour to get things looking and functioning better. I am going to start from my lower half and work my way up since I have 80% of the greaves and knees done.
So, Madog and Ivan in my house hold made the greaves from a pattern i sent them, and the knees are windrose armory. They are a straight forward set up nothing to crazy. 
The knee is a simple soup can like knee and the greaves are basic. I have been working on a more late 13th century kit. Kinda English with a slash of Italian. I have pulled a few different pieces from all over, I know this isnt perfectly period or correct but int he long run it is what I am hoping will work well for SCA combat. 
If you look at this Italian released you can see the greaves and knees I was going for. I have taken a few liberties with color and form and moved the greaves a little earlier than most people like. But, I did this for safety. I get hit in the shin more than I get hit in the knee or thigh. This happens because of my fighting style and the way I move with my shield, so I need greaves so I can walk after a fight practice.
I still need to add a leather garters to these, and I am thinking black or red. Once I make the decision I can build them up and add them to the kit. I am thinking I might punch two small holes int eh greaves and garters and lace them together. This way they can be attached but wont be permanent. At this point it is just a thought?
Finally, I
am looking in to foot ware. I think I am going to go with a Historic Enterprises pair of turn shoes (link). This should work, and I might even add a mail covering for them. I personally, need a set of shoes and why not have a set that can be used for both walking and fighting?
-H
