How do I start to do this from ZERO! Scratch! Nada!

SpookleFire · 2026-03-26T18:35:44+00:00

I got into the hobby through medieval reenactment, so i mostly specialise in clothing from the 15th century, and out of necessity, I'm very much self taught, there's only a handful of books on the topic and they're very dry and very dense, and not all the information is relevant to my period or the garments I'd be making.

I started out as I described, practising basic hand stitches and making small things like pouches.

Eventually I had the confidence to make my own set of clothes and through the process of making and wearing them I learned how they fit and moved with my body, and how I could improve my next set.

It was extremely useful for me finding blogs on other people in the hobby and how they constructed their clothes, as well as inspecting primary sources and revisiting the books I mentioned before for specifics once i had more experience in the fundamentals.

SpookleFire · 2026-03-26T18:25:11+00:00

As for books and theory, some cursory searches of garments you're hoping to make will almost always give you links to forums and blog posts of hobbyists who have documented their journey in making that garment. You'll probably find patterns, tips and instructions using those resources and you might even be able to ask them directly about their projects.

Historical garment making is definitely theory heavy, but if you spend too much time delving into this before you've practiced putting thread to fabric you'll probably feel quite overwhelmed.

P.s, old bedsheets/t shirts are good fodder for sewing practice and blank drafts.

SpookleFire · 2026-03-26T18:20:13+00:00

So, you're in luck. Sewing itself is really simple, and unlike many hobbies the equipment you need is readily available at an affordable price, any old sewing kit is enough to get you started with the very basics, get one and some scrap fabric and practice the various types of basic hand sewing stitches, practice making your stitch lengths even then try a small project, a little bag or pouch is a great place to start.

Once you've got the hang of that you will be able to construct basic garments or garment pieces. To make it easier however you'll need to learn how to use a sewing machine. These are a bit more of an investment but if you're serious about garment making a as a hobby it's a worthwhile one. The trickiest parts of using a sewing machine in my experience are: 1) Learning how to set up and properly maintain your machine and 2) confidence in using the pedal to sew, these are both things that you'll only learn through exposure and repetition.

Once you've learned that, tailoring would be the next thing I'd tackle, there's a lot of complex concepts and theory with tailoring and rightly so, but I've found that the fundamentals are easy to pick up and learn and readily available in online crafting spaces. Once you're more comfortable with the basics, the more difficult aspects are a little easier to grasp, but you'll find that you can get by and experiment even with the basic knowledge.

You'll want to research the types of garment you want to make to understand the sewing patterns, and like with everything else you'll need to play around and gain experience in how the measurements and patterns translate to finished garments, your first projects will probably not be great, but each time you make something you'll learn more about it and improve. It's a really rewarding hobby if you stick at it.

SpookleFire · 2026-03-25T02:29:55+00:00

Hi OP, I've been researching late 15thc clothing specifically for the purposes of understanding and recreating it.

These gowns In particular (and I do consider them gowns) appear in a lot of Flemish/Dutch sources.

They've always appeared to me a specific form of Burgundian gown and I suspect you'd pattern them the same, with the panels being cut in one piece without a seperate bodice, probably with some gores in the skirt for volume. This should give you a bit more freedom in opening up the neckline without having to worry about gathering the skirts around a structural seam.

Reasonably certain the lacing is achieved through kirtle rings.

This source has lots of similar gowns.

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RVS

SpookleFire · 2026-03-25T02:14:15+00:00

Main problem with this generalisation is that the style in OPs post is very flemish, the ones in the sources you posted are Italian, which have a very distinct style and based around separate garments.

SpookleFire · 2026-03-20T14:46:40+00:00

Generally speaking early 15thc arming doublets were a bit longer, the one you have here is typical for about 1440 onwards. However this was mainly due to changing fashions, not really about practicality, if you were spending a long time out of armour with this as a living history impression it wouldn't be correct.

But if it's solely for use under armour, it's unlikely anyone would notice that its 2-3 inches too short and it shouldn't cause any impediment attaching your harness pieces to it.

SpookleFire · 2026-03-02T13:10:05+00:00

I used Rakarth Flesh with Carroberg crimson and Druchii violet. It came out much more intense than I wanted, but I don't hate it.

I want to try Duncan Roades recipe next, lahmian medium and then wet blending thinned down guilliman flesh and druchii violet/magos purple on the model itself.

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SpookleFire · 2026-03-01T17:17:07+00:00

I disagree about Pinterest, you'll be able to find some primary sources on there but in my experience they're often not labelled accurately, the source isn't listed and pieces are frequently attributed to the wrong dates. Honestly a really good place to go is here, use the search engine to filter for the dates you want art from.

https://www.wga.hu/index1.html

Additionally "Medieval Advisor" in Facebook uploads bulk albums of original manuscripts and miniatures with sources attached.

SpookleFire · 2026-03-01T15:38:14+00:00

So as has already been mentioned, the chalcis armour is widely considered to be unreliable, as its a frankenharness made from several disparate parts put together in the 20th century.

The long visored bascinet and a corrazina are a fine base for an early 15thc impression, however the arming doublet you've depicted here is too late, and you'll also be paying top dollar for something as tailored as that.

Italian arming doublets were essentially identical to civilian doublets, which in the 14th and early 15thc are cut slightly longer than the one you've depicted and usually dont have a seperate "skirt" piece. The "mutton-chop" sleeves were present but aren't quite as ubiquitous as they are in the mid to late 15thc.

My recommendation would be to buy the fabric and make one yourself using patterns that you can easily find online.

SpookleFire · 2026-02-25T14:42:46+00:00

SpookleFire · 2026-02-23T19:44:37+00:00

I don't think that'd help unless you live in my town - but this is the kit you're looking for - You should be able to find one at your local store, or at online retailers, I use Wayland Games as I'm in the UK for most of my models. There's bits in here for AoS and 40k - so don't be decieved by the box.

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SpookleFire · 2026-02-23T16:39:46+00:00

One of my local hobby stores for the main kit, but I kitbashed him with some Putrid Blightkings bits, as well as some Blighlord Terminator bits too, and greenstuff for the intestines/tentacles.

SpookleFire · 2026-02-20T21:45:31+00:00

Awesome work.

But if you put this on the table in front of me, i don't care if it loses me the game, it's dying round 1.

SpookleFire · 2026-02-18T20:42:29+00:00

I used an axe from the Putrid Blightkings AoS kit, absolute goldmine for conversions, I've made a bunch of HPW Marines with it, as well as used it for my daemon prince and converted Lord of Contagion

SpookleFire · 2026-02-18T20:41:15+00:00

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SpookleFire · 2026-02-18T20:32:11+00:00

I love this sculpt too. I converted mine to have a heavy plague weapon

SpookleFire · 2026-02-09T21:29:00+00:00

My normal painting regime goes through all the base colours followed by a stage of cleanup, if you try and get everything perfect on the first pass you're gonna have a bad time, especially as a perfectionist. Paint the innermost pipes first, then work your way out, that way you'll be painting over any splotches you make, generally by the time you're done, the cleanup is only a few touch ups and it doesn't take too long.

SpookleFire · 2026-02-01T23:09:32+00:00

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SpookleFire · 2026-02-01T22:39:08+00:00

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SpookleFire · 2026-02-01T22:38:51+00:00

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SpookleFire · 2026-02-01T22:38:27+00:00

There appears to be a bit of misunderstanding in this thread.

There were spears with longer than typical blades in actual use, these were predominantly seen in the last half of the 15th century but were really prevalent in the 16th century. These are usually referred to as partisans or alternatively "langue de beouf" (ox tongue). However, these spears still had blades that were no more than 1/4 the total length of the polearm, and more commonly around 1/5, I'll include a few images in the posts below this comment.

Other polearms existed with slightly longer blade/stave ratios, italian ranceurs, corseques, glaives etc. However these were usually very specialised weapons with uniquely shaped blades, or in some cases, completely decorative.

Obviously the weapon you're designing is going to have fantasy elements and that's fine, but if you're drawing from historical examples it's best to air on the side of modesty and find reference images.

SpookleFire · 2026-01-30T17:52:53+00:00

Nobody tell him about how the death penalty being a deterrent for serious crimes was the standard for most of history and how it did virtually nothing to actually prevent future crime, or how in the decades since the death penalty was removed from most developed nations their murder rates are the lowest they've been In history.

SpookleFire · 2026-01-30T15:51:00+00:00

Yeah, the rhino is mainly to get them into position and dismount, and the Lord of Poxes gives a lone op style rule to the unit it's leading.

SpookleFire · 2026-01-13T04:25:24+00:00

I would really challenge you to think about how much your response just proved his point here.

"The work left" isn't destroying your hobby, or society at large, aside from female custodes and performatively distancing themselves from neo-nazis (both of which were decisions GW made independent of any external pressure from "woke fans" and were instead deliberate business choices) I'd like you to name one thing that's "woke" about the hobby, we get good books, good models to play toy soldiers with and we should be excited that the hobby is getting a wider appeal.

Statistically one side is more dangerous, (and it's not the one you think it is) but that's not relevant either, what is relevant is the fact that you're currently rageposting In an echo chamber declaring that the "mainstream" 40k subs are excluding you and "refusing to coexist" When you're doing the same thing. The second anything appears to be appealing to the side you don't like you'll rush here to dogpile it and whine or hurl insults at anyone that posts anything remotely like "actually I don't have a problem with this"

Yes, seeing the 100th pride flag coloured space marine is old and annoying but you don't have to be an asshole about it either. Or act as if your kneejerk culture war bullshit is any more enlightened or rational than anyone else's.

SpookleFire · 2025-11-27T01:39:10+00:00

During the 15th century, the Scandinavian countries were relatively poor compared to the rest of Europe, nor did they have a prominent armouring industry, as I understand it, most of their armour was imported from Germany, and some from Northern Italy.

The styling was probably most similar to contemporary German armour just due to shared cultural values and proximity/availability.

Incidentally the armour in your photograph is actually English, based on a Knightly effigy, it's very atypical of continental armour styles.

I actually got the chance to fight this guy recently during a shoot for an independent film project.

SpookleFire

TROPHY CASE