What era armour are you trying to replicate? I ask because full 15th century harness requires a close fitting doublet, best cut in the fashion of a civilian doublet. Your feild jacket patterened one will want to bunch up on you under the armour, or will be too roomy to get it on in the first place.

--------------------

It might work, but it might be a lot of touble to modify and then end up not working. I recommend to you going here http://www.companie-of-st-george.ch/index_1.phtml and bookmark the site. Go to "Dragons online", and download the stuff to your computer.

In the online dragons (which are chock full of usefull stuff, although some of the research is outdated), there is a pattern for a pourpoint to be worn under a jack, and a pattern for a jack - which would probably be more usefull. Make up the body for that out of a couple of layers of cloth on the outside and inside, with a little cotton batting in-between (in other words, much thinner), and add arming pointa at the appropriate palces. It would work, and be close in line to what you need. Thge diveregence is to add a little more padding over the shoulder, and while the sleeves can work, normal doublet sleeves lightly padded would be a more proper solution. Use heavyweight linen or some kind of canvas for the outermost layer. Keep in mind this isn't an armour like the jack is supposed to be, so you don't want it too thick, otherwise it will interfere with your movement.

If nothing else, the website is full of great information. Let us know your progress!

--------------------

I used horse hair wrapped in horse mane/tail hair as the packing (suggested in Brian Price's armour book). It packs down really tightly as 3 cubic feet of horsehair was barely enough but the end result is well worth it. The horse hair must be the most shock-absorbant material that I've seen so I would recommend its use for arming caps or helmet liners.

--------------------

URL=http://www.jousting.co.nz