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Help and advice for making 1/4 scale armour

Nov 29, 2022

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    1. I've recently seen the new dragon armour sets made by Saphar_bjd_tailoring on instagram and have absolutely fallen in love. As i was unable to buy one, i've decided that i need to try and make some of my own armour inspired by these sets. Trying to find help and guides for creating nice looking doll armour is not an easy task and information seems to be spread about everywhere, so i thought it would be best to create this thread where help and resources can be provided for people that might need help in creating their own armour as well.

      I've decided to make some armour close to my inspiration, that i needed to make a tight fitting turtleneck tshirt as an undershirt for the armour to sit on top of, as well as a main chest piece of armour possibly with a chainmail imitation underneath to make the armour look more substainal. I've managed to find some relatively thin leather to use for the armour but need help with finding a suitable imitation to chainmail that is not too bulky. Any suggestions would be appricated.

      Im also struggling with using small eyelets with the leather, as no matter what attempts i make, i cant seem to use the hand tools to fit the small 2mm eyelets correctly without them just falling out. Does anyone know if there are any eyelet press tools for 2mm- 3mm eyelets that do not need a mallet/hammer to use?

      And if there are any other helpful tips or links, feel free to add them incase someone else needs the help in their project. Hopefully this thread will be helpful for anyone else looking to make their own armour pieces for their dolls!
       
      #1 cakie99, Nov 29, 2022
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    2. Oh yeah this is something I'd like to do as well, so any info would be appreciated! I'll be watching this like a hawk and will hopefully be able to see your project progress in the future!
       
      #2 moonlightnocturne, Nov 29, 2022
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    3. Some potential useful links i found during my research to make leather armour:
      --- YouTube tutorial for leather scale armour, the pattern pieces could be scaled down even more to fit better with the 1/4 scale and look more realistic.

      ---- A YouTube tutorial for making a fake leather effect armour made using light craft foam. This could be potentially be altered with the colours and extra details to make the armour look more like metal armour.

      Armor making tutorial (leather used!) ---- A tutorial for 1/3 scale dolls using real leather. This could be used a good basis for a more basic and tougher armour.
       
      #3 cakie99, Nov 29, 2022
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    4. Videos by Dollightful where she's made armor for MH dolls, cosplay-style using heated craft foam:
      Armor tutorial
      Silvally (more knight esque)

      From RetroGeek Crafts:
      Real chainmail for dolls
      Simple leather armor
      First one uses human size chainmail gloves, which are apparently used for handling knives and sharp tools? Learned something new today :XD:

      My friend's knight outfit used a crocheted shirt as chainmail I believe! Other types of knit or mesh may be worth looking into, they'd probably lay the flattest on a doll and under other pieces, and depending on the material might already come with that kind of metallic finish?
       
      #4 electrospecter, Nov 29, 2022
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    5. Fabric mesh sounds like it would be a good idea to try for chainmail, maybe a few layers of a silver or gray glued onto a darker fabric to make it look more full. I'll have to test it out with the mesh I've got in my stash and see what it's like.
       
      #5 cakie99, Nov 29, 2022
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    6. Another suggestion is to check out MBLilac's (sp?) Fantasy medieval crafting. She has a website (Martha Boers - doll art)
      plus has posted quite a bit here in the medieval costuming thread & the what are you currently sewing thread. She has used a metal mesh glove for some of her maille. I was lucky enough to know a chain maille artist when I wanted a tunic for my night Talfryn & invested in her fine work. But I've also found some good polyester metallic mesh fabrics to use for some projects.
      Good luck!
       
      #6 cthulhu, Nov 29, 2022
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    7. #7 Victoria Victrix, Nov 30, 2022
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    8. So it look me a really long time but I've finally been able to make a turtleneck t-shirt from scratch. I've been wanting to make this as base layer for underneath any armour I eventually make. I couldn't find any that I liked online for free that should how to actually draft the pattern so I made it myself after watching hundreds of different t-shirt tutorials and looking at patterns to try and figure it out.
      So in case anyone else is also struggling to also find a pattern making tutorial for this, I decided to try and make a tutorial myself. Here is the link to the tutorial:
      /threads/turtleneck-pattern-from-measurements.864655/
       
      #8 cakie99, Dec 31, 2022
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    9. I don't know where you are in the world but I bought some of this because I thought it might look decently like chainmail and I am very happy to report that it really, really does until you get riiiight up close to it. So would highly recommend. I am not sure how you (or I) would go about aging it to give it a slightly grimier look without actually damaging the fabric but I imagine you could employ some metallic fabric paint.

      Metallic Mesh Fabric | Remnant House Fabric
       
      #9 Crissaegrim, Jan 6, 2023
      Last edited: Jan 6, 2023
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    10. That fabric definitely does look like chainmail. I wonder if just regular black/brown paint would work well to age it, just in thin almost watered down coats. Or possibly some chalk pastels dusted onto the fabric. It could work to layer the fabric over some darker fabric so see if that helps to make it look more aged.
       
      #10 cakie99, Jan 6, 2023
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    11. I made a knight outfit using Antique Lilac's pattern (with a few alterations), and I used a very similar fabric mesh for the chainmail linked to above - it's VERY shiny, but I found backing it with black fabric (I used black cotton) tones it down a lot, and it ended up looking good!
      [​IMG]
       
      #11 morganatron, Jan 7, 2023
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    12. Just out of curiousity, how did you connect all the pieces? Did you use pliers and connect the squares with the rings, or did you do some other method, like sewing it onto the backing, then sewing the backing together?
       
      #12 Victoria Victrix, Jan 8, 2023
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    13. for 1/4 I found that metallic thread works really well for "fake chainmail". Anchor "artiste" Crochet thread comes in several metallic shades depending on how bright you want it and when crochetted into a shirt it's very effective at this scale (in fact a lot of human sized chain mail uses a similar technique because it's cheaper and lighter to knit than make real chain links)

      Worbla is also used a lot in cosplay communities to make armour. I've got some here but i've yet to try to do anything with it.
       
      #13 purple_monkfish, Jan 8, 2023
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    14. Ah, no, it's not made with metal and rings - it's just shiny fabric! It looks very "disco" without the black backing, it's just a silver mesh. Here's a picture:
      [​IMG]
      It's very thin and made of metallic threads, and frays very easily, annoyingly, you have to finish all the seams well. I just got it from Spotlight here but that's probably no help if you're not in Australia - but I should imagine other stores have it!
       
      #14 morganatron, Jan 8, 2023
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    15. Ah, thanks @morganatron, @MB Lilac uses actual metal mesh, and I have some, but I am still trying to work out the optimal way to put the pieces together. I think she just opens the plaques and threads the rings on, but she has more patience than I do. I have plenty of that metallic mesh, because I snatch a yard up every time I see it.
       
      #15 Victoria Victrix, Jan 8, 2023
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    16. Some folks have used worbla to good effect...

      and Iplehouse once used a sequin fabric to mimic chain chain and it was effective... and years ago I bought some aluminium woven cloth (from which I made a couple of clubbing outfits) which looked like chainmail.

      And today managed to buy a sequined skirt from a charity shop which I will cut up to add to some amour outfits 1/3 scale. Sequins can be really effective, though sewing sequined fabric isn't something I am looking forward to tackling!

      [​IMG]
       
      #16 kyukyukyu, Jan 19, 2023
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