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How to make a chainmail shirt

by ineverfinishanyth on March 8, 2009 Table of Contents How to make a chainmail shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: How to make a chainmail shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 2: Starting the Front Half . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 3: Finishing the Front Half (Part 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 4: Finishing the Front Half (Part 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 5: The Back of the Shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6: Finishing the Shirt! (Part 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 7: Finishing the Shirt! (Part 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 8: Now That You're Done... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 2 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 7

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

Author:ineverfinishanyth
I make chainmail part time; armor and jewelry

Intro: How to make a chainmail shirt

so you might now how to put chainmail links together, but making a shirt is an entirely different thing. It includes hours of work and a lot of mistake-making, but the finished product can last a lifetime and looks pretty gnarly if you ask me.

Step 1: Materials
Since i'm not going to teach you how to make rings (there are other instructables on that subject), wire,mandrels, and cutters will not be on this list. 24,000 (give or take 2,000) 1/4 inch, 16 gauge galvanized/ungalvanized rings (you can use other sizes/gauges but the number of rings will vary) 2 pliers (one for each hand) PATIENCE! - putting 24,000 rings together is no small thing...it can take months, even years depending on your speed Knowledge of how to make 4-1 European chainmail This instructable teaches the basic principles of how to make chain mail rings and how to connect them using European 4-1: http://www.instructables.com/id/European-4-in-1-maille-chainmail-speedweaving/

Image Notes 1. RINGS!

Image Notes 1. these are the pliers that i use (bent nose pliers) but you can use other pliers if you want 2. Half-way through the front of my shirt

Step 2: Starting the Front Half

Pic 1: Make a long chain that runs from left to right. This chain (when stretched out) should reach approximately 4 inches past were you want your sleeves to end. For example, if you want your sleeves to go to your elbows, this chain should reach from 4 inches past one elbow to 4 inches past the other elbow. Pic 2: Find the middle ring of the top row of your chain and mark it by attaching a ring to it.. Now, count 11 rings to the left and add a ring. go back to the middle ring and count 11 rings to the right, then add a ring. Pic 3: Remove the ring that you used to mark the middle. Pic 4: Now finish off the top row by adding rings to the left and the right of the rings already placed on the strip. Pic 5: Continue until you have about 20 rows up on both sides. This will create the neck-hole of the shirt. If you don't have enough rows, your head will not be able to fit. Keep in mind that chain mail does not stretch like a cotton t-shirt. You might have to make your neck hole a couple inches bigger than your neck .

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

( if the instructions are confusing look at the pictures they make more sense)

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

Step 3: Finishing the Front Half (Part 1)

Now that you have the most of the neck hole completed, start adding rows to the bottom of your strip. As shown in the picture, add about 3-5 more inches of maille. The amount of maille you add in this step will decide how long your sleeves are from top to bottom. If you only add one inch, you will have very tight sleeves, whereas 6-7 inches will leave you with sleeves that are way too long. I added about 4 inches and it works pretty well for me.

Image Notes 1. these are the rows that you will be adding in this step 2. I put a 45 degree triangle into the bottom edges of my neck hole to make it look better. It's optional

Step 4: Finishing the Front Half (Part 2)

As shown in the picture, the next rows should be cut in on both sides from the sleeves. A good way to find out how wide the bottom half of your shirt should be is to measure your chest from armpit to armpit and then subtract an inch or two. The "inch or two" that you subtract will be made up for on another step. Now keep on adding more and more and more and more rows. This step will take up the bulk of your time. My shirt, for example, has 90 rows from the bottom of the sleeves to the bottom of the shirt and it took me 5 of the 6 weeks that I worked to finish this step.

Image Notes 1. Although rather simple, finishing the front half of the shirt will take a very long time. 2. This is an inlay and I will cover how to do one at the end of the instructable

Step 5: The Back of the Shirt

The back of the shirt will be almost exactly the same as the first. Keep the same amount of rows and the same length, but for the back you need to change the neck hole. Instead of having a neck hole that is 20 rows deep, the neck hole on the back side of your shirt should only be 6-8 rows deep. The reason for this is that when you are moving around, you don't want your shirt to be able to shift a whole 20 rows forward when you bend down. As for the rest of the back half, complete it exactly the same way you completed the front.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

Step 6: Finishing the Shirt! (Part 1)

Ok now comes the most confusing part. For this section of the instructable, I scanned in drawings of the concept in order for it to make more sense. Part A: Make two pieces of maille that are 3-4 inches wide. They should be as long as the distance from the bottom of the sleeve to the bottom of the shirt. Use these two pieces to connect the front and back halves of the shirt. These pieces should NOT be at all connected to the actual sleeve. Check picture number one for clarity in this step. Part B: Make 2 different pieces of maille that are as wide as your sleeves are long. These pieces should only be 3-4 inches tall. They should look something like this: ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) The left to right length is governed by how long you made your sleeves. The up and down length should be the same as the left to right length of the pieces made in part A. Now connect this piece to the two sides of the bottom of your sleeves. Do not connect this piece to the piece from part A that is already attached to the shirt. The drawing makes a lot more sense so if you are confused look at the picture for part B.

Step 7: Finishing the Shirt! (Part 2)

At this point you are only minutes away from finishing your shirt. Before you work on the hard part, knock of the easier step first. Connect the shoulder pieces on the front to the shoulder pieces on the back. When you are finished the neck hole should actually be a hole now that the sides are connected. For clarity, look at Picture A. Know comes the hardest part. We are going to fill in the line of mail right in the armpit. This sounds like it should be simple but if you think about it, the rings from the piece under the arm are going the opposite direction of the rings that are running down the sleeve. While the drawing will make a lot more sense, I will try to describe how to execute this next step. Take a chain mail ring and connect it to on of the rings on the side of the sleeve. Follow through with the ring and connect it to two of the rings on the other side. Continue this down the line until the armpit is filled in.

Image Notes 1. Hopefully this makes sense. Apparently chain mail is really hard to draw realistically : ) This is not drawn to scale; it is more than likely that you will have to put more than four rings on in this step.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

Step 8: Now That You're Done...

There are many cool things that you can add to your shirt when you are finished. As always you can lengthen or take away rings in certain places. You can add dags, or small triangles along the bottome of the shirt or sleeves. You can also add inlays, which are shapes, symbols, or pictures put into chain mail through the use of different colored rings. Dags- In order to make dags, start another row wherever you want to add one. Instead of finishing an entire row, connect 10+ rings and then stop. Instead of continuing the row, and a row under the one you just made, except make it with one less ring. If you started at 10 the second row will have 9 rings, the third will have 8, and so on so forth. A finished dag will look like this: (((((((((( )))))))) (((((( )))) (( ) Inlays: By using other materials such as copper or bronze, you can make shapes on your chain mail shirt. As shown in earlier pictures, my shirt has a cross made out o 14 gauge copper 1/4 rings. You can make whatever symbols/shapes you want but more than likely you will have to make up the designs on your own. Making a chain mail shirt is quite an amazing feat and I commend everyone that is able to finish one. Thank you for reading my instructable. Here is a picture of an inlay used on a chain mail shirt.

Related Instructables

Maille and plate leg armour (Photos) by armourkris

Volume 1 Introduction to Chainmail by jbb3141

How to Make Japanese 4-1 Maille (Speedweaving) by ineverfinishanyth

Riveted Maille from Scratch. by armourkris

How to make Japanese 6-1 Maille Armor by ineverfinishanyth

plastic chain mail armor by koga wolf

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 133 comments

didgitalpunk says:

Feb 15, 2011. 11:37 AM REPLY seems easy... a bit long for shure but easy. try making a glove where you can bend your fingers and where you feel confortable. i did it with cooper wire the rings are 1cm wide on ext. and 8mm on inner the wire is 1mm thick. sorry for all those who don't understand metric system I'M FRENCH. up to now I used about 50-60 metres of wire and I didn't finish my 3rd and 4rth fingers and my thumb and I still have a bit of my wrist missing.

Appollo64 says:
Great instructable! About how many rings does a shirt require to be made.

Nov 1, 2010. 12:06 PM REPLY

ineverfinishanyth says:
Thank You! This particular shirt took about 22,000 rings to make.

Nov 1, 2010. 5:17 PM REPLY

arlon17 says:
Is there a speadweaving technique for 6 in 1 mail?

Oct 25, 2010. 12:37 AM REPLY

goofy102938 says:
Thanks

Oct 19, 2010. 3:28 PM REPLY I have a question. When you measure the elbow do you mean from your neck to your elbow or your elbow to elbow? (horizontally or virticaly)

ineverfinishanyth says:
With arms outstretched horizontally, the measurement goes from one elbow to the other.

Oct 19, 2010. 7:16 PM REPLY

goofy102938 says:
Thanks A LOT!!!!!!!!!

Oct 20, 2010. 2:14 PM REPLY

goofy102938 says:
im making a maille shirt and this helps a lot; thanks

Oct 3, 2010. 12:42 PM REPLY

eoutlaw says:
Aww, that's going to be cool!

Oct 12, 2010. 12:06 PM REPLY

goofy102938 says:
Yeah, but its gonna take a long long long long time

Oct 19, 2010. 3:25 PM REPLY

ineverfinishanyth says:
glad it helps; make sure to post a picture or two when you're finished!

Oct 3, 2010. 3:56 PM REPLY

goofy102938 says:
sure thing

Oct 4, 2010. 3:37 PM REPLY

003mi6 says:

Sep 23, 2010. 6:54 AM REPLY Yea Im making a chain mail costume for halloween, for about 1/2 foot piece its taking me about 4 hours ... is that slow of fast for making a chain mail shirt?

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

ineverfinishanyth says:

Sep 24, 2010. 10:35 PM REPLY umm it depends on how wide the piece is, as well as the ring size being used...for example on my shirt, which is 1/4 inch diameter, a reasonable amount to get finished in 4 hours is about 7inches by 8 inches (not counting the making of the rings). Jul 9, 2010. 3:23 AM REPLY

skimmo says:
here we go it took me 12 long months

darknessfalls says:
COOLL!!!! only thing im doing differently is im going sleeveless

Jul 29, 2010. 10:47 PM REPLY

ineverfinishanyth says:
very nice! what are the specs on the ring size, gauge, and material?

Jul 11, 2010. 1:35 PM REPLY

skimmo says:
my spindle was 10 mm my wire was 3.5 mm fencing wire

Jul 11, 2010. 11:42 PM REPLY

skimmo says:
my shirt is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 26, 2010. 4:23 AM REPLY

the_burrito_master says:
post a pic of it!

May 27, 2010. 6:07 PM REPLY

skimmo says:
i will very soon

May 27, 2010. 11:43 PM REPLY

GeoMage says:

May 21, 2010. 9:06 PM REPLY On step 5 does 20 rows mean: ))))) ((((( ))))) counts as one row or that count as three rows (like what you have in picture one, would that whole thing count as one or three rows)?

Mr Ub says:

May 10, 2010. 5:38 PM REPLY SWEET!! i think that it rocks. although the picture of the final product is a bit small its one of the coolest instructables I've ever seen : )

eulaliaaaa! says:
Use the Pop Bottle Chain Mail for this. It would be quicker.

Sep 25, 2009. 4:50 PM REPLY

riku1 says:

May 7, 2010. 9:23 AM REPLY I made some poptab maile and it looks awesome but it definately is NOT practical because it falls apart i am working on improoving it by taking and combining this type of chain maile and poptab maile i am also working on dragon scale armor Jan 9, 2010. 9:48 PM REPLY

Pryo Chain says:

Quicker? Yes. Better? No.

It would fall apart unless you solder each gap together. Plus it wouldnt function as armor, it would only [kinda] look like real chainmail. You also have to consider, how long do you think it will take to collect thousands of pop tabs?

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

eulaliaaaa! says:
Oh, it took me about two weeks.

Mar 27, 2010. 12:41 PM REPLY

kNeXFreek says:
seconded

Feb 22, 2010. 3:21 PM REPLY

BearForce1 says:
Why would we use it as armor unless we are in a renaissance fair or went back in time?

Jan 14, 2010. 9:34 AM REPLY

Pryo Chain says:

Feb 1, 2010. 7:20 PM REPLY Well, in all fairness, I am part of a renaissance group, and considering we actually use live steel, real armor is always a nice thing to have.

punkhead58 says:
The steel is alive? Fascinating! What does it eat?

Sep 20, 2010. 7:06 PM REPLY

thebair says:
lol

Sep 23, 2010. 9:27 AM REPLY

natethegreat88 says:
But then it wouldn't be as flexible (i think). Although the pop bottle chain maille is good for like braceletes.

Oct 2, 2009. 11:50 AM REPLY

Shut Up Now says:

Aug 22, 2009. 9:03 PM REPLY hey guys, do you know if 17 gauge aluminum wire is fine for decorative maille?? also, will teh stuff meant for electric fences make everything it touches black??

golddigger1559 says:

Feb 26, 2010. 7:21 AM REPLY with fencing wire it does turn your skin black if you play with it for while but ive been trying to find a way to combat that by putting the finished project (or just a heap of rings) into a sand tumbler very similar to what you would use to polish bullets im going to make one out of a bucket and an old rolling platform. im hoping that will polish the rings and also clean all that black crap from the rings. ill post an update soon

starwing123 says:

Jan 1, 2010. 5:49 PM REPLY Any one actually tested this chainmail out with a sword? I know it's used for decoration, but it would be cool if a sword couldn't penetrate this.

golddigger1559 says:
i have, it worked ok but i wont be doing that any more it bent to many rings

Feb 26, 2010. 7:11 AM REPLY

Pryo Chain says:

Jan 9, 2010. 9:45 PM REPLY To answer an obvious question, steel chainmail WILL prevent a sword from cutting you. But it still feels a lot like being hit with a pipe. Of course, a strong enough swing can snap rings, and some blades, like the steel-cutting katanas used by the japanese, can cut through them. And contrary to belief, chainmail DOES block stabs, and some arrows, but anything with enough force can break a few rings and compromise the structure enough to pass through. Medieval blacksmiths knew how to make armour. They wouldnt waste weeks working on armour that didnt work.

OnCrowsWings says:

Dec 30, 2009. 10:45 AM REPLY Just a quick insertion here... For the beginners...When doing an inlay, draw a rough outline on paper that you want. Don't worry about detail unless you are doing a wall covering or a bed spread. Imagine a shadow of what you are picturing you that want your inlay to be. Anyway draw a picture, watch your size, the bigger the better. Work on a flat surface such as a desk or a kitchen table. As you weave the rings, keep laying them over your drawing. This way you can continually check where to start and stop the colored rings for your inlay. Other than that just keep the pattern taught in this Inst..... Be creative, have patience and have fun....

Pryo Chain says:

Didnt try it on any of my work yet, but I really like that idea. Five stars. And to a comment, no less ^-^

Jan 9, 2010. 9:37 PM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/

NIJU! says:
lol look at mine

Nov 12, 2009. 9:09 PM REPLY

majorkonig says:

Oct 19, 2009. 11:53 PM REPLY sorry but i dont know what this is ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))? im going to be connecting the two side together and the rings will not connect they are going to be going against each other would you be able to help please. is there supposed to be a seem?

plmoknijb says:
Would it work to instead of buying rings could you buy heaps of large springs and cut them down the middle forming rings?

Oct 4, 2009. 4:06 PM REPLY

rath358 says:

Oct 14, 2009. 6:06 PM REPLY Please do NOT buy springs. they are made out of spring steel,which is much harder to work with. you can buy p remade ringsand uncut wire coils online, which work great for mailing.

ineverfinishanyth says:
yes you could do that but springs tend to be rather expensive because they are not made of cheap galvanized steel

Oct 4, 2009. 8:56 PM REPLY

qtm says:

Mar 11, 2009. 10:31 AM REPLY Nice instructable. Yeah, it takes a long time, first took me about 80 hours over a few months. There are a few things you can do to make it quicker though. First, don't weave the entire shirt one ring at a time. That's painfully slow. Start by opening up the rings. You don't need to go through all the rings, but it makes it easier to have a bunch that you can just pick up and weave without opening them first. Begin making 5 ring groups- four rings connected by a single ring. That creates your basic group, and you can do this without dragging the entire shirt around, and can do it while watching TV since it doesn't require too much attention. I think you probably need to do about 1/4 of the total rings this way, but just make a hundred or so just to get you started. Next start connecting the small groups. Connect two groups with a single ring (making sure the rings lay the correct way) and keep going. You'll soon have a chain three rings wide. Once it's long enough, put it aside and make another. Keep making them separately, it's much easier to work with. Once you have several, you can stitch them together (ensuring they're oriented in the same way). For the shoulders and sleeves, just make shorter chains to create smaller patches. Good luck, and be patient, it's mind-numbingly boring!

demeterschild says:

Sep 24, 2009. 2:23 AM REPLY I usually do a speed mailling version where I have a pile of open and a pile of closed (the closed pile twice as big as the open). I just make strips of 4-in-1 and then 'sew' them together. obviously I start with a group of five like you said and then I scoop the open rings through the closed two and then add two more closed rings before closing the open one. then repeat. I close it off when it's the circumference I want, then make another strip. then I 'sew' the two strips together by adding open rings in the middle. this doubles the size of the first strip in the same amount of time it would take to add one round of single rings. I've never made armor for anything bigger than a stuffed animal though, so I don't know exactly how much it reduces the time.

ineverfinishanyth says:

Sep 25, 2009. 4:28 PM REPLY That is the method that I have switched to as of the past couple months and yes, it does make it go a lot faster.......it's probably something like 10% faster, which is pretty good when you're talking about making maille.

Speedmite says:
Ido this and its fast. $ hours for a 6 by 4 inch rectangle of 4-1

Mar 20, 2009. 5:47 PM REPLY

Speedmite says:

Mar 20, 2009. 5:49 PM REPLY sorry 40, not $, typo. You just made a typo, a typo a typo, you just made a typo, we all make mistakes. (Repeat untill person goes crazy and/or attempts to violently injure you. Then the chainmail comes in handy!)

view all 133 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-chainmail-shirt/