Scalemaille, extended weave scale, feathermaille

[memnus]

(Click on images to enlarge.)

There are several fabrics or chain weaves referred to as "scale mail", including scales sewed or riveted onto a backing. The weaves I'm referring to here all have the scales as an integral component - each scale is structurally load-bearing and the rings alone will not hold the piece together.

The most common scale weave has each scale linked directly to the scales above and below. This is a straightforward pattern to knit, but the resulting fabric has some properties I don't particularly like. It has a strong curl toward the back of the fabric, and very little flexibility to bend toward the front. The scales along the edges also tend to rest differently than scales in the middle, or get out of alignment with each other.

To try to fix those problems, I moved to smaller rings and added an extra row of rings between each two rows of scales. Now, each scale is linked to the three rings above and three rings below. This requires three times as many rings as regular scale, so nearly three times as much time to knit, but the resulting fabric is much more flexible. It still has a curl toward the back due to the shape of the scales, but is more forgiving of being bent against it.

Even with smaller rings, the extended weave drapes farther than common scale, enough so that gaps become visible in the fabric. To cover those, I replace the rings directly above the scales with smaller scales. The openings in the scales are smaller than the rings, so this contracts the weave slightly, but hides the openings nicely. The smaller scales also give an opportunity to add color more subtly than in the larger pattern. I call this weave feathermaille.

Comments

[kristinleigh]

The insight into your process is really interesting, Brian - do you happen to have any recs for further reading on this kind of thing (especially the history of it)?

I created a members: memnus tag for you to use on your future posts btw. :)

[memnus]

The best resource I found as I was starting out was Maille Artisans International League. Scale as I make it is not historical in any sense; as far as I can tell it originates with the company that makes that distinctive shape of scale. Scale for combat would have been larger plates sewn or riveted to a leather backing.

Thanks for the tag! I'll have to work out future uses for it. Good to know we can't just add arbitrary tags with the post.