How to Make Chainmail Sleeves

Chainmail, a series of metal rings looped together into a pattern, is used to create armor and other clothing items for reenactment, fantasy wear and protective gear. The looped style, referred to as "weaving," gives the chainmail its strength and durability. You can weave chainmail into many different patterns, the simplest of which is the European four-in-one. You can weave a four-in-one pattern into basic chainmail sleeves, which attach at the shoulder of a garment or chainmail tunic.

Create a pattern for the chainmail sleeves. Measure the length of your arm and the width you would like the sleeve to have. Transfer these measurements to a sheet of paper by drawing a rectangle. Cut the rectangle from the paper and set it aside.

Hold a wire ring with the regular pliers. Grasp the open edge of the ring with the needle-nosed pliers. Bend the ring closed. Do the same to three more rings.

Bend open a wire ring using the pliers. Slide the open edge of the ring through the four rings from step 2.

Bend the open ring closed. Lay the cluster of rings out flat, spreading the rings so that they are evenly spaced around the center ring. This is a "unit" in chainmail weaving.

Make enough units to fill the length of the sleeve pattern.

Lay two units out flat. Line up the units vertically, so that the top two rings of one unit touch the bottom two rings of another unit. This will become the beginning of a "row."

Open a new ring. Link the new ring through the four top and bottom rings you lined up in step 1. Make sure that the ring alignment matches the way the rings are aligned within the units, so that the pattern is identical.

Close the ring. Link another unit to the bottom of the row. Keep linking units until the row is finished.

Make enough rows to fill the width of the sleeve pattern.

Line two rows up side by side on a flat surface. Open a new ring.

Identify the side rings on the two bottom units of each row. Focus on the four rings that meet between the rows. Link the new ring through these four rings.

Close the ring. Link the rest of the row together in the same way, and then link all of the rows together.

Line up the sheet of chainmail with your sleeve pattern to make sure it matches. Add units as needed.

Fold the chainmail in half along the length so that the side seams of the sleeve match. Link the rows on these edges together. Make a second sleeve.