SCA: Kingdom A&S Event

 

Well, I'm back from Kingdom A&S, which is THE big A&S competition event in Ansteorra every year.   

My project for Kingdom A&S (KAS) was one you've seen bits and pieces of here on the blog in the past few months - I've been working on it since January, I started as soon as Candlemas was over.  

I made a complete Norse woman's outfit in three layers: a linen serk, a wool overdress, and a wool smokkr.  All of it is hand-sewn, and I did the tablet weaving and the braiding on the smokkr as well. 

The serk is all linen, sewn with linen thread.  It's a light gray in color, similar to what an unbleached linen would look like, but not as warm in color (more gray, less beige/tan).  The thread is white, because that's what I had on hand.  Nothing fancy here, just a plain "T-tunic" style pattern, some flat-felled seams, no trim or anything like that. The sleeves are a bit longer than they need to be - I did that so I could bunch them up around my wrists.  So they hang down pretty far in the picture above.  The stitching on the serk isn't as nice as on the other two pieces, and I got dinged for that by the judges, but it's not a humongous deal or anything.  

armpit gussets.  I hate them so much. 

The green wool dress (previewed here) that goes over the serk is done on the same basic T-tunic pattern (similar to tunics/dresses found at Birka and Hedeby).  It's sewn in a beige colored silk thread which blends into the green fabric pretty well.  The trim around the neckline and sleeve cuffs is blue silk fabric, hand-stitched in place on top of the edge.  

the green wool dress, with blue silk trim and
a blue tablet woven belt

armpit gussets in the green dress

blue silk trim on green dress

The blue wool smokkr is one that I showed at Bjornsborg this past Spring, when the project was about half-finished.  It's a full-length dress, with fabric straps/loops, tablet-woven trim, and a "Hedeby braid" trim on the vertical seams, very similar to the red linen dress I made in 2024.  

The fabric is a broken diamond twill wool in a medium blue color; the pattern is the same three-panel/three-gore pattern I always use for these things, which is based off of Carolyn Priest-Dorman's pattern which is widely used in the SCA LINK.    

The trimming across the top edge of the dress is in two parts: a green silk fabric band folded over the top edge, and below it a tablet woven band in silk, in green, blue, and white. This decision was inspired by finds at Birka as noted by Inga Hagg.  The pattern for the band is Oseberg 12L1 (the Oseberg "narrow band" found on the loom in the Oseberg ship burial), which I got from Elewys von Finchingfield's blog and YouTube channel LINK.  

blue smokkr

setting in the side gores

tablet weaving and Hedeby braid on the smokkr

eleven examples of top trim on apron dresses, 
illustration by Inga Hagg

weaving the Hedeby braid

the Hedeby braid on an extant fragment found
at Birka (illustration by Inga Hagg)

Overall, the day was frustrating as heck (because of all the stress of just waiting and waiting and waiting), but it ended well.  I'm very happy with the scores I got, and the judges' commentary.  I was in the top 10 high scorers, and so I got a commemorative coin/badge as a prize, which was pretty cool.  I only spoke to one of my judges, but she was very cool and had a lot of good things to say, and good ideas for going forward with this project IF I decide to take it to Gulf Wars to compete there - IF I get chosen to go, which I probably won't.  

A few friends and I traveled to KAS together (five hour drive!) and stayed in an Air BNB together for the weekend, which was fun.  We had a great time together, and KAS was a good experience, and I'm happy with the weekend overall.  

Good lord, what's next?  I have no idea.  I think I need to spend some time recovering from the emotional strain, LOL.  No, I totally have things planned.  More soon!  

my prize coin from the competition

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SCA: Weaving Stuff - Birka 6

I've been doing a bit of tablet-weaving lately, mostly for practice, and to fill up my time since I don't have any big projects to work on at the moment. 

Birka 6, wool

I'm trying out a new wool yarn for weaving - Hobbii's "easy care merino", which is absolutely lovely to weave with:  it's smooth and even, and doesn't stick to itself the way some wool yarns do.  The pattern above is Birka 6, which I love to do, even though it's kind of slow.  I'll get faster at it the more I do it, though.  

I've also begun teaching tablet weaving, a little bit.  I spent a few hours last weekend semi-teaching weaving to a couple of friends of mine (not total newbies, but wanted some guidance) at the local library's "crafternoon", and it went really well.  I'm not really cut out for teaching in front of a class, but I really enjoy these little one-on-one sessions.  I have a couple more planned for the coming month, too.  

I've also been replacing the trim on an old smokkr.  I donated a bunch of my old Viking clothing to the local Gold Key a few weeks ago, and only kept  my five favorite pieces.  This is one of them, a favorite because of the color of the fabric ("blue bonnet" from Fabric-Store.com): 

The problem was, the trim on it was manufactured jacquard trim in a semi-Persian design that I purchased online a million years ago.  It was pretty, and I loved the blue and gold, but it wasn't accurate for the dress at all.  I took it off and replaced it with another blue-and-gold Birka 6, this time in cotton (cotton, because I wanted to be able to throw this thing in the washing machine).  

Somehow I managed to warp this one up backwards, and the pattern came out on the underside of the weave instead of the top, and the design is blue-on-gold instead of gold-on-blue. After much conversation with a weaving buddy, and a fantastic explanation by a kind soul on Reddit, it was determined that I wove too many picks at the beginning of the band which threw off my pick count which threw off the gold/blue rows by 2, and reversed the colors. Does that make sense? It barely makes sense to me, but I mostly get it. I need to spend some time playing with turning sequences to get a better feel for how this all works - I can follow a pattern, but I don’t know as much of the theory as I would like to. 

  

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Anyway, just a couple of little things to work on to fill my time, nothing big going on. "Event season" is just around the corner, starting with Kingdom A&S in September, about which I'm very excited and very nervous.  In the meantime I'll be weaving some more, doing more teaching, and playing around with Spring projects, which I'll show you as I go along.  

SCA: Goofy Little Tent Flag

 Last month I showed you my new heraldry which was passed in June: 

I used to have a little cloth flag that I would put up in front of my tent to say, "this is my tent," but since I changed my heraldry this summer, I needed a new flag. 

Rather than try to replicate the entire device on a 12x14" flag, I decided to make one of those little "weathervane" style flags like you see on Norse banner poles (like this).  (No, it doesn’t look remotely Norse now that it’s finished). 

There's a blue background and a gold pomegranate on one side: 

And a black raven rising on the other side: 

(If you're curious, the cloth is white cotton sheeting; and the paints I used are plain old artists' acrylic paints mixed with a little bit of Tacky Glue and some liquid matte medium. The glue keeps the colors from running in the rain, and the matte medium is just to water down the paint and make the finish the same across the different colors).  

Just a small fun project which will absolutely NOT make up for the fact that I have a big, blue, modern tent, LOL.  (I would love to build myself a real Viking tent, but I don't have the time or the money, or the space in my workshop to do all that carving!) 

SCA: Small Side Quests

While I waited for fabric to come in the mail the last couple of weeks, I made a few small things:  

1.  Wool Skjoldehamn hood

I had quite a bit of that green wool left over from my tunic dress. The problem is, the color isn’t one I can wear - that bright, yellow-y, acid-green makes me look like I’m suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, lol.  So I decided to try to overdye the fabric to a shade of green I can actually wear. 

This came out really well. It’s more of a Kermit-the-Frog green now, which is much nicer to my skin tone.  The fabric didn’t shrink or felt in the wash at all, either, thank goodness. 

And so here’s a Viking hood.  I hand-sewed the entire thing, because I really enjoy hand-sewing, and I like the look of it on this fabric in particular. I won’t put any woven trim on this hood, though I may make some whipcord ties for the hood part, like the original piece has. 

2. Matching (ish) Hedeby bag

I dyed another piece of the leftover fabric to make a new Hedeby bag out of.  For both pieces of wool, I used Rit dye’s “Pearl Gray” and “Teal” - for this bag, there’s a bit more of each, and a lot more teal than gray. It’s a little darker and a little cooler-toned than the hood. 

As always, I made the handles on my scroll saw out of red oak scraps that I have a million of. Instead of a tablet woven strap, this time I crocheted a quick cord. I may replace it with a woven strap eventually, but for now yarn will have to do. 

3. Hedeby "Coin Purse" 

In the process of making the bag above, I ended up making my first bag way too small for the handles I had already created, which were sized to fit the size bag I normally make (about 9" x 11").  I ended up cutting out a second bag which became the one pictured above; but in the meantime I decided to do something silly with the smaller bag.  I cut it down even smaller and sewed it up, then made a pair of wee handles for it, and made this tiny Hedeby bag just for fun: 

The finished mini-bag is about 4” across, including the handles.  It's not terribly useful for most things, it doesn’t even have a strap, it's mostly just for fun. I'm just hoping it will just make people laugh when they see it.  

4.  Ottoman pillbox hat

Because I was extremely bored the other night and got sucked into a 16th century Ottoman/Turkish rabbit hole online, I ended up making this little hat: 

I do absolutely plan to make an outfit to go with it someday if we ever have an Ottoman-themed event again.  For right now, I have this little hat as a jumping-off point. The fabric is from a small piece of blue and gold brocade I received in a prize basket in February; it’s lined with blue linen; and the trim around the bottom is a bit of scrap silk from a sari. 

Random stuff!  More soon. 

SCA: About Hrefna

I'm in the process of creating an SCA resume with the guidance of a Laurel friend of mine, and it occurred to me that I haven't done any sort of introductory thing on this blog in a pretty long time.  So here goes: 

ME

I am Honorable Lady Hrefna Hroksdottir, and I play a 9th-century Norsewoman in the SCA, in the barony of Bryn Gwlad in the kingdom of Ansteorra. I currently hold an Award of Arms (2011) Sable Thistle (an armigerous award for arts & sciences in Ansteorra, 2015) in costuming, as well as an Iris of Merit (grant level A&S award, 2025).    

BACKGROUND AND INTERESTS

I've been sewing since I was 9 years old when my mother first taught me, and I've been costuming since I was 18 when I was in Amtgard (Barony of Tori-Mar, Celestial Kingdom).  I very much enjoy all things sewing, especially hand sewing. I'm also an avid tablet weaver, and I do a bit of woodworking, jewelry making, and making glass beads.  

I dance when I can, and I try not to let people hear me sing although I love doing it and really enjoy the bardic circle when I can make it to one.  I also cook quite a bit, although that was sort of an unintentional side-hobby - I help out the Ansteorran Longship Association with their omelet breakfast fundraisers when I can, and I've helped my friend Cristiane make feasts for events on a few occasions, too.  

I don't teach formal classes at all, although I wish I could.  I actually love teaching, but I have some pretty serious anxiety issues which make the act of standing in front of a group of people and speaking to them impossible for me.  I do, however, really enjoy teaching one-on-one, and I've done that pretty frequently.  I'd much rather come to your house to teach you tablet weaving than stand up in front of a class full of people all staring at me.  

NAME AND HERALDRY

My name, Hrefna, means "raven" in Old Norse; my last name comes from the name Hrokr, meaning crow or rook - hence, I am Raven the Crow's Daughter.  That might sound a bit silly, but it spoke to me.  (I sort of have a thing for ravens - I have a pretty large raven tattoo, and I wear raven jewelry pretty much all the time).

My device, which was just approved earlier this year, is the second one I've held.  It looks like this: 

Per bend sinister azure and argent, a pomegranate slipped and leaved Or 

and a raven rising sable, a bordure counterchanged Or and azure

The pomegranate was a major feature on my old arms, which I had registered in 2011 when I joined the SCA.  Since I've shed my original (14th century English) persona, I decided this time around to keep the pomegranate as well as adding the raven for my new persona, as a way of honoring the "old me" and the new at the same time.  I chose the colors simply because I love blue and gold (my old device was black and white and red).  

HISTORY 

My history in the SCA is divided almost neatly in half.  I joined the SCA in 2011.  From 2011 - 2016 I focused mainly on 14th century clothing, and I enjoyed making new outfits to fit the theme of whichever event I was attending.  I did a lot of work on commission for friends, much of which is in this blog if you look back far enough. From 2016 - 2019 I took a long hiatus from the SCA in order to focus on my "real" life, which was kind of blowing up in my face at the time.  I returned in 2019 - right in time for the pandemic - and I've been focused on Viking/Norse ever since, and my sub-focus, I guess, is learning to make my clothing as historically accurate as possible (I shudder to look at some of my Viking attempts pre-2016, some of that stuff was so awful! Don't scroll back that far).  

WHAT'S NEXT? 

So where do I go from here?  I honestly don't know.  I spent many years keeping myself hidden as much as I could, and now I feel a bit invisible, although I know I'm not.  I love that I've been stepping out of my comfort zone a lot with A&S the last couple of years and I'd really like to keep building on that. Yes, I would like to be a Laurel one day, but that's going to be a long way off, I think.  I'm proud of my work, but I know I have a lot more work to do.    

I'm working on getting an Ansteorra Wiki page set up for myself - waiting to hear back from the people who do that, actually.  When it's published I'll add a link to the sidebar on this blog.  

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So that was a long text post, sorry about that!  Hope it was at least somewhat entertaining.  Back soon with more STUFF.  

SCA: Side Quest: Sprezzatura Viking Outfit

While I waited for the mail to bring me the final piece of my big hand sewing project, I started something on the side to keep me busy: 

So, in my SCA household, (La Compagnie della Sprezzatura), we each have a set of clothing in our preferred style in the company colors, with or without appliquéd device, that we all wear together on certain days. Lots of styles, but the same colors - it’s a neat effect. 

This is our company heraldry - I don’t know the correct heraldic terms for it, but it’s yellow and blue with a chalice and white (silver?) star floating above it.  I made a table runner after this device  in 2023: 

This outfit is mostly machine-sewn, which was kind of fun after all the hand sewing I’ve been doing the past several months.  I did hem both pieces by hand, and finished the neckline of the yellow dress and applied all of the trim pieces by hand.

The yellow dress was a lightweight “chambray” linen, meaning it had a yellow warp and a white weft. I overdyed the whole thing with yellow to cover up the white threads. It’s not exactly the shade of yellow I was hoping for, but I got this stuff on clearance for $12/yard, which is unreasonably cheap for 100% linen, so I’m happy with it as is I think. 

The blue dress is a medium-weight linen (about 9oz I guess?) which was given to me by a friend as a thank-you gift for helping them with a project. The teal trim on the top is scrap sari silk, and the zigzag tablet woven band is one I made last year and had in my stash (cotton crochet thread).  

I don’t plan on doing any appliqué on this outfit with the company heraldry - the colors are going to have to suffice.  I know a lot of people like to put big fancy appliqués on viking clothing, but it isn’t documentably period for this type of outfit — and neither is this vivid ultramarine blue or bright-ass yellow, I know, but we all pick our battles, LOL. 

So now I have a Sprezzatura outfit, hooray! I’m all set for our next “uniform” day, whenever that is (probably November). 

SCA: Green Norse Tunic Dress

I finally finished my big Norse clothing project, with the completion of this green wool tunic dress.  The fabric is a lightweight (6oz) plain weave wool; the blue trim at the neck and sleeve cuffs is silk from sari scraps bought from Etsy; the entire thing is hand sewn with silk thread. 

I backstitched all the seams with the tiniest stitches I could manage, including on these side gores. 

Armpit gussets which I didn’t mitre for some reason? I don’t know why I did this thing with the corner squares, but it’s done and that’s that. I hate armpit gussets SO MUCH, but I LOVE flat-felling seams. Is that weird? 

This dress is meant to go underneath the blue diamond wool smokkr that I posted about in May. The entire outfit is all hand stitched and as historically accurate as I could make it with the knowledge that I currently possess.  This whole outfit will go into Kingdom Arts & Sciences in September…as soon as I finish writing my documentation! 

Here’s a sneak preview of the entire outfit: 

Tada! 

I started a “side quest” project while I was waiting for the blue silk to come in the mail. Then I had to stop THAT project and wait for the mail, so I got a couple of other little things done in the meantime.  Show you soon! 

SCA: New Winter Cloak

I spent the past few days weaving my butt off. Needed something to do while I wait for fabric to come in the mail. 

I had a bunch of that diamond weave blue wool left over from my smokkr project; it wasn’t enough to make into a coat, so I decided to make it into a large rectangular cloak instead: 

The woven trim is pretty simple - in fact, it’s the first pattern I ever learned to weave, one of the Ladoga designs. I made ten yards of it in three sections, most of it on a “new” loom that someone gave to me recently. (More on that in another post).  

I’m pretty happy with this. It was a fast, fun project which will look great and keep me warm at BAM this year. 

My next post will probably be about more hand sewing, as I’m about to start adding to the blue wool smokkr project to bring the whole outfit up a level. I’m also going to be doing LOTS of weaving the next few months, and I’m planning on building at least one new loom for sure, maybe a pair of them. We’ll see.