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.  

SCA: Male Viking Tunic Replacement

 I finally made myself a new tunic to go with my male Norse outfit. The last one had seen better days: it started out life as a dress, which I altered, dyed, and finally cut off to make into a tunic. Then it got dyed again, and I switched out the trim on it twice, and I don’t even know how many repairs to this thing I had done. This is what it looked like in November: 

I decided I hated the woven trim, and I was in the process of measuring for new trim when I discovered that the back right shoulder seam had blown out - and the seam allowances inside were utterly shredded, so it wouldn’t be an easy repair. When I found two more destroyed seams in it, I decided to scrap the whole tunic and just replace it. It was time. 

Here is the new one: 

Simpler, and a better color, I think. The tunic is linen, the woven trim is cotton. I seamed this together on the machine, and then felled all the seam allowances and did the finishing/hemming by hand. I cut the side gores much narrower than the ones on the old tunic - they were wider because it used to be a dress - and it hangs better now that there’s not too much fabric. 

While I love the trim I wove for this tunic (Ladoga 2b), I’m not wild about the way the neckline came out. It’s…I don’t know, I just don’t like it much. Maybe it just needs jewelry. 

But all in all, I like the new tunic, I LOVE the color, and I like the fact that my male outfit is complete again -  I can wear it to Gulf Wars next month. Woohoo!  

Now to make myself a new serk…

SCA: Do Not Open Until September

 Something else that happened at KAS over the weekend: I gave a good friend of mine a birthday present: 

This is a Skjoldehamn style hood, made of linen, machine-sewn, with a thin tablet-woven band around the hood opening and bottom edge. 

My friend Ivar saw my blue and brown hood last fall and expressed a wish to have a similar one, so I made this blue and red one for him in June, and I’ve been dying to tell you about it ever since - but it was a surprise, so I couldn’t say anything yet. I haaaate keeping susprises a secret! 

Here’s a closer shot of the trim; it’s 
the Oseberg 12L1 pattern again

I’m just pleased that he loved it. More than that, the look on his face when he realized that I was giving him a birthday present was priceless.  Ha! 

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So there are TONS of events coming up in the next couple of months, and I’m working my butt off on new things, and I hope I’ll have lots of photos from the events for you. More soon! 

SCA: Tablet Weaving: Decorative Ties for Winingas

 My latest weaving project is done:  a pair of thin ties to wrap around my winingas for my male Viking kit (ostensibly to help hold them up, although they stay in place just fine without them): 

I'd seen this look in several photos on reenactors' costumes on various blogs and online photo albums, and wondered about the authenticity of them.  While the existence of winingas in the Viking age has definitely been proven (through grave finds, artwork, etc.), I wasn't sure about these little ties to help hold them on.  I didn't find any record of physical evidence of straps/ties like these, but I did find a couple of period artworks which depict them:

 

from The Benediction of St. Æthelwold,  971-984 CE, England
 (the person on the far right has straps/ties at the top of his leg wraps)

Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century
(the guy on the right)

Of course, neither of those are Norse art, but at least it does show that these little straps/ties were in use for a while in a couple of different areas around the same time period as I’m going for.  

And I DO love the chevron/diamond pattern that I used to weave them...although I've realized that I've used this same pattern in like three different places now, and I should probably vary that a bit, hehe.  I love weaving and I do it all the time, but I DO need to be careful how much of it I'm using in my Viking outfits - I don't want to overdo it and look like a piled-up mess of competing patterns, colors, and accessories.  In my male kit I now have these leg ties, as well as woven trim on the edges of my tunic, and I think that's enough for one outfit (and my shoelaces, which I need to replace, but that’s a story for another blog entry). 

What's Next? 

So I just got back from Steppes' Warlord, and I'm TIRED.  Warlord is a "work weekend" for me, and I busted my ass the whole time I was there and came home thoroughly exhausted and not at all in the mood to work on projects.  However.  I do have several things I need to work on this summer, which includes (but is not limited to): 

• building a new Oseberg loom
• weaving a whole bunch of bands for largesse purposes
• repairing a few pieces of garb (seam rips, fallen hems, etc). 
• hand-sewing a new Viking serk (halfway finished with that right now) 
• hand-sewing a new smokkr

And I'm also working on some "mundane" projects, like refinishing an antique table and crocheting a summer top I would like to finish before summer is actually over, hehe.  Lots to do!  

More soon.  

SCA: New Tablet Woven Trim For An Old Tunic

 My men’s tunic needed a little extra fiber bling. (Is “fiber bling” a thing? It is now).  This tunic is like seven years old - it’s been dyed three times and been through four different iterations of trim and edging details. This is the latest: 

The trim is the Oseberg narrow band design (double sided, not that it matters for this application), in cotton crochet thread and 8/2 cotton rug warp, which are almost exactly the same size (the crochet thread is just the tiniest bit thicker, but it ends up not mattering). 

I had a blue thread that was an exact match for the blue of this tunic, but it just looked too homogenous and bland. I wanted something that would pop against the blue and the rust colored edge banding, and I really love the way this dark red and gold look against the tunic colors. 

PARDON the wrinkles. You know how linen is. I applied the woven trim to the neckline, sleeve cuffs, and the lower hem of the tunic - about 6 yards in total. 

Now when I dress as a dude in the SCA, I shall be a fancier dude than I was before. I have some alterations to make to my new boots; soon as I’m done il get some photos of my entire Viking dude kit and show them to you. 

SCA: Men's Viking Outfit: Dyeing All the Things

The other day I posted a couple of pictures of me in a couple of my Viking outfits.   When I first saw the picture of me in my men's Viking outfit, I realized two things:  (a) that was the first time I'd ever actually SEEN my men's Viking outfit on me from an outside perspective, and (b) I didn't like it at all.  

Most of my (women's) Viking outfits are in varying shades of blue and green, and I like them all.  But each women's outfit is primarily one color:  the color of the apron dress, backed by a white or pale gray under dress, with coordinating accessories (hats, bags, etc) in complementary shades of blues and/or greens. Very simple.  

The man's outfit, however, was made up of several pieces in varying light blues and light greens that were worn all together,  and the different colors were NOT working well with each other.  Overall the whole outfit looked...kind of Smurfy.  And that's not good. 

 

before

The Problems

1.  Multiple shades of blue and green that don't all go together very well

2.  Main body of tunic is a really weird green that is probably not a "period color"  which was bothering me

3.  I never really cared for the big trapezoidal neck yoke and the sleeve cuff pieces.  I don't like the shape of the yoke at all.  

(Please ignore the violently turquoise socks - those are being replaced by new socks in natural colors).  

The Solutions

THE TUNIC 

I removed all the trim, visible top-stitching, and the blue yoke and cuff pieces. Then, I re-hemmed all the edges by hand, and dyed the whole thing.  After that, I applied some new trim pieces to the neckline, sleeve cuffs, and the lower hem of the tunic.  

The new color of the tunic (right)  is much better.  I used a royal blue and teal to achieve this shade of blue, which is one that would be achievable with natural dyes like woad, and therefore makes the tunic a bit more period-looking than it had been before.  

 The trim fabric is made from an old linen apron dress that didn't fit me anymore; I also couched a twisted cord in coordinating colors to the edge of the trim fabric.  I don't wear this rust/orange color as a primary color, because it looks awful on me in large amounts; but I really love the way the rust/blue set each other off.

PANTS, SOCKS, AND WININGAS

The linen pants, which started out a sort of "light navy" color (sort of darkish grayish blue, shown on the left of this picture), were dyed with a deep brown, which rendered them a sort of charcoal gray, which grounds the more intensely colored tunic nicely.  

I dyed the winingas with a bit of the same brown and some charcoal gray.  They started out a sort of baby-blue, and the warp threads in the wool remained blue, while the weft threads dyed a deep charcoal-brown, and I REALLY like the effect.  

The End Result

after

Here's what the finished outfit looks like: 

This is a much more balanced color scheme, with a single intensely-colored piece grounded by dark neutral tones. I feel like the colors here are much more natural and realistic-looking - these browns and grays and blue are colors which are achievable with natural dyes, and might have been worn in period.   I'm immensely happy with the way the dyeing turned out. (The tunic actually looks more blue than this in person, I could NOT get it to come out right on my camera).  

I'm also pretty stoked that I managed to do this entire project for only about $20 for just the fabric dye.  That's far less than half of what I would have spent on just the linen for a new tunic!  

    

     

Just for fun, here's a pic of with my blue wool cloak. 

Bonus: new hat! 

Whew, done!  For now. 

SCA: Hedeby "Pillbox" Hat (Leens Hat)

 Here's a quick little project that I whipped up yesterday, because I was finished with all my other projects and needed something to do.  Also, I was lacking any type of headgear for my Viking outfits.  

Previously, I had made several Jorvik and Dublin hoods for myself, which I originally wore with my women's Viking outfits, until I learned that they were very likely men's hats; and which I discontinued wearing when I realized that they were styles from the British Isles, and didn't fit with my Swedish/ Danish persona (I haven't narrowed it down farther than that; I base most of my clothing on finds from Birka and Hedeby).

However, that left me with only my Skjoldehamn hood to cover my head, and while it's not always cold enough to warrant that kind of coverage, sometimes I just want to wear a hat with my guy's Viking outfit. 

And so, I decided I'd make myself a Hedeby "pillbox" hat.  I first saw this hat on The Welsh Viking's YouTube channel (link to Leens hat video), and I based my construction and stitching methods on this video of his.  

The most complete hat of this style comes from a find in Leens in the Netherlands very close to the German border (which area was Denmark during the Viking age);  other similar fragments which could be this same style of hat have also been found at Hedeby.   The design itself is practically timeless - this type of hat has been worn since ancient Roman times, was very popular during the Renaissance, and persisted in various forms up through the 20th century (think fancy hotel bellhops).  

Leens hat, from Journal of Archeology in the Low Country

Both hats date from the 10th century, and are made of wool.  The Leens hat contains some decorative stitching around the top edge and down the center of the top of the hat, in a type of braided/herringbone stitch. 

My hat is made of scraps of heavy brown linen left over from the Skjoldehamn hood project - I didn't have any wool on hand. The "side wall" pieces are about 4.5" high by 27" around (my head measurement), and the top is a rough oval shape, which I traced from my metal AOA circlet.  So the hat would be thick enough to keep its shape, I double the thickness of the linen on the sides and top.  I sewed the hat by hand, using a plain running stitch on the seams, and then turned the selvages in and whipstitched them closed, creating something like a French seam to keep them from fraying.  The hem is simply turned and whipstitched in place. 

construction stitches

top piece based on my circlet; "band" pinned and ready to sew

For the decorative stitching around the top of the hat and along the back seam, I used a #10 cotton crochet thread floss in a medium gray (because that's what I had on hand).  I followed Jimmy's instruction from his video (above), and it looks like this: 

diagram of how the stitch works

stitch in progress

If I end up liking to wear this hat and wear it a lot, I may one day replace it with a wool hat with wool thread on the decorative stitching; but for now this linen version is a good start.  I'm actually pretty happy with the way this hat fits and looks.  The band is a bit loose, so the hat slides around a tiny bit; but thankfully it doesn't make my already tall head look even taller.  I'm not sure whether I'll wear the seam stitching at the back or the front; I've seen it done both ways online.  

finished hat

SCA: Finishing A Long-Overdue UFO

This week I completed a UFO (unfinished object) that's been outstanding for SEVEN YEARS.  

In 2015 I made this linen Skjoldehamn hood.  I'd meant to put a lining in it, since it was just medium-weight linen, but I never got around to it.  I did at one point embroider the edges of the hood (apparently? I don't remember doing it), but it still wasn't lined, and so it wasn't warm enough or heavy enough to really be functional, or even really sit right. The first thing I did this week was remove the decorative embroidery, since it was (a) in my way and (b) not period-appropriate for this garment piece. 

The original hood, found in Norway in 1936 and dating from the 10th century, is made of wool, with a woven (probably whipcord) woolen tie in the center of the hood which can be used to tie the hood closed in the front or tied behind the head.  

Mine is made of linen instead of wool, because at the time I started this project I still thought I was allergic to wool (I'm allergic to the chemicals they use to treat wool fabrics, but I've since learned that those can be carefully washed away and I'm fine).  I went ahead and lined it in linen (actually a linen/cotton blend) because the outside was linen.  I've omitted the ties on mine for the time being. 

Also, since my hood was machine-sewn, I went ahead and sewed the lining by machine as well; although all the stitching that shows - where the inside and outside are stitched together around the face and the lower hemline - are done by hand (whipstitch), and the trim is sewn on by hand (running stitch through the outside edges of the trim). 

Here's my finished hood: 

I applied a thin card-woven trim to the bottom edge of the hood, which I wove myself last week (my second-ever card weaving experiment).  It's made of #10 cotton crochet thread in brown and light gray, because that's what I had on hand.  I got the pattern from this website; it's a design which was inspired by some of the Oseberg weaving patterns (not an actual period copy).  

Hooray, it's finally finished and I can wear it!  This will look great with my men's Viking outfit this fall. (The men's Viking outfit is getting a major overhaul right now, I'll show you when it's done). 

For reference, here's a photo of the original Skjoldehamn hood as found on the bog body: 

the Skjoldehamn hood

More information on the Skjoldehamn hood: 

Náttmál. “A Skjoldehamn Hood.” NÁTTMÁL, 21 Mar. 2021, nattmal.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/skjoldehamn-hood/ 

Dan Halvard Løvlid (English translation by Carol Lynn) – The Skjoldehamn find in the light of new knowledge, 2011

Carletti, Francesca. “The Skjoldehamn Hood Class Handout.” Carlys_sewing, Her Ladyship Francesca Carletti, July 2016, carlyfenton.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/theskjoldenhamnhood_revised.pdf

Brennasdottir, Ula, "Skjoldehamn Hood" 2021 (SCA blog) https://medievalexcellence.com/2021/05/12/skjoldehamn-hood/

SCA: Some Pictures of Me and Some Random Bits and Pieces

 So, I realized recently that I've never really posted pics of me in any of my Viking outfits - I hate the way I look in photos most of the time, and so I almost always just post stuff on my dress dummy in the craft room.  Of course, the dummy pictures don't really show you what an entire outfit looks like put together, so I thought I'd get dressed up and share pics of ME in my actual Viking clothing. 

Hrefna Hrokrsdottir

Here's me in my favorite (female) Viking outfit.

That's a white linen serk and blue herringbone linen smokkr; with brass brooches from Raymond's, beads and beaded jewelry, leather turnshoes from Bohemond, inkle-woven belt, and Hedeby bag.  Everything except the brooches and shoes was made by me (including the woven shoelaces). 

(The white serk is all caught up underneath my smokkr in this picture, so it looks like the hem is wonky, but it's not.  I just wasn't paying attention when I was getting dressed. Oops!)

(I really need new socks, these turquoise ones are just too loud). 

Hrefn (?)

And here's me as a dude.  I originally developed this outfit because I wanted pants to set up/break down camp in, because skirts get in the way too much; but the more I wear this kit the more I just love dressing as a guy.  It's comfy and workable, and I love the way it looks on me: 

This is my blue linen pants, green-and-blue tunic with inkle woven trim and black top-stitching, blue winingas, the same leather turnshoes, hammered brass arm rings, beaded necklace, Jorvik hood, inkle woven belt, wool cloak, brass cloak brooch, and Hedeby bag.  The winingas, shoes, tablet-woven trim, and brooch were purchased; all the rest was made by me.  

I did just alter these pants, also.  The waistband was sitting too low on me and my pants were falling down, so I added a panel at the top to make the waistband taller - I didn't have any more of the blue linen so I used another color, which thankfully doesn't show under my tunic. 

(I should also note that this whole outfit is about to get a major overhaul, stay tuned). 

Card Weaving!! 

A dear friend of mine recently taught me how to do card/tablet weaving!  I am SO STOKED!  Here's my very first project, done in #3 cotton crochet thread. 

This is so much fun!  Of course, I screwed everything up on my first warp and had to take the whole thing apart and re-do it, but not only did Kate teach me to weave, she taught me how to deal with my mistakes, too, so I was able to get it all sorted out and then create this gorgeous trim.  It's about 3 yards long, which is about as much as my loom can do (either inkle or card).

I can't wait to try new colors and patterns! 

Other Stuff

In addition to the pants alteration and the card weaving, I've been making some minor repairs and alterations to my Viking kit(s) the past few weeks, including: 

•  cut a slit in the neckline of my white serk (above) so that it's a keyhole neckline instead of a round one, because I like the ease and look of a keyhole neckline better, and I love wearing my little silver brooch to close the neckline
• wove (inkle) a striped trim to put onto the male Viking tunic (above) to replace the ratty trim that was on it before, which was falling apart and was too big for the tunic anyway
• I covered my cooler in wood grain duct tape to make it look like a little wooden chest!  Except I'm about to take it all off, because it looks like country-fried ass, LOL
• I made a new necklace to wear with my male Viking kit (above), which is just 9 glass beads (made by me) on a length of blue string - nothing major, I just wanted some bling 

New plans, which I'm hoping to get done by October: 

1. I'm working on refinishing a table I found on the curb into a nice table we can all gather around at Sprezzatra camp - I'm about 85% done with sanding it and am about to start staining it
2. I'll also be making a heraldic table runner to go on the table, with Sprezzatura's device on it
3. I have a blue linen Skjoldehamn hood which needs a lining - I have the fabric, I just haven't made the lining yet
4. I'm hoping to replace the queen-sized air mattress that I use in my tent with a smaller one, so that I can have more walking space in my tent for getting dressed and stuff

Whew!  Lots going on to get ready for the fall event season. Let's go! 

SCA: 3 Things: Random Viking Kit Stuff

This is such a small thing, but it's a huge accomplishment for me!  I've been learning how to inkle weave...very...slowly...and without much forward progress.  I assumed my work was wonky because I was new, but that I would get the hang of it and it would stop being bumpy and fuzzy with practice.  I was using scrap yarn for this, which is...bumpy and fuzzy.  A weaving friend of mine told me it was likely the yarn's fault, and not mine - so I decided to try it with a new material. 

This time, I used #10 cotton crochet thread, and it came out MUCH more evenly and smoothly, thank goodness!  I made a pair of short (about 1y each), thin (3/8") garters to wrap around my winingas when I dress as a male Viking, to mimic some pictures I've seen online from some of the European reenactment groups.  I really liked the look, and since my raven clasps broke, I had nothing to secure my winingas with.  (Actually, the red garters are purely decorative, since I tuck my winingas in at the bottom).  (Also, I don’t know how period the whole winingas-and-garters thing is. I’ve seen this done as part of the Finnish Iron Age dress recreation (the “Eura dress,” 6-7th century), but I don’t know  if the style carried over into say, Sweden or Denmark, or for how long a time period that style was worn). 

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After the little raven clasps from my winingas broke (the hook snapped off of one), I made the broken one into a piece of jewelry - it's now a pendant for my Viking "festoon" necklaces: 

Now I have three raven pendants for my necklaces: this one, a brass Rus Borre style raven; a silver Rus-style pewter raven that I got as a site token from Candlemas; and a modern silver stylized raven pendant that my BFF got me for my birthday many years ago.  All the ravens! (I also have a pretty nifty knotwork raven tattoo, but sadly it doesn't show with all my garb on.  Oh, well).  Anyway, the clasp on this is totally modern, but I use them on all my raven pendants, and they don't really show because they're hidden between beads.  

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Also, I dyed my male Viking tunic with some leftover dark green RIT dye, because the colors were grossing me out. The greige and blue look was nice, but I just look awful in beiges and warm grays.  So now the tunic (and outfit) is green and dark blue, and I like it much better. 

More soon! 

No BAM for Hrefna - What's Next?

 So it turns out that I can't make it to BAM this weekend after all.  My ride got very sick at the last minute, and I can't make the trip on my own or find another ride.  So I'll have a nice, long weekend off work to myself, to rest and work on various projects around the house.  Here's what I've got going on right now, which I'll be posting about in the coming weeks: 

• SCA:  I'm crocheting a new Hedeby bag (yes, crochet, I'll tell you all about it soon) - I need to finish it and then dye the finished product
• SCA:  I've decided to update the male Viking tunic I made for myself over a year ago, which will involve changing the neckline and sleeve cuffs
• Regency:  I'm in the middle of working on a new hat for myself, which I need to finish and then trim up with ribbon and floral elements
• Regency:  I have a new outfit planned, and some accessories to go with it.  That'll be a lot of pattern drafting and engineering patterns from pictures I've seen online

Plus I have about a million other little projects around the house to get done, some of which I'll post here and some I won't (you don't care about the doorknob on my pantry, right?)  I have plenty of things to keep me busy over the long weekend, as well as a birthday dinner for my best friend and roommate; and lots of projects to plan and work on over the coming winter.  

One of the many crochet things I've been working on

Mr. Madylyne

On the last day of an event, I like to dress as a dude. Packing up and breaking camp in a dress is a pain in the ass, and MAN, I hate stepping on my skirts while I'm trying to do work.  So.  Pants it is.  But not jeans - I still want to be in garb on the last day. 

Also, I really just dig men's Viking clothing.  I had a pretty decent tunic which was very festive but not period, some winingas that didn't stay up, and no pants at all (I was wearing baggy yoga pants).  The whole outfit had to be re-done from the ground up.

And so, from the top down,  this is the new tunic.  It's simple, beige and blue, with no trim, embroidery, or other ornamentation.  It's a plain, geometrically cut t-tunic, like the old one.  I have a pair of metal bracelets I can wear with this, a beaded necklace, and a small, round, silver brooch I can close the neckline with.  

I totally cheated on the pants.  I've tried the Thorsberg trouser pattern before, but I can't seem to make it work for me - the seat always rips out when I wear them.  The billowy Rus pants design calls for more fabric than I had to work with.  What I opted to do instead was to make a pair of "long sleeved braies":  basically, I used my Medieval underwear pattern, which I know fits well, and extended the legs to full length.  Here's sort of what the pattern looks like:

It worked really well.  I now have a pair of pants that is comfy, moves with me, and the waistband stays in place...And which I can't show you, because they look truly horrible and ridiculous on, without a shirt, and the shirt covers up all but the lower legs.  You can kind of see them in the next pic:  

Here's a pair of wool winingas that I ordered from Etsy, and the Vlaardingen shoes I ordered from Bohemond a few months ago.  I tried this with linen winingas that I made, but I just couldn't keep them up - they fell completely off every step I took.  The wool clings to the fabric of my pants much better, and hugs the curves of my legs, so they stay in place just fine.  (It's hard to get them on evenly, though - you can see how loose some of the wraps are. I'll get better).   I got the raven hooks from the same Etsy shop, and I lurrrve them.

So that's me as a guy!  I swear I didn't match the tunic trim to the pants on purpose, I was just working with the leftover fabric that I had.  Those winingas take forever to put on - I imagine I'll get better at it the more I use them.  I don't have any of the usual accoutrements that I see on guys - knives, drinking horns, little leather pouches, nice leather belt.  The belt I have right now is one I wove on my inkle loom out of thin, black yarn.  Eventually I'll come up with a nice kit;  for now I'm just rocking the clothes.  

And here, because I got a new kitten, is your Cat Tax for the day.  Everyone, meet Darcy: