Happy New Year!

I know, I’m late, it’s the thirteenth already. I’ve been busy as heck the last few weeks getting ready for Bryn Gwlad’s Candlemas (February 1st) and Ansteorra’s Laurel’s Prize Tourney (Feb. 8th).  

Candlemas is BG’s big event of the year - everybody puts on the dog and brings their best to the various championships that are held during the day. There’s a marvelous feast in the evening, and an Italian Renaissance ball. It’s really something to see. For my part, I’ve been working on an A&S entry for the event (the red hand-sewn Norse dress I posted about a couple of weeks ago). 

Laurel’s Prize Tourney is not a tournament, nor is there a prize awarded for anything. What it is is a big A&S gathering where you can display your works - a project, a body of work, something you want advice on, whatever you want - and have the opportunity to talk to the laurels and to other like-minded people about your work.  You basically sit at a table, show off your works, and geek out about history with people with similar interests - and it’s SO FUN. I’ve been once before and I had a blast. 

This year LPT is in Oklahoma, so a bunch of us are trekking up there together for the weekend (it’s a one-day event) - picture a minivan stuffed with craft projects and history nerds on a 5-hour road trip, LOL. It’s going to be great. 

So I’ve been getting ready for that, too.  I’ll have more about both events as they get closer, and hopefully some pictures of my various displays afterwards, too. For right now, I’ve got work to do: 

I’m 

• Finishing up some small sewing projects 
• Weaving two projects (three?) 
• Making glass beads
• Organizing and planning my display(s)
• Writing and organizing documentation 
• Planning A&S shenanigans with a friend who is also doing both of these events with me 

And for some reason I’m also crocheting a sweater in my down time, because I guess I didn’t have enough going on at once. AAAAA!! 

Ok, back soon. 

SCA: Some Roman Updates

We have a Roman-themed event coming up in April, so sort of in the background behind all the other stuff I’m working on right now*, I’ve been making some slight alterations to my Roman outfit, which I posted about in April. 

I got a booklet of Greco-Roman themed tablet weaving patterns from Etsy a while back, and used one of the patterns in it create this trim for my blue linen chiton: 

I ordered some new white handkerchief-weight linen and made it into a new palla - four yards long, nearly two yards wide. I hemmed the edges by hand and then embroidered this little toothy gold edge design all the way around it. 

I also made a new blue sash to wrap around the whole thing, as the dark gray just wasn’t working for me (it was kind of boring).  The blue is much better. 

I also ordered these adorable little wire fibulas, which I’m using to close my brown linen peplos (made for my Iron Age outfit in June, but I’ve since had to scavenge the blue apron for use in another project, and the under dress ripped and wasn’t reparable, so all I have is left of the IA outfit is this brown peplos, which will be pressed into service as a Roman peplos in April).  

Now. Is tablet weaving period for Ancient Rome? No. Is edge embroidery? Who knows? Both mimic the look of whatever trim they DID use, though, and it’s fine. I like chasing period accuracy in my Norse wear, but since this is a one-off event, I’m just going for “looks good” and not necessarily 100% accurate. I’m fine with it, and I love the way the outfit looks. 

*Meanwhile, I’ve got February to prepare for: both Candlemas (A&S) and Laurel’s Prize Tourney, a week apart.  LPT is not a tournament, and there’s no prize - it’s a display-only event whose entire focus is to be able to sit down with the laurels and talk shop like a bunch of geeks, and it’s SO FUN. I can’t wait to go - but I have a LOT of work to get done for both events in the next four weeks. Wish me luck! 

SCA: The Hand-Sewn Viking Project, Part II: Red Apron Dress

 I decided to make myself a hand-sewn Norse “apron dress” to go with the white serk I made by hand back in August. There was a whole grand plan there in the beginning; but I kind of made the serk and then dropped the idea for a while. I don’t know why it’s red -  99% of my SCA wardrobe is in shades of blue, but for some reason I just needed a red one this time. I never wear red..?

Anyway, the fabric is linen, and all the weaving and decorative bits are in 8/2 cotton weaving thread. Aside from the material choices, this dress is as close to period as I can get it with my current knowledge, from the patterning to the stitches used to the decoration. 

Tablet woven trim 
and a red and yellow “Hedeby braid” over the seams

The Hedeby braid - diagram and close up photo of it in situ 

The Hedeby dress fragment - the braid is positioned over the seam on the left side of the piece 

I used a backstitch for the seams, finished the seam allowances with a whip stitch, and used the herringbone “Osenstitch” (Inga Hagg’s term) for the hem

A silk ribbon folded over the top edge of the dress, with tablet woven trim based on the Oseberg “narrow band” design

I made the dress ankle length this time, to see how a longer dress feels to wear - I like it much better than the calf-length apron dresses I normally make; I feel like it’s much more flattering. I also made the straps and loops verrrrry thin this time, just because I like a thinner strap. The whole project took me a little over a week to make, about 28 hours total, I think. 

I’m super pleased with the way this came out, and I plan to wear it at Candlemas in February. That’s a long time to wait! 

*

Meanwhile, I have some A&S stuff to get cracking on for the new year, and I have another hand-sewn dress in the planning and scheming stages. More soon! 

SCA: BAM Shenanigans & Updating my Roman Outfit

War of the Rams ended up being a total bust for me. I hurt my back on the first day, and was basically stuck in a chair at camp the entire weekend - I didn’t get to go anywhere or do any of the activities, or even see people I’d been looking forward to seeing. I was pretty bummed about that. I didn’t even get any pictures. 

However, I did wear a blue jean  “cowboy viking” outfit on Friday that I made as a joke, and got a bunch of good laughs out of it. I don’t have a pic of me in it, but here it is on my mannequin: 

Isn’t that ridiculous? I wore it with cowboy boots and a red bandana over my hair. There were several double-takes, and a few people busted out laughing when they saw me, hehe. Silliness. 

I also bought this gorgeous new mug for myself while I was there. It’s a hand made and hand painted pottery in a loosely Greco-Roman design, and one of a kind - I couldn’t pass it up! 

Speaking of Roman, I found out that the Bjornsborg spring event this coming year will be Roman-themed, hooray! I love wearing Roman, and the weather then should be perfect for it.  I decided to upgrade my kit a bit this month, starting with a new sash to tie around my body (it's blue; the old one was dark gray and I didn’t like the way it went with the light blue chiton). 

This week I treated myself to a pdf booklet of Greek- and Roman- inspired tablet weaving patterns from Etsy (some traditional “Greek key” designs, and some patterns inspired by the geometric designs in floor mosaics and frescoes), and I made up this one in blue and white cotton: 

Once it was done, I sewed it onto the top edges of my linen chiton, to dress it up some. (Decorative trim on these things IS period,  but tablet weaving itself is NOT…but I’m not worried about that, I’m not going for exacting historical accuracy with my Roman, I just want something approximate and *pretty* to bang around in at the event).  

That’s all for now.  At the moment I’m working on two pieces: a new palla for my Roman outfit, and a hand-sewn Norse smokkr for an event in January. More on that soon! 

SCA: War of the Rams

 I’ve been away from the blog for a little while, sorry about that. My brother died, and then after Kingdom A&S I just didn’t have anything going on and I fell into kind of a funk there for a while. I’ve been to a couple of events in the past month, and had a decent enough time, but my heart hasn’t really been in it. 

At the moment I’m preparing for War of the Rams (formerly known as BAM), and I've been trying to keep busy to distract myself from life and keep my sights on good things in the future. 

I made over an old plain loose dress this week - dyed it and changed the edge binding, so that I’d have something casual to wear around camp at BAM: 

My male tunic blew a seam in the wash, which I discovered while I was affixing some new tablet woven trim to the neckline - it’s irreparable, unfortunately (or fortunately maybe, as I’d been planning to replace that tunic for months now anyway), so this wine-colored dress is what I’ll wear instead. 

I’ve also spent the last few weeks working up a bit of a joke  to bring out at the event which I’m hoping will get some laughs. More on that after I get back. 

For the time being I’m done with SCA stuff and BAM prep; the event is in a week and a half, and I’m working on redecorating my bedroom at the moment (sewing pillows and crocheting a throw blanket).  

More when I get back from the event - see you soon. 

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! 

* 

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: Ansteorra Kingdom A&S 2024

WHEW, Kingdom A&S is finally over.  I’ve been preparing my entry for the competition off and on all summer, and I was soooo nervous about going. But it went well, and I’m glad that I went. This was my first KAS in ten years, and only my second one ever! 

I entered a couple of tablet-woven bands, of course. I spent the summer researching two designs and then learning to do the one that was new to me, then doing test weaves and finally creating each one over and over again until I was happy with how they came out. 

The first band (top) is the Oseberg “narrow band” (12L1, Oseberg ship burial, 9th century), done in wool crewel thread. The original was made of silk, but silk is a little out of my budget, so I used wool since it’s a historically accurate alternative.  

The second band (bottom) is a pattern from Gaigovo Barrow no. 1 (Russia, 9th century), also done in wool, like the original band.  While the Oseberg band was easy to do, this one was a bit tricky: it’s a split deck pattern, which I’d never done before, and with the way the wool kept sticking together, it was kind of a huge pain in the butt.

And here’s a pic of my display on the table at the event, with all the largesse people left on the table for me: 

I have absolutely no idea how I actually scored - somehow I managed to make it home without my scoring sheets, and I have no idea how to get copies of them. But that’s okay: this competition, for me, was about stretching my boundaries and putting my art out there, and I feel great about having achieved both. I also got to sit down with both of my judges and my shadow judge, and talk about my entry and about weaving in general, and overall it was a very positive and encouraging experience. 

There was also music and dancing, catching up with old friends, and making new friends; and the whole day was just so much fun.  I’m really glad I went, and I’ll definitely do it again next year.  

SCA: Experiments In “Viking Wire Knitting”

 I learned a new thing! “Viking wire knitting” or “wire weaving” is a method of making chain out of thin metal wire that goes back to at least the 5th century as far as I’ve been able to figure out. It’s been hard to find real documentable research on the craft online; apparently it’s also called “trichinopoly” chain and there are examples of it from the 5-8th century in the British Museum as well as from the Spillings Hoard from Sweden. 

My first wire chain, made of 28ga silver coated brass wire. 

I made a piece long enough to get a bracelet and necklace out of, and finished them off with random bits from my jewelry making stash - the cone ends on the necklace are too big for the chain, but they’ll do for the time being. 

The chain is made by looping the wire around a wooden dowel, and then drawing the finished result through a draw plate, which I made out of a piece of scrap wood, until it’s the right diameter. I think I could have gotten mine thinner, but I was worried about breaking the flimsy brass wire. 

Mr. Darcy apparently thought we were making a cat toy. 

Hooray for learning new fun skills! I now have a silver bracelet and necklace to wear with my kit; and I can’t wait to try this again and try out different methods of looping the wire. My chain is a single knit, but you can do double or triple knit, and there are all kinds of colors and types of wire to play with.