Black Apron Dress: Another Makeover

After making over the blue apron dress, I decided to tackle my black one next.  This just happened to be my apron dress with the most work to take out:

I hated all of the embroidery - I felt like I did a good job at the time, based on my meager skill level five years ago, but now all I can see are the flaws, and it all looks so amateurish now.  The vine motif around the top of the dress (next to the ribbon)  is period but is inappropriate for an apron dress.  The other vine motif on the straps isn't even Scandinavian, it's English, and 13th century to boot.

The blue ribbon around the top of the dress IS a correct Viking device, but it's executed incorrectly and badly.  There were two blue ribbons around the bottom of the dress, too; and the side seams were also all embroidered.

I took all that work out.  All of it - I made the dress completely naked.  I didn't track the hours it took me to remove it all,  but I spent somewhere around 5 evenings carefully picking out all the stitching so as not to damage the fabric. Probably about 20 hours. 

To replace the embroidery across the top, I opted for a trick we know the Vikings did use in their embellishment of the tops of apron dresses:  stitching a strip of imported cloth, often silk, as trim around the top of the dress.  In this case, my "silk trim" is a soft rayon strip cut from an old sarong. I considered layering it with a silk ribbon underneath or something like that, but I really just loved the way the sarong fabric looked with the black on its own.  I fully intend to replace this strip with real silk if any real silk ever happens to me.

I also took apart the long, flat straps and made them into looped straps instead, which is correct for an apron dress based on loops we've found attached to brooches.  I also like they way they function better:  they're easier to use, and once they're affixed to the dress, don't require any adjustment. My straps came out a bit thicker than I wanted them, but that's okay - they look just fine and they work great. 

There:  all finished.  The new design is simpler, but I like it much better than all that ridiculous embroidery I had going on before.  I love that this dress is full length - I prefer a long apron dress. 

And I really love the green and black (the color shows better in the previous picture, sorry).  That came out better than I'd pictured.  I have a ton of the green rayon sarong scraps left, too - I may use them to line a new Hedeby bag I've been thinking about making.

What's Next?

I may play with the bag I just mentioned a bit;  I'm also working on some new cuffs for my Viking coat and a new underdress.