A New Coat

I like my existing Viking coat just fine.  I last worked on it in November, and I was really happy with the result.  It's super heavy - heavy cotton lined with linen, with faux fur trim all around the edges - and very warm.  At BAM in November it got into the low 30s, and this coat was fantastic then.  (30º is Basically Arctic for us Ansteorrans).

However, I wanted something a little bit lighter, for cooler but not freezing nights.  Something without all the fur, something with a bit more swish to it.  I'll be honest with you, the idea started when I saw a coat on Pinterest that I absolutely loved, and resolved to make a copy of for myself.

So of course I made a new coat which is nothing at all like the Pinterest coat, because I couldn't find fabric in the right color.  I did, however, find a lovely shade of green linen at Fabric-Store.com called "Agave" that derailed everything I'd been planning, because I fell head over heels in love with it, and I ended up designing a completely different coat than the one I'd had planned.  You know how that goes.

The new coat is a basic T-tunic shape, with a dropped shoulder seam and angled front and back pieces (no gores).  It's fully lined, and the lining contains two inside pockets, because bitchez need pockets.    The body color is "Agave", and the edge banding and lining are "Graphite", also from FS. I made the blue trim between the body of the coat and the edge out of the remnants of my new blue dress.

I love my new coat!  I can't wait to wear it! Of course, in our weather, I may not get to wear it until late December.  We'll see.  It all depends on when the SCA decides to have events again, really. That might not be until November, from what I'm hearing.

But wait...

Did you notice something else in the pictures?  That's right - I got a new dress dummy!  I'm so excited about it.  My last one, Violet, finally died when I moved two years ago.  I've missed her ever since, and wanted a new one, so I finally treated myself to a replacement.   This one is kind an intense teal, and so in the pics above I have a white tshirt covering her so the color doesn't distract.   Everyone, say hello to Iris:

A Blue Viking Apron Dress

My first Viking dress was dark blue, and I loved it so much - but it got old and worn and too small, and I ended up chopping it up to make dinner napkins (which I still use).  I've wanted another dark blue apron dress ever since - and now I have one!

This is just a plain, 3-panel apron dress, in a middle weight linen.  The color is "Prestige", by Fabric-Store.com - it's sort of a dark steel blue, not intense enough to be "navy", but not warm enough to be called "midnight."  I really love the color.   It's soft and restful, like a quiet evening.   

I found a gorgeous tablet-woven wool band on Etsy (here) while I was looking for trim for another project, and I HAD to have it for this dress.  I've used it around the top of the dress and also for the straps.  I didn't treat this trim in any way, because I haven't had a reaction to it at all (yay!) I guess the weaver did something to it before she used it, or maybe they just treat wool differently in Lithuania, who knows?

Here's the back:

The stitching could be a little better right here;  and the thread is just a hair too light for the fabric and the trim, but that's okay.  It's all I could find.  Anyway, I LOVE the trim on this dress!  I wish I could use trim like this on all my projects.  Maybe I should learn to weave.

Yet Another Jewelry Re-Do

I know, I know, I just re-did my Viking necklaces two weeks ago.  I had a "new" string of cobalt blue 8mm glass rounds that I bought like four months ago that I wanted to work in.  I wasn't totally happy with it, though.  The blue - and the reds - were too intense, and washed out all the pale fluorite and other assorted rocks that were in the mix:

  

However, I just recently purchased a package of assorted lampwork beads in blue shades, some amber colored glass rounds, and a few gold-colored bar ends to use as distributors on the ends of the necklaces, instead of the brass rings I had there before.  I had enough beads to completely remake the necklaces from top to bottom.

I also treated myself to a Bead Buddy, which I've always wanted:

I don't know what I ever did without this thing.  It was SO easy to lay everything out, move things around, and compose the necklace and see it before it was put together. No more making jewelry on my ironing board or on a piece of cloth on the dining room table where beads could roll around and get lost!

This is the new necklace set.  I like this arrangement much better than before - it feels more purposeful to me, like a curated collection instead of a bunch of random leftover beads (which is exactly what it was before).    I kept the gold colored spacers and one or two of the red beads.  I really like the little "pewter" bar ends instead of the bronze rings, it looks much nicer, more professional, I think.

This time, instead of using clear fishing line to string the necklaces (it shows at the ends and looks really plasticky), I used cotton embroidery floss.  This was my first time using floss to string a necklace, and my first time using beading needles.

I still plan to create some of my own beads when I go back to our lampworking class, as soon as it starts up again (I have some pretty blue glass rods to work with that I'm just itching to get into), and one day I'd really like to have some genuine amber beads.  I'll get there.  For now, I really like how this necklace turned out - this is my favorite iteration yet.  

Let There Be Wool!

This is a picture of me draped in a medium weight tabby wool.

I am allergic to wool.

OR AM I??

I’ve had a few people tell me over the years that I’m not allergic to wool, but rather to the chemicals used in the commercial processing of wool fabric.  To which my reaction has always been a polite “I’ll have to look into that, thanks for the tip” which really meant, “heck off, don’t gatekeep my allergies."

However, I came across a website a while back that went into the idea a bit more, and suggested a washing method that supposedly worked for the author. It sounded simple, so I wrote it down, thinking I’d try it one day if some random wool ever happened to me.  What's the worst that could happen, right?  It wouldn't work and I'd end up with an itchy rash for a day.

Finally, one day, some wool did happen to me.  The piece I’m wearing in the pic was given to me by a good friend, who had been about to donate it to the local craft resale shop because it had some moth holes in it.  I figured this would be a good piece to try out this washing method.

It’s very simple:

1. Soak the fabric in a sink full of cold water with vinegar (I used 3 cups) for thirty minutes 
2. Press the excess liquid out of the wool gently 
3. Wash in the washing machine (yes!) on delicate cycle in a mesh laundry bag
4. Hang dry 

That’s it.  And you know what?   IT WORKED.  I tested the fabric on my arms and hands before I tried this method, and of course, I reacted to it the way I normally do (rash, itching). After the wash I tested it again several times on my arms and hands, and then wore the fabric around like a scarf all evening with the fabric against my face, neck, and arms - I never had a single problem with the washed fabric, and still haven’t. 

It works!  I’m saved!  Now this is just one piece of fabric - it may or may not work on all wool pieces. But I’m encouraged, and I feel like a whole new world of costuming just opened up before me.  I can’t wait to try it again to see if I can repeat my results.  

Unfortunately, when I tried to dye the fabric, it came out like this.  Gorgeous shade of blue, but patchy and splotchy.  Here it is after re-dyeing with a darker color to cover up the mistake:

(dark photo is dark)

Before I dyed the shawl and hemmed it, I cut off about 14" from one edge, where all the moth holes were.  That was still a pretty large piece of fabric, and I decided to get a hood and a small bag out of it:

Here's the Dublin hood I made out of part of what was left.  It came out a Weird Green, I know - but the dye job is smooth and nice.  (It looks weird in the pic, I know - that's just the light from the window).  In this picture it still needs ties.  I'm on the fence about whether to weave some or just buy some twill tape.

Here's the second thing I got out of the remainder of the fabric:  Yet Another Hedeby Bag.  This actually replaces the green linen bag from this post, which was too flimsy and too small.  This bag is 1" around larger in every direction, and is much sturdier.  This time, I sewed in a box bottom.

Both the hood and the bag, and the edging on the shawl, are sewed entirely by hand, because I was bored and needed something to do. Quarantine makes people do weird stuff, you guys.

So, yay wool!  I'm so excited about this.  Like I said, I want to try again to see if this will work on different fabrics, but at the moment, I'm psyched about the fact that I got three articles of clothing out of one piece that I can wear and not worry about having a reaction to.  Three! I will, of course, update here when I test out this washing method again. 

New Pretties

While I was incredibly responsible with most of my gumbint stimulus check, I did buy myself a present or two.  They came in this week:

First, my new shoes:  the Valaardingen Viking shoe from Bohemond, in brown leather.  They're based off 9th-10th century examples from Holland and Poland, worn by both men and women.  They're SUPER comfy, and the leather is so soft.

I'm wearing them around the house for the next few days to break them in and get used to wearing them - I put gel insoles in them so I wouldn't be walking flat on the ground, which hurts no matter what shoe I wear.  They look GREAT with my quarantine uniform of boxers and a ripped up tshirt. My roommate laughed at me.

While I love my new shoes, I'm absolutely head over heels about these new brooches.  They're from Raymond's Quiet Press - the "Vendel circle" brooches, based on a very early Viking piece. They're 3"x2", and aren't nearly as heavy as they look, thank goodness.

There was nothing wrong with my round brooches, and I still love them.  I'll probably use them to close my coat and/or cloak from now on.  It's just that I've had my eye on this pair of brooches for a couple of years now, and I was finally ready to bite the bullet and order a pair.  I adore these things.  I can't wait to wear them.