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: Yet Another Hedeby/Birka Bag

You know how much I love these things. This one is all made from scraps - gray linen from a pair of pants I recently made, wooden slats from an old furniture project for the handles, a bit of red silk ribbon and cotton weaving thread from my stash. 

This one is a rectangle like my others, though I gave this one a box bottom so I’d have more space inside. The bag is lined in the same gray linen, and the whole thing is hand sewn. I used the Leens hat herringbone stitch on the seams and the box bottom for a bit of extra decoration. 

 

I made the blue woven band on the front of the bag, and the red and navy strap. The strap is a new pattern for me, and I love it. I used the same pattern for a belt recently, too. 

One of my favorite parts about this bag, though, is the handles - or, rather, how I made them. A friend recently picked up a scroll saw for me on her neighborhood online swap group - I was SO thrilled! A pair of these handles (this is the “sawtooth” Birka-style handle) would normally take me several days to make with hand tools, but with the scroll saw I got these done in AN HOUR. I can’t wait to make more of these things! 

SCA: Sprucing Up An Old Viking Coat

before

A before picture: 

This is an old gray coat that I made approximately one billion years ago.  The outer shell is a "linen weave"cotton canvas; the lining and the blue edge banding are linen.  Once upon a time it was covered with inappropriate decorative embroidery and really, really ugly faux-fur trim - all of which I removed, and the end result is as you see here. 

Over the weekend I wove a whole lot of new trim - originally to use on my male viking tunic, but, when I saw all the colors together, I decided the trim would look MUCH better on this coat. So I wove about two more yards so I'd have enough - a total of 9y - and grabbed some 1/2" red silk ribbon from my ribbon box which I had been saving for a rainy day. 

Here's what the coat looks like now: 

The red silk ribbon only goes along the lower hem, and the sleeves cuffs.  I didn't have enough to use for the entire border around the front opening and neckline; but I think it looks neat on just the hem and sleeves. Gives it a little pop of color without being overwhelming, I think. 

The weave is the "Oseberg Narrow Band" design (12L1), to which I added some extra width in the blue background, and a red and navy border stripe on the edges.  

I'm super happy with the way this came out!  I still need to do something about the lack of trim on my male tunic; but now I have TWO coats (the green one got new trim last month) that I can wear in the colder months.  

Of course, now I still don't have trim to put on my male tunic - I guess that's what's next! 

SCA: A Tablet-Woven Edge Detail

 So, I read about this NEAT thing where you can weave a band directly onto the edge of a piece of fabric or a garment, which adds a bit of decorative detail and also protects the fabric's edge.  There's a great picture of the technique on this page, if you can read Swedish (or use Google translate, which is what I did). 

I decided to try it out...sort of.  I didn't have a flat piece of wool fabric to use; but I wanted to try the look on the neckline of a serk, and I wasn't sure how to get the round neckline aligned with the loom - and also, I didn't think the linen of the serk would lend itself well to the stress of weaving. 

Instead, I decided to try to simulate the look by attaching a thin tablet-woven band to an existing garment by sewing it on.  I sewed it on edge-to-edge (as opposed to applying the band flat on top of the surface of the fabric) so that it looks like it's woven in place. 

the band was sewn to the neckline and 
sleeve ends

I really like the look of this.  I'm always trying to find more ways to make my viking kit look fancier and nicer without resorting to non-period "reenactorisms." I like the way this came out. It's a simple detail, but it looks finished and polished without screaming WOVEN TRIM ON ALL THE THINGS!! 

a closer shot of the neckline and stitching

What do you think?  I think I'll definitely try this again, and, of course, I DO plan to learn to weave directly onto a piece of fabric, as soon as I get some fabric that will support the weaving properly.  

Neat! 

1/4" 6-card single-color woven band
in cotton thread

What's Next? 

Right now I'm working on several things which I plan to blog about in the coming weeks: 

• a fully hand-sewn linen serk and smokkr set
• a new set of woven bands to decorate my male viking tunic
• a Regency ballgown (?)

Oh! And also, I just finished a belt which I really love and can't wait to wear: 

More soon! 

SCA: A Roman Outfit for Hot Weather

The hot weather is on the way.  It's already in the low 80s here in central Ansteorra, and by the end of May  - and the next event being Steppes' Warlord on Memorial Day weekend - it's likely going to be in the 90s.  Last year I wore  my guy's Viking outfit to this event and I BAKED ALIVE.  This year, I decided to make myself a new Roman outfit - loose, lightweight, and breezy.  

The chiton  is a medium-weight blue linen.  The correct way to make one of these would be to have one long length of fabric folded across the body from side to side; but to conserve fabric (and money) I had a shorter length of fabric which I split into two 2y squares.  

Where the wrapped side should be left open, I went ahead and seamed both sides of this garment for modesty's sake - the site where the Warlord event will be held is wide open and  notoriously windy, and I didn't want to accidentally flash anyone.  

The green palla is a length of sheer cotton gauze that I harvested from an old costume and re-cut for this purpose.  It may not be as breezy and cool as handkerchief-weight linen would be, but it drapes very nicely and I love the color.  

The sleeve openings are held together with small bronze buttons for a bit of a decorative look. 

This whole outfit is hand-sewn, by the way.  I have a BIG hand-sewing project coming up this summer, and I needed the practice.  Since this outfit is basically just a collection of large rectangles, most of the sewing was actually just hemming (whipstitching).  

The under tunic, which is a white handkerchief-weight linen, is a simple rectangular sheath tacked together at the shoulders and arm edges, so that it mimics the shape of the chiton when worn.

This was a piece I already had in my closet from a previous Roman outfit; I removed the neck and opened up the shoulder seams and re-sewed everything to make this more of a period shape at the neckline and arms. 

I made some jewelry to go with this outfit, too - and hey, look, it's a rare picture of my ACTUAL FACE. 

The necklace is pink freshwater pearls and gold brass wire; the earrings are mother-of-pearl drops and gold brass fittings/wire. Both are inspired by jewelry I've seen in period artwork and sculpture, and in Egyptian mummy portraits of Roman/Egyptian people.  

My hair is tucked into a red ribbon band which is tied around my head, in a style also inspired by some I've seen in period artworks.  The makeup is also inspired by several mummy portraits I've seen.  

So I'm all ready for Warlord, and the hot weather.  Bring it on!  

SCA: Oseberg Loom, Take II

After showing my Oseberg loom at the A&S competition at Bjornsborg in February and getting some really great feedback on the project, I decided to enter it again at the Hellsgate Commanders' Crucible event in March, after making some changes to the project based on the feedback I received: 

• I made some changes to the documentation - mostly formatting stuff, but also some changes to the writing to make it flow better, and I included some new information that I've learned since I started the project
• Someone at Bjornsborg in February showed me a new way to warp up this loom which solves almost all of the problems I had had with weaving on the loom on my first try

Initially I had warped up the loom the way you would warp up an inkle loom, with the warp thread ends tied to themselves, forming a big loop that wraps around the whole loom.  This limits the length of the weaving, and, I found, makes it so that the tension becomes too tight to continue weaving about halfway through, since the loom has no tensioner apparatus the way an inkle loom does.  

Instead, according to the input I got from a laurel who talked to me about it at length, I've warped it more like you would do with a backstrap loom, with a long warp which is lashed to the loom frame with a strip of leather thong which can easily be moved when you need to advance the warp or adjust the tension.  This way makes it easier to weave, easier to adjust the weaving, and removes all limits to the length of the weave - you can literally weave as long a thing as you want this way, woohoo! 

Also, since now it's so easy to remove the weaving project from the loom and put it back on again with the leather thongs, you can remove the weaving, take the loom apart to pack flat for transport, and then just put the weaving back on the loom when you get where you're going. My Oseberg loom is small enough to fit in my car fully assembled, so it's not an issue for me right now; but if I ever build a full-sized model of this loom I'll definitely need to take it apart to take it to an event. 

Something else new this time around is the thread I'm weaving with.  I'm using a 2-ply wool thread in three shades of indigo blue  - I've never woven with wool fiber before, and the feel of it is quite interesting. The band I'm weaving is coming out very nicely, but the fiber is really fuzzy and sticks to itself a LOT, which is making weaving slow and kind of a pain in the ass.  

The pattern on the loom right now is the "Oseberg narrow band" (the design with the rhomboids/diamonds on one side and the squared-off zigzag on the back (band 12L1, Nockert 2006). It's a 10-card pattern, and the finished width is only about 1/4" (the warp is four yards, so I'll get three-and-some when it's finished).  I'm not sure yet what I'll do with this piece when it's done. 

Here's my display from Hellsgate.  The wind was wreaking all sorts of havoc with the tablcloth, and knocking the loom and the spools of thread all over the place, but it mostly looked nice.  I got a ton of great feedback on the projects from lots of people, and once again I got the opportunity to sit down with a couple of laurels and really discuss the project in-depth, which was a LOT of fun.  I get super nervous when talking to judges about my work, but I'm getting better at handling it without falling all over myself and coming apart at the mental seams afterwards, hehe.  

So what's next for this project?  Honestly, I don't know.  I think I've done all I can do with this little prototype Oseberg loom - I think the next step for me, if I want to continue in the weaving vein*, is to either switch my focus to the weaving itself, or to go bigger and build a full-sized Oseberg loom to work on and display at the next A&S event (it was suggested to me by two people that this would be a fantastic project for Kingdom A&S in September, but yikes, that's high-stakes!)  

*And of course, I DO want to continue to weave - I love weaving.  But I also have a new Viking outfit I want to get to work on which will be as near to "completely" historically accurate as I can make it, all hand-sewn, hand-dyed, etc.  I've been planning that project with the idea in mind that I would take it to LPT next year; but I could just as easily do both the sewing project and the big loom if I wanted to.  Right now, I just don't know.  

Right now, I'm very happy with the way the last two competitions have gone; and I'm excited about moving forward - but I'm also ready to take a break and work on something else for a minute.  Steppes' Warlord is coming up, and it's going to be HOT, so I'm working on a new Roman outfit that I have to finish in the next couple of weeks, so that's what I'll be doing with  my April.  Show you when it's done.  :)