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: 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! 

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: