SCA: A 15th-Century Velvet Houppelande

At my very first Gulf Wars, someone lent me a giant flannel houppelande on a cold night, which I threw on over my cotehardie, and I have wanted one ever since.  So comfy!  So voluminous!  It's like wearing blankets!  This year I finally made one for myself, since War of the Rams (BAM) in November is likely to be pretty cold in the evenings.  

This houpelande is made of the same cotton velveteen Ikea curtain panels that I used for my Regency pelisse, back in June.  Last year I acquired a huge box of these curtain panels from my local neighborhood swap group for free, and I still had 4 of them left (about 10 yards of fabric) - they were perfect for this project.  

I didn't have enough of the velveteen to make a full circle houppelande, so I used a simple A-line cut for the body of the dress, (adapted from a vintage 80s dress pattern) with side gores for as much fullness as I could pack into this thing.  The sleeves are D-shaped, and come to a short cuff at the wrist.  

The houppelande is unlined - I didn't have any fabric to use as lining, and I figured this velveteen would likely be heavy enough to keep me warm when worn over my other clothes. After it was put together I dyed the entire piece with teal and charcoal Rit dye, which gave the aqua-blue fabric a lovely medium blue-ish-gray color: 

After dyeing the whole thing, I added a collar and cuffs of white faux fur from my stash: 

 

The belt is one I made for a Burgundian gown that I made several years ago and never got around to wearing (oops). I had to move the hooks out several inches from where they were to get it to fit, but thankfully, the belt was long enough that I had plenty of space to work with.  The hooks themselves are gold-colored plastic highlighted with green nail polish to mimic an enamel look; I forget where I bought them originally, I've had them for aeons. 

The padded roll hat in the first picture is one I made many years ago.  It's nothing fancy, just a stuffed roll of damask upholstery fabric with pearl beads sewn on, worn with a netted/beaded snood and a couple of lightweight veils pinned onto it.  

So there's a big, new, warm outfit for BAM that I can wear on cold nights.  I also have my linen coat to wear over my Viking outfits, which won't be terribly warm on its own, but which I can wear with layers of hoods and caps, and my wool shoulder cloak.  

Edit:  It turns out the weather at BAM wasn't cold at all - mid-70s during the day, and only into the 60s at night, so I didn't get a chance to wear this at the event at all.  Maybe next year.  

SCA: Making Over An Old Dress

 Approximately one million years ago, I started making a pendant-sleeved gown for myself with some plain, tabby-woven silk that was given to me by a friend. She had dyed it a bright kelly green, and at the time I had visions of one of the hunting scenes from the hours of the Duc du Berry in my head: 

However, I never finished it, and it sat for so long that over the years it somehow magically became too small for me to wear. However, it was still quite a bit of fabric, and the construction was pretty simple: rectangular front and back, with triangular side gores. I thought, if I cut the top off of it, I might be able to refashion it as a Viking apron dress…maybe? 

So I dyed it with the blue dyes that I had left over from the last dye project (royal and navy) with a bit of charcoal to tone things down a bit, and I ended up with this gorgeous dark hunter green: 

I cut the top of the dress off at the waist, cut off the hem and re-hemmed it by hand (the original dress had a long train at the back, which I removed), and made some straps out of the fabric from the top of the old dress, et voila: 

Since this is essentially the skirt of a much longer dress, the gores start from just under the bustline, instead of at the waist, making this a looser, more A-line shaped dress than the ones I normally wear, which are fitted to just underneath the underbust and flare out from there. I really like the fit and shape, it’s very flattering on me and will look nice with or without a belt. 

The long seams of this dress were originally done on the machine (and thank goodness the old thread took the dye pretty well); I did all the new sewing by hand - the top and bottom hem are done with a herringbone stitch, and the straps are folded and whipped together, and attached to the dress by hand. 

I don’t currently have anything with which to decorate the top of the dress,  but that’s fine for right now.  I can wear it plain this coming weekend (our fall Baronial event), and then when I have time I might be able to weave something for the top hem before the Bjornsborg event at the end of the month.  

At the moment I’m just pleased that I have a new dress for free, and that it’s not blue. I love blue, but literally ALL of my apron dresses are blue, and I’ve been wanting some variation.  This color is probably not period-appropriate (neither is the fabric, really), but it’s what I had, and it’ll do just fine. 

SCA: Heraldic Table Runner For the New Sprezzatura Table

 Once the table for Sprezzatura's camp was complete I wanted a nice bit of something to go over the top of it.  I briefly considered painting the household's heraldry onto the top of the table, but the table will be covered with food and drink and all sorts of other stuff at events, so I decided to do make a fabric table runner - it will be easier to see, make the table look nicer, and be washable in case of spills.  

The fabric is cotton broadcloth, with cotton/poly bias tape edging. The appliqué is quilting cotton, backed with fusible interfacing, and the whole thing is backed with more blue broadcloth so that the back of the appliqué is hidden and protected. 

I haven't done appliqué in about 8 years, and I've never done it on my current sewing machine.  The machine did NOT want to cooperate. It's not perfect - I've done better in the past - but for not having done it in so long and having to practically alligator-wrestle this sewing machine into doing what I wanted, I think it came out pretty well.  I'm satisfied with it. 

SCA: Table For Sprezzatura

I refinished a table! 

Earlier this year, I had grand ideas about building some sort of Medieval-ish wooden table for my household's camp.  Until now, we have used a plastic folding table in the center of our pavilion for people to gather around and eat and hang out; but I wanted to make something nicer and somewhat period-ish. Unfortunately, budget and lumber prices kept me from starting the project I had in mind. 

But then, at the beginning of August, I found this little wooden table for free on the curb in my neighborhood: 

It's in great shape construction-wise, a perfect size for our camp (48" x 32", a little shorter than our plastic table, but wider), and the design, though a bit generically Pottery Barn-farmhouse-y, is sort of vaguely Medieval in style and resembles many trestle tables I've seen in artwork from the 1300-1400s, so I think it works.  Ten-foot rule, right? Or as my friend Kate says, it'll look just fine when seen from a galloping horse.    

The only problem with it was that the previous owner (?) stained it with black stain...and they did a horrible job of it. The stain was applied unevenly and not wiped off in between coats, so there are visible brush marks and places where the brush marks overlap, and even areas where it's obvious the stain pooled on the wood and just congealed there.  Also, they sanded off the original finish before staining it, and the sanding was done with a sandpaper that was so heavy and coarse that it marred the wood in places, and half the sanding marks are against the grain.  Ugh! 

Left: uneven and blotchy stain; 
right: sanding and brush marks against the grain

Enter: two cans of Easy Off oven cleaner.  

That's right, oven cleaner.  I saw this trick on Instagram, and then read some blogs about the process and watched some videos, and then tried it out on this table.  You basically spray the entire piece down with oven cleaner, let it sit for about half an hour, scrub it down thoroughly with soap and water, and then hose it off with water.  (The soap and water neutralize the cleaner chemicals so that you're not washing anything harmful into your yard, just dirty water).  Et voila: most of the stain came right off!  

this was after the first treatment; after the 
second pass it came almost completely clean! 

 

The rest of it came off pretty easily with the sander, and I was able to smooth out the rough sanding marks the previous DIYer left behind.  After it was all sanded, I cleaned off the entire piece and coated it with wood conditioner to prep the wood for staining.  

While the black stain that was originally on the table was nice, I wanted something lighter and warmer.  I have an "espresso" stain that is way too dark, and a "Jacobean" that is a nice dark brown but it's got weird green undertones.  I love my walnut stain, but I wanted darker, so I ended up putting two coats of the walnut on the wood, and it came out really nicely, I think: 

After the staining was complete, I coated the whole table in polyurethane to protect the finish.  

Tada!  New table.  The whole project took me about a month and a half, working on weekend mornings before it got too hot outside, and a little bit here and there during the week in my spare time. 

always wear your PPEs, people. 

SCA: Men's Viking Outfit: Dyeing All the Things

The other day I posted a couple of pictures of me in a couple of my Viking outfits.   When I first saw the picture of me in my men's Viking outfit, I realized two things:  (a) that was the first time I'd ever actually SEEN my men's Viking outfit on me from an outside perspective, and (b) I didn't like it at all.  

Most of my (women's) Viking outfits are in varying shades of blue and green, and I like them all.  But each women's outfit is primarily one color:  the color of the apron dress, backed by a white or pale gray under dress, with coordinating accessories (hats, bags, etc) in complementary shades of blues and/or greens. Very simple.  

The man's outfit, however, was made up of several pieces in varying light blues and light greens that were worn all together,  and the different colors were NOT working well with each other.  Overall the whole outfit looked...kind of Smurfy.  And that's not good. 

 

before

The Problems

1.  Multiple shades of blue and green that don't all go together very well

2.  Main body of tunic is a really weird green that is probably not a "period color"  which was bothering me

3.  I never really cared for the big trapezoidal neck yoke and the sleeve cuff pieces.  I don't like the shape of the yoke at all.  

(Please ignore the violently turquoise socks - those are being replaced by new socks in natural colors).  

The Solutions

THE TUNIC 

I removed all the trim, visible top-stitching, and the blue yoke and cuff pieces. Then, I re-hemmed all the edges by hand, and dyed the whole thing.  After that, I applied some new trim pieces to the neckline, sleeve cuffs, and the lower hem of the tunic.  

The new color of the tunic (right)  is much better.  I used a royal blue and teal to achieve this shade of blue, which is one that would be achievable with natural dyes like woad, and therefore makes the tunic a bit more period-looking than it had been before.  

 The trim fabric is made from an old linen apron dress that didn't fit me anymore; I also couched a twisted cord in coordinating colors to the edge of the trim fabric.  I don't wear this rust/orange color as a primary color, because it looks awful on me in large amounts; but I really love the way the rust/blue set each other off.

PANTS, SOCKS, AND WININGAS

The linen pants, which started out a sort of "light navy" color (sort of darkish grayish blue, shown on the left of this picture), were dyed with a deep brown, which rendered them a sort of charcoal gray, which grounds the more intensely colored tunic nicely.  

I dyed the winingas with a bit of the same brown and some charcoal gray.  They started out a sort of baby-blue, and the warp threads in the wool remained blue, while the weft threads dyed a deep charcoal-brown, and I REALLY like the effect.  

The End Result

after

Here's what the finished outfit looks like: 

This is a much more balanced color scheme, with a single intensely-colored piece grounded by dark neutral tones. I feel like the colors here are much more natural and realistic-looking - these browns and grays and blue are colors which are achievable with natural dyes, and might have been worn in period.   I'm immensely happy with the way the dyeing turned out. (The tunic actually looks more blue than this in person, I could NOT get it to come out right on my camera).  

I'm also pretty stoked that I managed to do this entire project for only about $20 for just the fabric dye.  That's far less than half of what I would have spent on just the linen for a new tunic!  

    

     

Just for fun, here's a pic of with my blue wool cloak. 

Bonus: new hat! 

Whew, done!  For now. 

SCA: Hedeby "Pillbox" Hat (Leens Hat)

 Here's a quick little project that I whipped up yesterday, because I was finished with all my other projects and needed something to do.  Also, I was lacking any type of headgear for my Viking outfits.  

Previously, I had made several Jorvik and Dublin hoods for myself, which I originally wore with my women's Viking outfits, until I learned that they were very likely men's hats; and which I discontinued wearing when I realized that they were styles from the British Isles, and didn't fit with my Swedish/ Danish persona (I haven't narrowed it down farther than that; I base most of my clothing on finds from Birka and Hedeby).

However, that left me with only my Skjoldehamn hood to cover my head, and while it's not always cold enough to warrant that kind of coverage, sometimes I just want to wear a hat with my guy's Viking outfit. 

And so, I decided I'd make myself a Hedeby "pillbox" hat.  I first saw this hat on The Welsh Viking's YouTube channel (link to Leens hat video), and I based my construction and stitching methods on this video of his.  

The most complete hat of this style comes from a find in Leens in the Netherlands very close to the German border (which area was Denmark during the Viking age);  other similar fragments which could be this same style of hat have also been found at Hedeby.   The design itself is practically timeless - this type of hat has been worn since ancient Roman times, was very popular during the Renaissance, and persisted in various forms up through the 20th century (think fancy hotel bellhops).  

Leens hat, from Journal of Archeology in the Low Country

Both hats date from the 10th century, and are made of wool.  The Leens hat contains some decorative stitching around the top edge and down the center of the top of the hat, in a type of braided/herringbone stitch. 

My hat is made of scraps of heavy brown linen left over from the Skjoldehamn hood project - I didn't have any wool on hand. The "side wall" pieces are about 4.5" high by 27" around (my head measurement), and the top is a rough oval shape, which I traced from my metal AOA circlet.  So the hat would be thick enough to keep its shape, I double the thickness of the linen on the sides and top.  I sewed the hat by hand, using a plain running stitch on the seams, and then turned the selvages in and whipstitched them closed, creating something like a French seam to keep them from fraying.  The hem is simply turned and whipstitched in place. 

construction stitches

top piece based on my circlet; "band" pinned and ready to sew

For the decorative stitching around the top of the hat and along the back seam, I used a #10 cotton crochet thread floss in a medium gray (because that's what I had on hand).  I followed Jimmy's instruction from his video (above), and it looks like this: 

diagram of how the stitch works

stitch in progress

If I end up liking to wear this hat and wear it a lot, I may one day replace it with a wool hat with wool thread on the decorative stitching; but for now this linen version is a good start.  I'm actually pretty happy with the way this hat fits and looks.  The band is a bit loose, so the hat slides around a tiny bit; but thankfully it doesn't make my already tall head look even taller.  I'm not sure whether I'll wear the seam stitching at the back or the front; I've seen it done both ways online.  

finished hat

SCA: Finishing A Long-Overdue UFO

This week I completed a UFO (unfinished object) that's been outstanding for SEVEN YEARS.  

In 2015 I made this linen Skjoldehamn hood.  I'd meant to put a lining in it, since it was just medium-weight linen, but I never got around to it.  I did at one point embroider the edges of the hood (apparently? I don't remember doing it), but it still wasn't lined, and so it wasn't warm enough or heavy enough to really be functional, or even really sit right. The first thing I did this week was remove the decorative embroidery, since it was (a) in my way and (b) not period-appropriate for this garment piece. 

The original hood, found in Norway in 1936 and dating from the 10th century, is made of wool, with a woven (probably whipcord) woolen tie in the center of the hood which can be used to tie the hood closed in the front or tied behind the head.  

Mine is made of linen instead of wool, because at the time I started this project I still thought I was allergic to wool (I'm allergic to the chemicals they use to treat wool fabrics, but I've since learned that those can be carefully washed away and I'm fine).  I went ahead and lined it in linen (actually a linen/cotton blend) because the outside was linen.  I've omitted the ties on mine for the time being. 

Also, since my hood was machine-sewn, I went ahead and sewed the lining by machine as well; although all the stitching that shows - where the inside and outside are stitched together around the face and the lower hemline - are done by hand (whipstitch), and the trim is sewn on by hand (running stitch through the outside edges of the trim). 

Here's my finished hood: 

I applied a thin card-woven trim to the bottom edge of the hood, which I wove myself last week (my second-ever card weaving experiment).  It's made of #10 cotton crochet thread in brown and light gray, because that's what I had on hand.  I got the pattern from this website; it's a design which was inspired by some of the Oseberg weaving patterns (not an actual period copy).  

Hooray, it's finally finished and I can wear it!  This will look great with my men's Viking outfit this fall. (The men's Viking outfit is getting a major overhaul right now, I'll show you when it's done). 

For reference, here's a photo of the original Skjoldehamn hood as found on the bog body: 

the Skjoldehamn hood

More information on the Skjoldehamn hood: 

Náttmál. “A Skjoldehamn Hood.” NÁTTMÁL, 21 Mar. 2021, nattmal.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/skjoldehamn-hood/ 

Dan Halvard Løvlid (English translation by Carol Lynn) – The Skjoldehamn find in the light of new knowledge, 2011

Carletti, Francesca. “The Skjoldehamn Hood Class Handout.” Carlys_sewing, Her Ladyship Francesca Carletti, July 2016, carlyfenton.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/theskjoldenhamnhood_revised.pdf

Brennasdottir, Ula, "Skjoldehamn Hood" 2021 (SCA blog) https://medievalexcellence.com/2021/05/12/skjoldehamn-hood/

SCA: Some Pictures of Me and Some Random Bits and Pieces

 So, I realized recently that I've never really posted pics of me in any of my Viking outfits - I hate the way I look in photos most of the time, and so I almost always just post stuff on my dress dummy in the craft room.  Of course, the dummy pictures don't really show you what an entire outfit looks like put together, so I thought I'd get dressed up and share pics of ME in my actual Viking clothing. 

Hrefna Hrokrsdottir

Here's me in my favorite (female) Viking outfit.

That's a white linen serk and blue herringbone linen smokkr; with brass brooches from Raymond's, beads and beaded jewelry, leather turnshoes from Bohemond, inkle-woven belt, and Hedeby bag.  Everything except the brooches and shoes was made by me (including the woven shoelaces). 

(The white serk is all caught up underneath my smokkr in this picture, so it looks like the hem is wonky, but it's not.  I just wasn't paying attention when I was getting dressed. Oops!)

(I really need new socks, these turquoise ones are just too loud). 

Hrefn (?)

And here's me as a dude.  I originally developed this outfit because I wanted pants to set up/break down camp in, because skirts get in the way too much; but the more I wear this kit the more I just love dressing as a guy.  It's comfy and workable, and I love the way it looks on me: 

This is my blue linen pants, green-and-blue tunic with inkle woven trim and black top-stitching, blue winingas, the same leather turnshoes, hammered brass arm rings, beaded necklace, Jorvik hood, inkle woven belt, wool cloak, brass cloak brooch, and Hedeby bag.  The winingas, shoes, tablet-woven trim, and brooch were purchased; all the rest was made by me.  

I did just alter these pants, also.  The waistband was sitting too low on me and my pants were falling down, so I added a panel at the top to make the waistband taller - I didn't have any more of the blue linen so I used another color, which thankfully doesn't show under my tunic. 

(I should also note that this whole outfit is about to get a major overhaul, stay tuned). 

Card Weaving!! 

A dear friend of mine recently taught me how to do card/tablet weaving!  I am SO STOKED!  Here's my very first project, done in #3 cotton crochet thread. 

This is so much fun!  Of course, I screwed everything up on my first warp and had to take the whole thing apart and re-do it, but not only did Kate teach me to weave, she taught me how to deal with my mistakes, too, so I was able to get it all sorted out and then create this gorgeous trim.  It's about 3 yards long, which is about as much as my loom can do (either inkle or card).

I can't wait to try new colors and patterns! 

Other Stuff

In addition to the pants alteration and the card weaving, I've been making some minor repairs and alterations to my Viking kit(s) the past few weeks, including: 

•  cut a slit in the neckline of my white serk (above) so that it's a keyhole neckline instead of a round one, because I like the ease and look of a keyhole neckline better, and I love wearing my little silver brooch to close the neckline
• wove (inkle) a striped trim to put onto the male Viking tunic (above) to replace the ratty trim that was on it before, which was falling apart and was too big for the tunic anyway
• I covered my cooler in wood grain duct tape to make it look like a little wooden chest!  Except I'm about to take it all off, because it looks like country-fried ass, LOL
• I made a new necklace to wear with my male Viking kit (above), which is just 9 glass beads (made by me) on a length of blue string - nothing major, I just wanted some bling 

New plans, which I'm hoping to get done by October: 

1. I'm working on refinishing a table I found on the curb into a nice table we can all gather around at Sprezzatra camp - I'm about 85% done with sanding it and am about to start staining it
2. I'll also be making a heraldic table runner to go on the table, with Sprezzatura's device on it
3. I have a blue linen Skjoldehamn hood which needs a lining - I have the fabric, I just haven't made the lining yet
4. I'm hoping to replace the queen-sized air mattress that I use in my tent with a smaller one, so that I can have more walking space in my tent for getting dressed and stuff

Whew!  Lots going on to get ready for the fall event season. Let's go!