I have to admit that I am just a little obsessed.  I have a whole bin now of headcoverings, or textiles from which to craft them, at this point.  And I keep getting more.  I do want to know that up until this point that all of my purchases (and subsequent reviews) have been just from me finding things, buying them, trying them out and then talking about them.  None of those posts were sponsored in any way.  The review below, however, is sponsored because the shop owner offered me a deal I could not refuse ($1 for a linen scarf if I would review it).  So yes, this is a sponsored post.  I will note, however, that it is still honest and it is the same post I would make anyways, because that is just how I roll.

This particular scarf is from LinenWorld8 on Etsy.  I previously bought a couple of scarves there, which I reviewed earlier.  I choose a dark orange one because it is a color easily obtained with madder and the item I received well represents the color shown on the site.  It retailed for $23, and in my opinion, is well worth the cost.  It is 24"X74", which makes it a great width for my Viking Age veils.  With one scarf I could cut down the cloth and make a veil (24"X36") as well as a scarf and cap).  This is not quite long enough for me to tie up as a Slavic headdress, but I might asked the shop if they can craft these at this width, with some extra length as I think it would work well at Pennsic.

The edges for this one are completely unfinished (which I knew when I chose it, as it was shown in the photos).  I will either pull a few more weft threads out and tie off fringes, or more likely, just hem the item for use.

To compare this item to the linen scarves I previously purchased from this vendor, I have to say that this one, unlike the others, has an incredible drape, and is quite soft (even more soft than the burgundy one that is very similar to it).

The only gripe I even have is that in the initial add for the item it is mislabled as being twill.  I could see in the photos that it was tabby weave, so I purchased it (I need tabby for a Viking Age headcovering like this).  In all, I will absolutely be purchasing more items from this vendor!

I am really deep into a research project right now that is eating my time, so I have not had anything new to post here (though please follow my FB page where I am regularly sharing new books and archaeological finds).  I am excited about my new project have books on order and am experimenting with new-to-me techniques.  Fun times!

This doesn't, however, stop me from mulling over a ton of other things in my head, especially during my very long commutes each days.  One of those is about color in the Viking Age.  Archaeology tells us that they had a range of dye stuff to use.  We see walnut browns at Hedeby, reds that stand the test of time at Oseberg and blues pretty much everywhere (and far more than this brief list).  

One thing I often see when reenactors are looking at textiles for sale (for a new garment, that is often to represent someone with at least some amount of wealth) and ask online if that cloth is an appropriate color, is that people will respond to anything in a red, yellow, blue range (and others) with a resounding YES, even when that color might be exceptionally dilute (to the point of being pastel).  Is that color feasible with period dyes, of course!  However, would it really have been worth it to a person in period to use something as precious as madder to get only a very pale pink, or would it have made far more sense to wait until you gathered enough (or could afford enough) plant matter to produce a well-dyed garment.  

I understand that yes,  dyes will fade, but realistically, by the time that that happens, that garment would likely either 1) have been re-dyed or 2) be moved from serving as a "better" dress, to, perhaps, work wear?  I also realize that you would not be likely to wast the partly exhausted dye bath, and would opt to dye other things, but again, would you really be dying your new body garments this way?  Would it not be better instead to over dye an older item, or dye some leftover yarn for some other purpose, or perhaps over dye a naturally pigmented brown or grey wool to change the shade?  

Due to textiles degrading in the ground, I dont know that we could really prove this, but we do see a number of textiles from period that still have a very clear, well-saturated color to them, and those things make me wonder if someone long ago would have liked a soft blue garment as much someone today might.

I had no idea until today that I have never shared this here before (though I have talked about it many times on Facebook).  Reproduction silks have become very popular among Viking reenactors, thanks to several companies, including Sartor.  The problem with most silk textiles that we use is that they fray like crazy (and the shreds will cling to everything, and pull more our of your precious investment as you work).

My solution to this issue is to prevent the fraying even before I cut my cloth.  To do this I mix a small amount of white glue into some water. It should be some what thin.  I lay my cloth flat on a nonporous surface and draw my cutting lines on the cloth with a pen or chalk.  I then take a paintbrush and paint the glue mixture over my cutting lines.  I allow it to dry fully and then cut the fabric as normal.  If you cut before you treat, the cloth edges will wumple up as it dries.  Painting the lines on before cutting prevents that.

Note that I do NOT use fraycheck, or other types of liquid stitch products, as they can eat away at silk.  Also, if you drip it onto the cloth, the cloth will forever have a spot on it, whereas you can use some water to further dilute the white glue and get it out of your fabric before it is damaged.  Plain white (elmer's) glue also has no fumes.

There are several articles on my blog that get heavy traffic, including those where I discuss hot-weather garb options for Pennsic ( http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/summer-wardrobe ).  I want today to share a friend's blog posts about Archaic Greek Chitons so that folks have even more low-bulk, summer-weight clothing options (and since it is only September, you have plenty of time to get things made before next year). Baroness Anna Dokeianina Syrakousian's work is always lovely and this chiton is no exception (and she is professionally a researcher/historian, so I highly recommend checking out the rest of her blog as well, especially if you have any interest in Byzantine clothing).

annasrome.com/2018/08/30/the-archaic-chiton-requires-an-archaic-himation/

https://annasrome.com/2018/08/30/the-archaic-chiton-requires-an-archaic-himation/

Who is ready to start Pennsic prep???

I started a Facebook page for this blog as there are often news stories, links to academic research, or other items that inspire me that I do not always have time to come here and drop a full blog post about.  Sending them through FB is much quicker (especially as I work in social media mundanely and am on the platform all day).  If you want to see those items, place feel free to Like and Follow my Page there!

https://www.facebook.com/awanderingelf

In case anyone here hasn't figured it out, I love exploring different types of headcoverings for my period clothing.  I agree with others about how a headcovering (or proper hairstyle) can really complete the look of any historic costume, but I really love the experimental archaeology factor that comes with testing different things that work (or don't work) for my Norse kit.

I have mentioned before that so far my favorite headcoverings are sheer, fine wool.  The drape of a wool veil is fluid and beautiful.  I still have many linen veils, cloths and caps as well that I use.  Some of these items I have woven myself, but I also purchase handwoven and commercial items from others to try them out (and share my findings here).  So I have two new findings I want to show off today.

The first is that I bought two new veils for my new Slavic dress at Pennsic from Feed the Ravens.  A light blue one is 80% merino and 20% viscose.  This thing drapes beautifully and is very soft against my face and neck.  Unfortunately, the only photos I have of it were during Atlantian Court, where I wrapped my head just outside of the building, and the drape was a little snug, but I truly love both this outfit and headcovering.  (The temple rings and band also came from Feed the Ravens.  Note that their shop is offline for the rest of August, but they will be back soon!)  I also got a silk blend veil from them that I plan to use in a similar fashion.  These fine cloths would also work well with Norse headdress.

When I came home from Pennsic, I was searching Etsy for something totally unrelated to sheer fine cloth and came across some very fine, open weave, linen scarves that I thought would work perfectly for veils or headcoverings.  The price was fantastic so I ordered several to check them out.  The vendor is LinenWorld8 and I am delighted with the quality of what I received.  

The solid burgundy one is a bit more fine than the three with the strips on the edges.  These will be cool and comfortable but do not have the glorious drape of wool, so I will likely cut them down into smaller rectangular veils, headbands or caps.

I actually need to sort through my bin of veils this fall and start to resize some of the pieces that are too large right now to use in the manner I prefer.  Hopefully I can also pick up some more interesting textiles for headcoverings in the coming year as well!

To see all of my articles discussing headcoverings, click here: awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/category/headcoverings

Frequently people ask me how I make my aprondresses.  The fabric remains for these garments are few (at least in terms of things on which we can base a pattern), which leaves open great possibilities for experimental archaeology and trying to think like a Viking Age woman to help us decipher the evidence and make our best reconstructions.  (If you are unfamiliar with the evidence, please check out Hilde Thunem's blog which has the absolute best collection of data that has been done to date for these garments.  ​http://urd.priv.no/viking/smokkr.html )

I have gone through a number of variations for design on this dress over the years, and will share my current favorites below.  I do want to make one comment though regarding terminology here.  The word "aprondress" was coined by a reenactor.  This is not something that shows up in the earlier records for textiles or digs.  It is, in fact, very much a misnomer and tends to create confusion when people truncate it to "apron".  I do absolutely use the term aprondress because everyone knows what I mean when I say that, but I want to make it clear that it is not at all an "apron" in the modern sense and the word "aprondress" should not be shortened (just to avoid further confusion).  Other words you will see are smokkr, hangerock, tragerock, suspended skirt and even pinafore.

Now that I have that out of my system, let us talk about how I currently choose to reconstruct the garments, and why.

Until a few years ago, one of my favorite diagrams was the one below.  This cutting method is extremely economical when it comes to textile use, and makes for a very flattering, slim-bodied garment.  The first few I did made use of the full width of fabric and I ended up with these billowing hemlines that, even in my early days at this, read as "wrong" to me, so I corrected that by narrowing the bottom of both the gores and the body panels.  

I made maybe a dozen dresses like that over the years. One has to sort of slither into them, as the body is pretty fitted (and the back seam allows for additional tailoring at the waist), but they were certainly nicely fitted and pretty.  I still explored other styles, but that was one of my go-to items until I started weaving.

Spinning and weaving gave me an entirely new perspective on pretty much everything I was doing with Viking Age clothing.  It took working with the textile process to really make me understand how precious, and how important, cloth was in period.  The time investment in crafting one dress, by historic methods, was steep.  Realistically, if had more than a couple of garments, I was a lucky woman indeed!

This made me rethink my entire process for crafting clothing.  Any garment that I would have had in period would need to be crafted with life's changes in mind, because I would likely own the item for several years before it was damaged enough to be repurposed into other items, or cast off for someone else to wear.  This means I need to consider weight gain or loss, as well as pregnancy, with each item.  (And yes, this also helped me start to "get over myself" and my modern mentality when it comes to fit of clothing.)

Eventually I tested out the patterning diagram shown below.  This creates a very, very simple garment (three seams and two hems).  I did allow myself some tailoring on the top of the back panels only, as well as a bit down the center back.  The result is what I call my Second Breakfast Dresses.  They are comfortable, have silhouette that seems to conform with period icons, and it can accommodate some life changes.
​

My current favorite pattern is a slightly more complex variation of the one above.  It was inspired by tailoring from Hedeby as well as Inga Hägg's comparison of Hedeby garments to those from later Herjolfsnes.  As with the above example, I do allow myself some subtle tailoring to the upper back of the garment, while preferring a looser fit to the front.  This works for both flat-front dresses and those with pleats (see my pleated dress using this pattern here ​http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/looking-deeper-the-problem-with-pleats ).

What you can see from the images below (the dark purple wool dress) is that there is some shaping to the back, while I have a bit of room in the front.  I have made several of these to date, in both linen and wool, and have to say that at this time, these are my favorites.

One other thing to keep in mind, when laying out your pattern on your fabric is that, in period, they did not seem to have the modern hang-ups about direction of grain when it comes to patterning things. The Hedeby garment had the grain running from side to side on the panels, while on the Køstrup dress it ran vertically.  My suggestion is that you make the best use of your yardage, in the best way possible, when crafting your garments.

And lastly, just because I have a clear (current) favorite, does not mean that this is the only way to make a garment.  (It also does not mean that I will stop experimenting.)  I think that in period there were many possible configurations, and while some might make use of more blocky construction, and others might be more tailored, some could use gores or godets,  I think that they all likely made good use of the textiles with little waste, and I feel strongly they they all very likely could be worn during more than one phase of life.  (Heck, adding or removing pleats could even help assist with fitting life's changes.)  

I am really pressed for time at the moment, but wanted to get some photos up of the big display this year.  There were SO many impressive entries.  I plan to talk about a few of them in more depth later, but for now, here are the pics.

Here is a list of the classes I am teaching this year at Pennsic.  The Basic Viking Women's Clothing with No Regrets class is NOT on the official calendars, as I only added it this past week to the schedule.

Note that the basic clothing class will be a the new Runestone Campus for University. This is down the hill near the lake.  The fantastic University folks have been kind enough to make a map to the location, which I am including below.

Pennsic 2018

Basic Women's Viking Clothing with No Regrets 
RS 3 on 8-02 9:00AM (1 hour) - 

Deeper Look at Textiles & Trim of Viking Age Dress
A&S 13 on 08-07 12:00 PM​ (2 hours)
​
Beyond the Aprondress
A&S 13 on 08-07 2:00 PM (1 hour)

Classes: 

Basic Viking Clothing with No Regrets 

This class is an informal lecture that will focus on how I would rebuild my wardrobe if I had to start all over again, but still know what I know now.  I will discuss my past mistakes and provide ideas for putting together a Viking woman's costume that is evidence based and that can be a good foundation for a more authentic wardrobe.

Beyond the Aprondress

While the aprondress, and its associated brooches, is the ubiquitous women’s garment of the Viking Age, that fashion eventually gave way to other styles.  The class will discuss the reasons for the change and will offer examples of evidence on which to base a late Viking Age kit.  This class will also include discussion on and examples of headcoverings.

A Deeper Look at Textiles & Trim of Viking Age Dress

By looking deeper at both the textiles and the details from extant items, this class aims to help individuals make informed choices for crafting their garments. Tactile examples will clarify the weaves and weight of period fabrics and there will also be discussion of possible modern substitutions. Additionally, practical details for finishing or embellishing garments will also be explored and their history investigated.  The goal of this class is to help the individual understand how daily life during the Viking Age could affect how textiles were crafted and worn.  This class will now include additional discussion and samples of women's Viking Age headcoverings.

A friend just shared this blog post about SCA Research Papers and I have to say that I really like the way things are laid out.  I plan to use some of the notes in it for future organization myself.

https://sibellasays.wordpress.com/2018/07/17/writing-research-papers-in-an-sca-context/

Thanks to Baroness Sibella for the thoughtful resource!