Viking things

I actually did finish my Viking outfit, well all accept the belt.  The whole outfit was at least wearable for events and I will work on the belt to wear the next time.

As I showed earlier in my blog, I did a bunch of embroidery on my basic tunic, mostly on the neckline.  The basic tunic is all rectangles and trapezoids so the construction is really simple.  I then treated all the seams with chain stitch.  I love how much the chain stitch sticks out, but I did not love how time consuming it was.  As you can see, did not manage 2 lines of chain on the longest seams but only 1.  Each length took me 5 hours to chain stitch and at 10 hours I ran out of time.  I still think it looks alright, although I may go back and add the second line in time. 

I had previously made some quickie Viking apron dresses but they were completely plain.  I decided to dress them up a bit.  First i took some blue wool embroidery thread and treated all the seams with running stitch.   Running stitch is so much faster than chain, but as you can see the effect is much more subtle.

The purple dress has lines of chain (red), running stitch and broken chain (blue) and blanket stitch (green) done in wool thread.  This wool thread is batch dyed with natural dyes, although not by me.  I bought the thread at a close out sale at a local embroidery store.  I went a little wild with the grey tunic and embroidered some cats,  I really don't think this is a period motif, I just really liked it and felt the look was OK.  The cats are done in the same thread, the outline is in stem stitch (green) with chain stitch detailing (blue) and green running stitch accents. The different apron dresses also have different strap methods.  The grey one has loops on the front and long loops on the back and the brooches go through both loops.  I am not sure I like this, it makes the brooches sit too high for my taste.  The purple apron dress has worked eyelets in the front and the long loops on the back.  This makes the brooches sit in a more pleasing (to me) place.  I have also done an apron dress with the straps sewn rather than pinned and I find this more comfortable than either loop method.  The brooches are from Raymond's Quiet Press and have very cool 3D horses that stand up from the brooches so you can weave ribbons from your brooches.

I also made a couple of new necklaces.  Two specifically to hang from the brooches and one to go around my neck.  The beads are all glass or natural stone with one antler bead carved by a local artist. There are also a few brass or pewter beads/medallions for accents. 












Here is the outfit mostly together!  Although it feels really strange to me to wear early period, it is comfortable and fun to wear.