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.

Viking under dress

The local SCA group is running a unique activity through their newcomer's group. The Midwinter celebration and the upcoming Coronation are both Viking themed, so the newcomer's group is hosting weekly meetings to learn various skills to help everyone (both new and long term members) make full outfits.  So far we have had: basic sewing, Viking men's garb, Vikings women's garb, pattern drafting, construction days, Viking treasure necklaces and lampwork beads.  We are going to have more construction days and nalbinding at least.  I volunteered to teach basic embroidery and Viking wire weaving, so maybe these classes as well.  I am usually a late period girl, but it is so much fun to meet up each week and work on something that I am jumping on the band wagon! Since the Baronial colors are black and gold with a little bit of white I used these colors to make my new dress.  Also, I had this linen and the threads in my stash.

When I construct early time period SCA stuff, I usually iron the seam allowance out and then use a simple running stitch in a contrasting color to stitch down the seam allowance. Some of the others people in the group have suggested chain stitch, so I am trying chain stitch.  I really like the way this is looking, but it is so much slower than running stitch and requires so much thread! Here is the first piece with the seam treatment.

I have also worked on the neck opening.  I hand stitched the hem on the neckline and did a quick stitched tack bar down at the bottom of the keyhole (see the little black bar about half a centimeter from the keyhole).  I find that this tack bar prevents tearing down the front of the shirt, tunic or dress. I then did some herringbone stitch around the neckline.  The stitch closest to the neck opening is simple herringbone.  Then I wanted to do some decorative interlace to add some more interest.  I have had a few people ask me how I do this stitch so I am going to try and explain it here.  First I do two sets of running stitch, keep the stitches parallel and the same number in both the outer and inner rows. 

Once the running stitch is completed, I start a second color.  I knot this color on the back of the embroidery and then bring it to the front of the embroidery under one of the running stitches.  The yellow thread is laced through the running stitch entirely on the surface of the dress.  You could use just about any pattern you want, but I like this simple one.

Once completed it looks like this.  Look carefully down at the bottom of the keyhole, notice the mistake?  I did not have the same number of stitches in my outer and inner rows.....I had to get a bit creative, but I think it still looks ok. 

One question I have gotten is if you can wash this kind of embroidery and the answer at least for me is yes.  This red tunic has been washed in the washing machine (but never put in the dryer) probably 20 times in the past 8 years since it was made.  Other than the red silk fading and dying some of the embroidery, the stitching still looks good.  I also like the color contrast of the green with the yellow for the surface interlacing stitch, there is much more contrast so both colors still show up.   The white I was using with the yellow gets a bit lost against the yellow on the black dress.