As I was walking from my hotel room to an SCA event in the beginning of a snow shower this past January, I realized that, while my wool apron dress and wool shawl kept me dry and the worst of the chill out, I wasn't particularly comfortable. Perhaps, I thought, it was finally time to make myself a caftan. I believe I've enough blue-black coat- ( Read more... )

If you've been looking for more evidence for hats to wear as a Viking persona, you may want to consider the Alanic hat discovered at Moschevaya Balka. There's a photo in Ierusalimskaja's 1996 Die Gräber der Moshchevaja Balka: Frühmittelalterliche Funde an der Nordkaukasischen Seidenstrasse, which is available in digital format here, along with its ( Read more... )

Back when I was first making my copper-alloy needlecase, I wanted to make an appropriate chain from which to hang it. I'd seen a chain very much like this one, but longer, while at a museum in Lund with
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While I was working on my Køstrup dress, I was working with Rimstad's tables from Vikinger i uld og guld about the frequency with which different types of weaves are found in Danish Viking contexts. She quotes 2/2 twills as being 12% of the total finds, herringbone at 2% and diamond twill at 1%. Considering only 10th century samples, it makes up ( Read more... )

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Masquerade-themed events can feel problematic for the authenticity-minded early period SCAdian. These events feel like they're geared toward late-period personas, and very few (if any) masks you could purchase feel like they would be appropriate for early period wear. Don't fear: you, too, can make a reasonably authentic mask that fits your ( Read more... )

Thanks for the recommendations on 15th century sewing--it helped fill in the gaps in my knowledge, so that I have a better understanding of the evolution of the doublet and how to adapt it to what Ambrosius wants. I've been poking around said resources, and looking at more illustrations from De Casibus, and have come up with enough of a plan to ( Read more... )

I really ought to have been blogging about the socks I was spinning yarn for and naalbinding for myself out of some lovely grey Gotland roving, because now I need to interrupt that project! A friend is hatching as a Pelican in January, so he needs new clothes, and I'm part of the far-flung team assembling to make that happen ( Read more... )

A blessing in disguise, the linen thread with which I'd stitched the pleating in my Køstrup dress snapped while I was at Pennsic, undoing the pleats. I made do with a pinned dart while I was there, but needed to redo the pleating.

This time, I used proper smocking stitches:


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Today I finally gave up on driving to the fabric store just for one spool of thread and decided to re-sew the fabric buttons onto my London hood, since I had tied off the shanks of the buttons and the knots had ravelled in the wash, leaving the buttons sort of floaty and insecure. How to prevent that, I wondered?

Don't cut the thread, evidently ( Read more... )