String Skirt 2 – The metal bits

I do love the internet.  We get wrapped up in "academic quality comes from peer-reviewed books" and then a wonderful museum posts good photos of some of their most popular exhibits. (photo from the National Museum, Denmark.) Here's the fragments of the Hagendrup skirt that I wanted yesterday, with both cord remains and metal embellishment.  The metal is much longer than I expected, but the tubes are located in a different place, too. Re: what the metal is: I've found descriptions saying both copper and bronze.  I don't know what bronze was, in more detail than "copper + tin", but … Continue reading String Skirt 2 – The metal bits

Bronze Age String Skirt

I find it interesting that nearly all of my European interests center around one little bit of geography.  There's something about the southern North Sea shores that draws me.  My name is from 15thc Zeeland, I'm enchanted by the 5thc brooch-closed Kentish dresses (heavily influenced by the Franks, who occupied Zeeland), I like the tablet-woven edges particular to the Jutes who lived in that peninsula, and my current favorite summer event wear is this outfit, which our extant pieces document to Bronze Age Denmark.  (Same place.)  (I won't talk about my love for Danish modern furniture just now.) Concept: Zealand … Continue reading Bronze Age String Skirt

Second Yardage – Diamond 2/2 twill, 5th c – Warping, Part 1

Basic notes: Warp Yarn: Medium Lilac, Mandarin Petit, 100% Egyptian cotton, produced in Norway.  50g skeins ~180m/skein.  Wash cold, air dry.  Iron 150dC max.  18 wraps/inch.  Z plied, S twist.  7-ply.  Color lot: 5226 5926. Weft Yarn: Light Lilac, Wildflower DK, Plymouth, 51% cotton, 49% acrylic, made in Holland.  50g skeins ~137 yds/skein.  Other stats same.  Color lot 50 105. Ends: 276, selvedges sleyed double. Sett: 12 epi, in #6 reed. Weave type: Diamond 2/2 twill, variation as shown in Dixon, page 85, top variant. Historical reference: Fine worsted diamond twill of the Birka type from Vinjum, Sogn and Fjordane, … Continue reading Second Yardage – Diamond 2/2 twill, 5th c – Warping, Part 1

No tiny gauge, please

Okay, so now I'm definitely in love with yardage, and started to wrap another warp with this stuff, thinking I'd try out a fine gauge: Fail. I didn't even empty one of those little spools.  I didn't like the way the thread cut into my fingers…I just felt like a slave to it, with no sensual return.  Gave it away, and cut the wrapped warp off my warping board. Onto cushy colorful DK cotton, for playing in unbalanced twill structures! Continue reading No tiny gauge, please

First big weaving project done

Began with 5.5 yards of warp (that's the max length of my warping board), ended up with 4 yards, 30" total length, so that's 24" of loom waste.  The finished piece averages about 32" wide. Yarns:  All of the dark brown weft is alpaca that I spun myself.  This is about two pounds-worth.  I learned that I don't really like spinning, and have just sold my spinning wheel, so I'll be forced to do the medieval thing and actually buy my yarn henceforth. The blue warp is also alpaca, but commercial.  The orange warp is handspun, but sheep, and not by … Continue reading First big weaving project done

Bronze Bog dresses, skirt 2.0

While making the first version of my Borum Eshoj dress, I knew I wasn't cutting the skirt as accurately to the drawing as I could have been.  I admit I was thinking first about my mundane notions of vanity – which normally I really try not to do, because I think a big part of my historical recreation is setting my modern self aside.  The modern self that is proud of my long thick shiny hair, my fit figure…cover your hair and put on the poofy full skirt, Greet, and see how it goes.  It's just an experimental game. So, … Continue reading Bronze Bog dresses, skirt 2.0

Bronze Bog dresses, version 1.0

or more properly, Dress after the Borum Eshoj Woman. CA CONTEXT At GW, Gwen and Glenna both wore versions of what they called the Bronze Age bog dress (though Glenna's was more of a 'bog bikini'…she's very cute), and since it looked wonderfully comfortable and easy to wear in warm weather, I decided I wanted one.  Or three.  Here's what they looked like…Gwen's is normal skirt length.  (Gwen's image removed by request; sorry for confusion.) Carl Kohler's book, of which I have the 1924 translation in Dover edition, shows a partial image of this drawing… I decided I liked the … Continue reading Bronze Bog dresses, version 1.0

North Indian Hindu – Project Runway style

My apprentice brother Khalil asked me, the Thursday before Crown List, if I could possibly walk as part of his entourage and wear a sari. I've had an interest in Indian, because I wanted to support my 10+ year yoga practice with clothes and more culture knowledge, but felt I needed lots of gaps filled.  For example, I studied Middle Eastern garden design in college, but how those philosophies bridge to what little of the mythology I know and then to clothing…I have a lot more reading to do before I feel I can represent Indian in any way, shape … Continue reading North Indian Hindu – Project Runway style

Weaving my own yardage

Ann commented: …you really need to weave your own fabric. If you do it with rectangles and triangle gores in the side, you'll need about 8 yards, but narrow–just a little over the width of your shoulders. Yup, this is definitely on my list.  Thanks for the numbers! I've been reading about 6thc North Sea cultures, and the shreds of weaves imprinted on the metal bling show diamond twills and linen repp…so that's my next loomweaving move, after I get the 5 yards of spin-to-doubleweave off the loom that's been there way too long. A bit of a problem with … Continue reading Weaving my own yardage

To Do list for Gulf Wars 2009

Gulf Wars is officially less than a month away.  I'm going for the whole week, for the first time, and will continue to serve Her Majesty Gwendolen as lady-in-waiting.  I'm not teaching this year, and hope to take a few classes. Although I've been sewing more for myself lately, and have been given two handmedown camp kirtles, such that I have lots of clothes now, I find I still have a lengthy sewing list for this year.  Here's the list, and the current progress – I'm not freaking out just yet. 4.  Four white shifts.  I'm making two the gathered-front … Continue reading To Do list for Gulf Wars 2009