Completed Viking Garb at Lief Erikson.

Here it is, all finished!

I'm going to have to go back and re-fit the apron dress a bit, it was a wee bit large in the bust. But then I was being really generous with my seam allowance.
Easy fix overall.
General thoughts are it was warm and comfy and perfect garb for cold weather events (like Estrella War). Its not necessarily my style since I prefer Persian and Italian Ren. on my body type but still, I'm glad I made it and I'll probably wear it again to a winter event.:)

Well, tomorrow is the Lief Erickson tourney so I figured now would be as good as anytime to try my hand (again) at some viking garb. I ended up winning a spiffy "Viking in a Basket" prize at a raffle a few tourneys ago so it was time to put it to good use.

Heehee...Shiny.

As you can see, the basket came with everything needed, including the festoons. I already have the brooches from my previous go ahead.

Here are some in progress pics I took. I'll actually be wearing it tomorrow so here's hoping I can get a few photos of the garment on me.
The basket came with various instructions of how to put your apron together. I chose the method you can find here.
Not the exact directions that I used but pretty darn close. This was a VERY simple method so I highly recommend it...because i"m lazy.

Here's the Apron dress with partial decorative stitching done. I stuck a comparison shot of my first apron I did mostly so you can see the difference in shape. The new apron is more of a tube shape. It fits pretty snug and with a belt it gives you more of your waist.

The New apron is the purple one. The Old Apron is the blue one. You can see a vast difference in the shape here on the dress form..umm..ignore how really wrinkled the purple is. Its been pressed out..honestly.

Upclose shot of the decorative stitching. I was more or less making it up as I went along.

The Under Tunic/Dress really isn't that exciting so I just took a photo of the neckline. I was pretty happy with you neat I got the trim to look.
Tomorrow I'll be wearing this sucker completed (Weather permitting. If its hot, forget it!) Overall, Viking garb aren't really my style, but I have to admit, they're a lot of fun to make.

Finished Viking!

Here's a pic of the finished Viking apron and the "smurf hat" I made for Calafian winter Arts!

Click to enlarge Not too bad for my first time at the viking rodeo I like to think.:) It was extremely comfortable and really warm. GOOD Estrella garb! I believe I will have to give this another whirl soon. And just cause I'm a show off, here's my sparse table from winter arts featuring my orange Italian Ren and my hubby's cassock coat.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday!

Been too Long...so I made more garb.

Wow, Its been FAR too long since I updated. My excuse is the hubby and I have been busy moving into a house for the last..oh...3 months it seems. We bought a nice fixer upper so a good chunk of my sewing time was taken up with painting and installing floors. But now things have finally settled and I managed to get myself back on the sewing train! The best part is now I have a studio space to work in instead of sewing in the bedroom!

So I've been wanting to work on a viking apron for a long time now. I was a bit reluctant at first mostly because I'm a big busted gal and I was afraid the whole thing would make me look pregnant. Then I realized that most women I know who wear this style ARE big busted gals and I was being stupid.
My LJ friend sabre0link sent me some excellent links on viking garb for both men and women (if you're interested in seeing them, let me know! I'll post them up here!). They were a HUGE help and I found any different ways to put an apron together.

Click to Enlarge these pics.

In the end, I went with the very simple two rectangles and two gores on the side look. Above is the finished product. I originally had the gores too high, where my bust line ended, and the apron looked really sloppy, not to mention it looked more like a MuMu than anything else. So I hacked it apart and lowered the gores. I think the result is much nicer. The wool came from a thrift store buy years and years ago. The brooches I bought...what can I say, I love the shiny. The festoons I made myself from some lamp beads and other finds I had in my stash. I think I'll have to strengthen my knots on the festoons though. I don't really trust my knot tying skills...hence why I married an ex sailor.
Overall, I'm really happy with it. I will be wearing my orange kirtle I bought a few wars back under the apron. Its not not pictured since I was being ADD and working on two garments at once on my dress form.

And yes, I am working on yet ANOTHER italian Ren!

Click to Enlarge.

Once again, I'm feeling the need to experiment. I ended up losing my pattern from my first Italian Ren during the move. So I've had to start from scratch. So far its not too bad. I've been wanting to make an Italian Ren out of washable material. Both the lining and the outter fabric is cotton. The pearls are only on there because I was futzing around. I'm not completely sold on them yet. I still need to buy buttons or something to use for the side closures. Then the skirt will go on. For this one I'm hoping to make some detachable sleeves that actually WORK. I'm considering a contrasting color but I'm not sure if I want to go blue. I've been going a little crazy in the orange and blue department.

ALSO, I went fabric shopping with some gal pals un in the LA fashion district recently and picked up some shinies!

Fabric Goodness!
Okay, that first red fabric was from a few trips back. That will be turning into a doublet for the hubby. The teal silk is for me. I want to make another Italian Ren out of it but something a bit more ornate than I usually do. Currently reseaching that. The black was bought for a good friend who has been working hard helping us get the house in order. So he'll be getting a doublet as well.

And now that I'm more or less unpacked I finally found my period hat making book. So hopefully I can make a few coifs and perhaps a french hood. I've been really eager to try my hand at a french hood.

I'm really happy to get back to sewing again, I missed it! Hopefully I'll have some more pictures of new experiments as they come.