I am wearing a natural color linen under dress, with linen embroidery in brown, yellow and black, at the sleeve cuff and neck line. Over the dress is an apron dress in black wool I have two brooches that are historically inspired but not a recreation of an extrant piece. I reviewed as much as I could find on the internet of theories on apron dress construction and decided to go with two rectangular panels with two trapezoids on either side. The straps over the shoulders are fabric tubes that are two long loops from the back and two short loops on the front. This allows me to pin my broaches on through the loops and not put holes in the fabric. I am using my beaded strands of carnelian, onyx, glass and silver. For warmth on this snowy day, I have on my gray and white tweed wool coat, lined with gray wool, appliqued and embroidered with wool accented with glass beads. The sleeves are cuffed with red wool that has underpadding of wool batting and emboidery. I used only stitches that were known prior to 1200 in my embroidery. There are several extant examples of embroidered tunics and coats in early medieval Norse culture, however, I do not usually recreate extant examples, but do what I probably would have done at the time. See an object of clothing I think is cool and then make it my own way using inspiration from designs of the time. After all, we have very little to go on as there is not much extant of all the many garments that were made. I am sure there was as great a variety within the parameters of what they had available as there is today.
On my head is a cap of white wool with polychrome embroidery. Again, the only stitches used were those documented to the time: Straight Stitch, Blanket Stitch, Cross Stitch, Split Stitch and Chain Stitch. All clothing is based on rectangular costruction from my own patterns. I used "Cut My Cote" by Dorothy K. Burnham, for reference on construction techniques of the dress and coat. My inspiration for embroidery on the coat was adapted from a design carved on the Opdal Church doorway in Norway, and evokes the Thor's hammer. I mixed this with various celtic influenced christian symbols, as there are finds that have jewelry with mixed symbols, as the old religion gave way to the new. The cap embroidery is my own variation of extant stitchery. The two ties are hand-woven from linen thread on an inkle loom. The boots are hand sewn leather. Here are some further detail shots.
I included a photo of the bronze hook clasp from the front which I used because I liked it, I don't believe it is an historic piece but I felt it fit the coat well all the same. The last photo is my viking hoard! I have a necklace of varying amber beads that I strung together. I also have my alternate broaches and strands. This pair is from Raymond Quiet Press who has well documented accurate pieces. I highly recommend him. The alternate bead strand includes jade, glass and pewter.
The truly hilarious part of me wearing Norse, is that I swore up and down that I would never be assimilated into the Norse Hoard here in the Kingdom of An Tir where every third SCAdian is Norse!
One day our shire was hosting a feast at a Norse theme event, and just for the sake of the group, I made a quick and dirty outfit from polycotton and wore it, (not this outfit). Well, I quickly realized that people wear it because it is so darn comfortable. When using natural fibers, it is cool in hot weather and you can layer up to stay warm in cold weather. I wanted to stay true to my Scots ancestry so I resisted. Then one day when reading one of my collection on the history of Skye, I realized that resistance was futile, my ancestors had all ready been assimilated by the Norse. You see, I had forgotten there was a reason my Scots Maternal Grandfather's name, (as were many of our clan,) was Norman!
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