It has come to my attention lately that the garb that I constantly wear is not what I wanted it to be when I first set out on my SCA journey. I'm going to use 2020 as my "switch" date, as during this year I was unable to contribute to my garb collection due to work (as a mariner, I shipped out for most of the year which had its benefits and disadvantages).
Muirgel Bera, my persona, is from the late 9th century northern part of Northumbria. One of the reasons I chose an Old English (nee Anglo-Saxon) persona is because I was uncomfortable in the beginning of my time with the SCA choosing a character outside of my own genealogy. A second reason I chose Old English is that t-tunics were within my sewing ability. My garb prior to 2020 represents this; t-tunic dresses in a variety of colors that don't quite fit right because for some reason I always misjudge seam allowance and how much ease I actually needed. The seams on these dresses are falling apart, too, because I didn't fell the seams or just used a zigzag stitch. These dresses are fine, or at least would be if I could still fit into them. 2020, amirite?
Post 2020, most of my garb was created with Pennsic in mind. A dear friend of mine went to one Pennsic with me and was hooked, so now a lot of my "wearable" garb is Roman or Greek and made from saris since we seem to go back every year now. These dresses are made from vintage cotton saris and fit with the "10 foot rule," but they are lightweight and comfortable to wear in the summer heat. Recently, I have been drawn to the lure of 14th century garb, and have started aspiring to some fancy stuff. However, I do not have a complete outfit for my persona that I feel is fancy enough for court.
Cut to this weekend, with Spring Crown Tourney coming up. I pulled out four cuts of fabric that I have been hoarding for something with the intention of making an outfit for this event. Two cuts of linen (one Barbie pink) and two cuts of wool. It was tempting to start another 14th century dress, but I had concerns about temperature at this event. Time was also a factor. I don't think I'd be able to start and finish one of these dresses in a week. So I made the choice to make an overdress.
I chose the fabric first, a nice diamond twill wool that was orange and blue. From a distance, it's mostly orange. I don't know why, maybe it's my contrary nature, but I'm drawn to colors that don't work with my skin tone or clash with each other. This fabric is actually lovely, and not the worst I could have chosen for this task. While I was ironing, I realized that the fabric may not be historically accurate (HA) for my persona, so I dove into Dress in Anglo-Saxon England by Gale R. Owen-Crocker to verify. Thankfully, page 293 says that diamond twill was found in Old English graves, although the finds were likely earlier than Murigel's time. Close enough for me.
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| I mean, look at this fabric. It's so pretty! |
Most, if not all, of my pre-2020 garb is untrimmed. While considering the neckline, I decided to try for the first time a contrasting trim keyhole neckline. I wanted to be fancier looking that I have been in the past. A dive into the hoard had me pulling out a darker blue linen. I followed the video posted by Wyrd Kindred on YouTube titled "Sew a Viking Age Neckline." The video was clear enough to follow that I felt the contrasting neckline is something I would be happy doing again in the future.
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| Close up of the neckline being hand sewn to the dress. |
The initial parts of the neckline I did on the machine, but I hand-sewed the neckline to the dress because it gave me the most control around the curves. The majority of the dress was sewn with the machine, but the neckline and the hem of the dress were done by hand. I don't know why I made this choice for the bottom hem, but here we are. I started the dress on Tuesday and finished it by end of day Wednesday.
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| Not bad for my first contrasting neckline, eh? |
Overall, I'm happy with how the dress turned out. I fell into the same issue as before in regard to seam allowance and adding for positive ease; the dress is tighter than I would have liked. In Murigel's era, dresses were loose to allow for pregnancy and weight changes, as well as to show wealth (the more fabric the more money you have). I also forgot how to make gores, which honestly happens every time I make garb that requires them. This time around was especially bad because I made my gores smaller than I wanted them to be, which is my fault entirely.
What underdress will I wear with this? I made the choice while sewing the overdress to wear a blue underdress that I had made by hand in 2022. The embroidery on my dress was based off what I had labeled on my Instagram "a textile find from Sutton Hoo Mound 14" but I didn't write anything down and now I can't find where I found that. If it is from Sutton Hoo, then it's earlier than Muirgel, but I really like the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club vibe it gives and it doesn't clash too horribly with the orange. I think I originally found information on this embroidery on one of the Facebook groups, but Amie Sparrow shows it on page 13 of their PDF.
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| The sleeve of the dress. |
With the majority of the outfit decided upon, late Wednesday night I decided to doublecheck headgear. I feel like, especially for female leaning garb, that the headgear is what really locks in an outfit together. A brief perusal on one of the Anglo-Saxon Facebook groups had me realizing that my go-to raw silk veil was not going to cut it. I had to step my game up.
Cut, again, to me making a Jorvik cap out white linen. I've made one before, and would have worn this, but the color was not what I wanted and it didn't fit right. Using the old one as a guide, I made it shorter, and cut the curve a bit more so that it would fit on my head better. I need to redo the straps, but it works for what I need it for, which is to hide my short modern hair and provide something for the veil to be pinned to.
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| "Jorvik" cap with the tablet woven headband across the top. |
I did about an hour's worth of research trying to find information on Anglo-Saxon veils and while there is a wealth of information out there, it is not super descriptive. The biggest question, and one that gets asked on the Facebook groups often when the topic arises, is what are the measurements? I had about two yards of handkerchief linen that I was going to try to use for a veil, but when I cut it to a width I felt was manageable, it was still too short to have the effect that you see in manuscripts or art from the era. I'm writing this post on Thursday, the day I intend to leave for Maine, and I've officially run out of time to sew my own veil. For this reason, I'm intending on using a scarf I bought a while ago from Amazon (linked here, I don't get a payout if you follow this link, also I'm not 100% sure this is the right scarf but I can't find my other white ones).
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| The partially finished look. Don't look too closely at my sleeves, please. Notice also that the keyhole was a waste of time, since the veil covers it anyway. |
I'll update this post when I can get a friend to do a full length photo. I intend to fell the seams tomorrow when I'm in Maine, provided I don't head to a friend's house to pick nettle. The headband being blue wasn't planned; the only tablet woven trim that I have in the house is this blue and white and an orange one. There are other things I'm missing or would like to replace; veil pins (the ones I have are obviously out of period, the veil, the underdress. In the future, I'd like to do a bit more research on veils of the era and try to make a post for the 9th century to help others who are trying to make similar garb.
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