Saturday, June 25, 2011

Historic hand spun, hand woven tunic based on the Bocksten Bog Man's outfit


I'm part of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group that studies the Middle Ages and Renaissance by doing it. I displayed this costume at an event we had today. It is finally done! It has been a long time in the making.

First, I spun the yarn for the over tunic:
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2010/12/wet-finishing-singles-hand-spun-yarn.html

I dyed the dark blue weft yarn with indigo at the Griffin Dyeworks Retreat:
http://lissamc.livejournal.com/275345.html

I wove the fabric:
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/01/estrella-weaving-project-warp-is.html
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/01/progress-on-warping-up-estrella-weaving.html
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/01/estrella-project-actually-weaving-now.html

And fulled the fabric:
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/02/fulling-and-finishing-estrella-weaving.html

I sewed the under and over tunics based on the Bocksten Bog Man tunic. (The under tunic is linen.)
 http://www.kostym.cz/Anglicky/1_Originaly/01_Goticke/I_01_31.htm
I used these directions among others for inspiration:
http://www.virtue.to/articles/tunic_worksheet.html

The trim at the neckline is a finger loop braid:
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/02/tutorial-basic-finger-loop-braiding.html

And the belt is finger woven:
http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-finger-weaving-beginners.html

It is done!! And it is surprisingly comfortable to wear. The full skirt swirls out beautifuly when I spin around. And it will be wonderfully warm when I go to outdoor winter events with the group.

This one, I'm proud of.

12 comments:

  1. This is amazing!! My grandparents have been in SCA since the 70's.

    How long did it take you to make it?

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  2. The spinning and weaving took about 50 man-hours (or woman hours, as the case may be). I did the yarn dyeing at the retreat a few years back. I sewed the under tunic last week, and the over tunic this week. The fingerloop braid took me an evening or two to get right, because I was experimenting with hand spun yarn in different plies, and different weights. The belt took 2 days. So, in all, maybe around 70 man-hours. In reality, most of a year.

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  3. Your 70 hours of work is amazing! Very nicely done :)

    Your newest follower,
    -Laurie

    createdbylaurie.blogspot.com/

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  4. Awesome ! The silk ties are really gorgeous too.

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  5. Well worth the effort what a great costume, just found you on the etsy forum and I must go and check these ties out while I am at it. Great job you must be well happy with the result

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  6. Definitely something to be proud of! Great job!

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  7. awesome!! You must be so proud of such wonderful work. You are so very talented!!

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  9. Lovely! A marvelous achievement!

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