Historical Sew Monthly April 2015 – x-dressing Norse

Norse man’s tunic and pants, with a pillbox-style hat

Although I’ve been doing a bunch of research to get ready for this challenge, my research is no where ready for publication, so in order to (barely) meet the deadline for this challenge, I’m just doing a challenge post… and my research will come later.

Historical Sew Monthly April 2015

The Challenge:”April – War & Peace: the extremes of conflict and long periods of peacetime both influence what people wear. Make something that shows the effects of war, or of extended peace.”

My general starting point, is the Norse women who would have for a variety of reasons, worn typically “male” dress instead of typically “female” gendered clothing. Some of the women mentioned (in the Sagas) wore them while still being obviously female, while others wore them to ‘pass’ as men in battle. (That would be the “war” aspect to the challenge…)

The outfit is a pair of linen “Rus” style pants, a long linen tunic, and a wool pillbox hat lined in silk.

Fabric: 100% linen for the pants and tunic, wool (probably a wool-nylon blend) for the hat lined in 100% silk

Pattern: self-drafted

Year: 10th Century Norse

Notions: Thread, embroidery thread.

How historically accurate is it? The pants and tunic would have been wool in period, but I made mine in linen for summertime comfort. The hat style is actually from a Greenland find a few hundred years later… but seems to be an accepted style so far. The original (likely) wasn’t lined, but I wanted to line mine for comfort. I still need to make (or buy) a set of leg wraps for my lower legs.

Hours to complete: No idea.. the pants took a while because I tried a different pattern twice before giving up and doing them this way. The tunic was pretty straight forward, and the hat went together quite easily.

First worn: Just for photos so far – I probably won’t wear the outfit until I complete the leg wraps; maybe June Coronation weekend if I need something to run around in?

Total cost: $30 (+/-) for the pants, about the same for the tunic. The fabric for the hat was recycled/stash.