Sewing: Dorset Buttons on Victorian Drawers

The waistband fastening consists of two 

buttons and buttonholes, and a larger opening 

for the drawstring.

A while ago, I was rummaging through my boxes of languishing projects, attempting to find a spark of inspiration to pick something up and either finish it or re-work it into something else entirely. I like to think that I have a pretty good memory of most of my unfinished projects, but I'm totally ashamed to admit that on this particular rummage, I found a project that I had absolutely no memory of ever starting, and have absolutely no idea why I stopped working on it. It was a perfectly serviceable pair of Victorian drawers, made from the Laughing Moon Mercantile Ladies' Victorian Underwear pattern (#100).

I'd cut out the leg pieces and stitched a series of tucks around the hem, and then just stopped. I have no idea why. I have another pair of drawers made from this same pattern in black cotton which I've worn on several occasions, so it's not a problem with the pattern. The drawers aren't particularly complicated to construct, with just one seam on each leg, a drawstring waistband, and a bit of hemming.

In other words, this project was an easy win.

So of course I found a way to make it complicated.

Sewing: Grey Linen Tunic

Despite the fact that I resolved in January to try to do more pottery, what I've been in the mood for lately is sewing. I'm still under a fabric-buying embargo, so when the sewing mood is upon me, I try to think of projects that can be made from fabric I already own. My stash is predominantly a mixture of velvet/satin/taffeta and linen. The fancy fabrics were great when I was going to the Riverside Dickens Fest every year, but less great in the UK where I don't go to any Victorian events. So that leaves linen. I have three pieces of linen in my stash that are destined to become tunics or tunic-dresses. I enjoy making tunics because they're easy, comfortable, and can do double duty as SCA garb and (slightly eccentric) weekend lounge/casual wear.

Sewing: Brown Herringbone Smokkr

Tablet weaving at an
event in simple garb.

When getting ready for the 2017 Raglan Fair, I started working on a new Viking smokkr or apron dress. I got as far as drafting the pattern and cutting out the pieces before finding my old smokkr, at which point I decided to spiff that one up instead of rushing to finish the new one. In the weeks that followed, I slowly chipped away at the new smokkr, picking it up and putting it down as my energy levels and free time allowed, and it's now in a wearable state.

I have very mixed feelings about the smokkr as commonly reconstructed in re-enactment circles. It's a garment that has become more or less the uniform for re-enactors portraying women of the Viking period, but all of the information we have on this garment is based on a few tattered fragments, and minuscule fossilized loops of cloth preserved inside of metallic brooches. Those tattered fragments and scraps can tell us a lot about what the smokkr was made from--fibers and dye plants used, thread count, weave, amount of twist in the yarn--but they can't tell us much about the shape, fit, length, or degree of ornamentation of the finished garment. We do have some visual representations of Viking women on runestones and gullgubber, but they are heavily stylized and difficult to interpret. And yet, there are plenty of re-enactors who will happily criticize any interpretation of this garment that differs from their own. I have some very strong feelings about this, which I hope to write up separately one day, but for now I'd like to focus on the garment that I put together as an expedient way of expanding my wardrobe for a week-long SCA event.