Starting a new Viking underdress

I recently got some fabric for a new Viking underdress.

To give you some idea of the scale of the houndstooth check, here’s the new fabric with the blue apron dress scrap on top:

And this is what the blue apron dress fabric looks like made up:

So you can see how very small these woven designs are. Very subtle, which to my mind is fitting for Viking period.

I have only made one underdress so far, the dark blue one:

Here it is with my first smokkr, or apron dress:

I looked at some patterns from other SCA folks online, but the pattern I actually used was this scribble on notebook paper:

LOL! 😛

Here are some of the other patterns I found online, which look a lot more professional:

These underdresses have gores, whereas my blue one is a simple T-tunic, called that for its shape. I haven’t decided yet how I will make up this fabric. It is test fabric that I got on a big clearance sale for experimenting with before I cut into my good linen.

I have a great book from a Norwegian woman that contains all kinds of patterns and tips for making Viking reenactment garb. The only problem is that the translation doesn’t always translate, if you know what I mean…. LOL. 😛

There is even a blurb from the authoritative Thor Ewing on the back cover recommending her book.

I’m finding her patterns a bit hard to use, but the photos of the clothes are glorious:

I have to ponder how to construct this dress before I can make any headway on it. The fabric is narrower (44″) than my usual material, which is around 57.” So that will affect how I can lay out the pattern pieces, whether or not I will do gores, and whether or not I will make it another T-tunic. We will see….