Fabric for a new underdress and smokkr

Today the Vineyard Green linen arrived that I had ordered for an underdress, which will go with the woolen smokkr that I will make from the fabric that Joy Selby Cain hand-dyed and -wove.

No sooner had I placed the order for the green linen than my research showed that the Vikings did not dye their linen, although sometimes they bleached it, and they often dyed their wool.

However, colored linen was sometimes imported from other countries. So I guess my fictitious belated Viking trader husband brought me lots of colored linen from his trips. 🙂

Only two of my underdresses are not dyed. One is the bleached linen shift I made last spring, and the other is the underdress I got from Ingifridh on her Etsy site, Nyfrid, at  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Nyfrid.

All of Ingifridh’s clothing is handsewn. I have gotten many things from her shop in Stockholm, Sweden and their quality, price, and customer service have been wonderful. She is on a holiday break right now, but at her Etsy site you can ask her to email you when she returns.

Here is Ingifridh’s underdress, which I trimmed.

As you can see, I have made a green smokkr, which was my first attempt at an apron dress. But now I will be making a green underdress.

Here is the very light-weight bleached linen shift that I made and embroidered very simply last spring, for summer wear and also to serve as a nightgown:

Here are the two shifts together, showing how much darker this particular natural linen is:

I have posted before about the hand-dyed and -woven fabric that I got from Joy Selby Cain. See Hand-woven wool by Joy Selby Cain

Now I have all the wool I need for the smokkr (or hangerok), but I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to put it together.

I’d like to make it open-sided, with Joy’s wool on the front and back, or else make a closed one, with Joy’s wool for the front and the other wool I’ve gotten for this project on the back.

Here is all the fabric, for both the smokkr and the underdress:

Joy’s wool is on top, and the Vineyard Green linen is on the bottom. In between them are two shades of lightweight wool in sage green and beige, which I will either use as the back of the apron dress, or for linings, or both.

The pretty trim on top was a gift from my friend Janet VanMeter.

Right now I’m stumped. I haven’t found any patterns for open-sided smokkrs. But I know someone who has one (Jen Johnson, who I met at Festival of Maidens 2018) and I will ask her.