Paperback Edition of Glaesel Book

A few years ago, Nille Glaesel, who makes Viking age clothing reconstructions for the Lofoten Museum in Norway, published a substantial hardcover book about her clothing research and clothing construction methods that is beautifully illustrated with many full-color photographs of her work and was accompanied by copies of the patterns she has developed.  Unfortunately for me, the book was, and is, very expensive (over $100 USD a copy on Amazon, and significantly more if you need to obtain a copy on the used book market).

Now, Ms. Glaesel has published a paperback, English-language version of her book. Amazon is selling it here for a bit under $50 USD, and other big book stores appear to be selling it for about the same price--a price that's significantly less than her hardcover edition. Amazon includes a "look inside" preview of the book. I saw the hardcover original, once, and the new paperback edition seems to have a slightly different organization but covers much the same material. Moreover, at $50 I might be able to afford, and willing to buy, it soon. I have heard a lot about people's reactions to the hardcover edition, and would like to have the paperback for my library, if only to gain a better understanding of the choices she made in her reconstructions--and perhaps of her reasons for making them.

Those of my readers interested in at least seeing what Ms. Glaesel's reproductions look like before they decide whether to purchase her book can check out pictures of them for free at her blog, Vikingdrakt.

EDIT: (2/25/2014) I'm editing this to answer Krin's question, because for some reason I can't post a comment (even though I successfully did so as recently as yesterday). Originally, I screwed up the link to where Amazon is selling the book. I've fixed it now; please let me know if it still fails to work.

The title of the book is kind of odd, which is why I didn't cite it in the post originally. The current volume is titled "Viking: Dress Clothing Garment" (or "Viking Dress Garment Clothing" if you go by the actual front cover of the book instead of what Amazon is calling it). If you want to track it down you're probably better off going by the ISBN. ISBN-10: 1494475227; ISBN-13: 978-1494475222. By the way, don't expect the book to contain a lot of research. My look at the hardcover version suggests that it's mostly interested in showing pictures and giving directions to make Viking clothing according to her ideas--she doesn't really discuss sources. Still, I'm hoping to get at least a general idea about the reasons for her choices.

The Wool Shift

Wool fabric for my shift

My new job is turning out to be sufficiently time-consuming and exhausting that I may not get to start, let alone finish, my pink sprang net by March 1. However, I do intend to make such a project, and write about it, whether or not I manage to finish it for an HSF challenge.

In the meantime,. I'm going to tee up the next HSF project.  My project for the fourth HSF challenge "Under It All" will be a white wool "shift" to wear as the basic layer for my planned Vendel costume and, hopefully, to also serve as the basic layer for my proposed recreation of the völva's costume from the Saga of Eric the Red (Challenge #6).  

There is nothing elaborate about this proposed garment.  It will be a simple, long tunic, with a keyhole neckline and sleeves down to the wrists, probably ankle or instep length.   The pattern will be much like Cynthia Virtue's pattern for medieval tunics, but with fewer gores.   I will use a similar seam treatment to the one I chose for my himation, which works even better on wool; I may also sew the seam allowances down since, in theory, this garment is to be worn next to my body.  A photograph of the chosen fabric appears to the left.   The actual color is lighter--a much paler, warm cream color than that shown here, but in the same general color range.

The only decision I need to make before cutting is whether I prewash the fabric first.  I customarily prewash fabric for garments I expect to clean by throwing them in the washing machine, but I wear my wool garments so seldom (and so carefully) that I do not need to wash them; I air, or spot-clean, or (very rarely) take them to a dry cleaner.  

I don't recall how much of the white wool I purchased.  From eyeballing the fabric, I seem to have about 2 1/2 yards; just barely enough for an ankle or instep length garment, but only if there is no fabric shrinkage, or very little fabric shrinkage.  As I see it, there are three different ways I can proceed:

1.   Do not prewash the fabric, and resign myself to minimal cleaning/dry cleaning of a white garment, for as long as I have it.
2.   Prewash and dry the fabric exactly the way I treat most other washable garments, namely, wash in cold water and then put it in the dryer until dry.  This works fine for linen and cotton, but would probably result in major felting and shrinkage of wool.  (My ancient dryer has two primary settings; air tumble forever without drying anything, and hot).
3.   Prewash the fabric in cold water, but hang it up to dry--and prepare myself to do this with the finished garment.  This may or may not prevent felting (and I'm not terribly worried if the fabric does felt somewhat), but should eliminate the majority of the shrinkage.

Listing the arguments like this makes the correct choice obvious, in my opinion.  I will prewash the fabric in cold water (on the "delicate" setting) and let it dry on its own, even though I'm still a bit nervous about washing "regular" wool.  I'll just have to see how that works out.

First Adventure in Sprang

The third Historical Sew Fortnightly project is to make something that is pink.  I have decided to use this project as justification for an experiment in sprang by making a sprang hairnet.  A search of Etsy revealed a suitable quantity of wool in a pink shade I found appealing, and purchased.  A picture of the wool may be found to the right of this post.

Pink wool!

Next, I needed something to use as a sprang frame. After rejecting the idea of using branches from my yard (too brittle) or my tablet-weaving loom, with dowels or something similar tied to it (too unwieldy), I decided to go with a tested, but thoroughly modern idea--a sprang frame made from PVC pipe and right-angle connectors (pictured). After soliciting some advice from a string-geek friend, I decided to make the frame 18 inches by 28 inches, with the tied-in support pieces being 16 inches each.  That size should give me enough room for a variety of future sprang projects, assuming that I succeed with this one.

I have also been reading different web sites, seeking clear and detailed explanations for how to warp a sprang frame and actually do some basic sprang weaving.  Here are the ones that look the most helpful to me so far.

Blue's videos on sprang working, the first one of which is embedded in this post.

Phiala's handout on basic sprang:
http://www.stringpage.com/sprang/sprang1.html

Gwynnyd's handout on basic sprang:
http://www.ceilingpress.com/Resources/BasicSprang.pdf

The Sojourning Spinner's basic sprang tutorial:
http://thesojourningspinner.blogspot.com/p/learn-to-do-sprang.html

Now, I have to find some suitably sized sticks to hold the weave, and then nerve myself to warp my frame and start experimenting.   Since my home is still without power and I have paying work to catch up on, how soon I can get to this project is debatable.

Less debatable is how authentic I'm going to try to be.  At this point, I'm not attempting to recreate any particular type of sprang hairnet; I just want to make a basic piece of sprang that can be fashioned into a net or cap. Particular patterns can wait until I've learned the basic technique.  

Winter Interlude

I am typing this in a hotel room a couple of miles from my home, feeling frustrated.

Why am I here? Because the second winter storm we've had this week took out our electrical power--at 4:30 this morning.  Worse, it's not just us--over 500,000 buildings in the 25 miles around Philadelphia are without power--and likely will be for some time. Bad things happen when power lines and the tree branches near them become covered with snow and ice, and the ice starts to melt...

Worse still, I have a new job, but I can't get there either.  The trains aren't running (see ice on power lines, above).  Driving the 25 miles to Philadelphia is a crap shoot too, between the fallen trees and powerlines, and the outages in the city.  To say nothing of the fact that the temperatures are supposed to plunge, refreezing the roads tonight...  Besides, my husband doesn't drive, and I don't want to leave him alone without even the possibility of transportation.

I thought about trying to work on my sprang cap, but the thought of embarking on a new technique in a hotel room...my heart isn't it.  It's ironic--I got nothing done on my apron dress project last week because I was getting ready to start the new job.  Now, I can't really do even the job.  Grr.

So I guess I'll be watching the weather and trying to work on the limited amount of documents I brought with me.  Heaven alone knows when our power will be restored, but maybe tomorrow the trains will be running and I can make up for lost time.

EDIT:  (2/8/2014). There was no train service till Friday, and that was when I finally made it back to my place of employment. I got in some work, though I'm still behind. Fortunately my employer appreciates the storm issues and I can do some work this weekend.  We have moved from the hotel to a relative's home, but are still without power as of Saturday afternoon.