Sewing for Byzantium: The Himation is Done!

The himation

Finally!  It's done.

Actually, it's not *quite* done. I still need to complete the seam finishing so nothing ravels, and I intend to perpetrate embroidery around the neckline and sleeve-ends at some point. But I may well be able to do the seam finishing tomorrow night, and even now it's wearable. I photographed it on a hanger purely because my husband wanted to go to bed early and I didn't feel like putting on the other garments that go with it (the mantion, savanion, and shirt) for photographs.  I'll do that sometime this week.

Here are the official statistics, as required by the Historical Sew Fortnightly rules:

The Challenge:  #24--Re-do. (i.e., re-do a previous challenge).  As I've said way too many times now previously, my himation qualifies for a number of the previous challenges.  This time, I'm going to list all of the ones for which I think it qualifies:

• #2 UFO. This is the last necessary component for my Middle Byzantine outfit and I'd been meaning to do it for years now.
• #5 Peasants and Pioneers. The outfit of which this is one of the most important parts is essentially rich peasant's clothing.
• #8 By the Sea.  Byzantium (later called Constantinople and now called Istanbul) was a seaport, and many of the Byzantine Empire's provinces were coastal.  
• #10 Squares, Rectangles, and Triangles.  All early medieval garments are composed of squares, rectangles, and triangles, and this one is no exception.
• #14 Eastern Influence.  The Byzantine Empire was an Eastern power, compared to the rest of Europe, of course.
• #17 Robes and Robings.  The neckline and sleeve-ends are trimmed with robings, and one could arguably consider the tunic itself to be a robe.
• #21  Colour Challenge Green.  Very.
• #23 Generosity and Gratitude.  I owe a debt of gratitude first to Peter Beatson, whose page on how to make a Manazan shirt inspired me to start making a Middle Byzantine outfit in the first place, but also to Timothy Dawson, whose research, both in print and on the Levantia website, gave me the information to finish it.

Fabric:   Nearly 3 yards of 100% linen, medium weight, in apple green, purchased from fabrics-store.com.  Scraps of the same type of linen in dark blue, from the same source.

Pattern: My own, adapted from Peter Beatson's Manazan shirt pattern and Timothy Dawson's sketches and research.

Year: It is rarely possible to pin down Early Period clothing to a particular year.  My design is Middle Byzantine, i.e., 10th-12th century CE.

Notions: Linen thread, in several different (and not particularly matching) shades of green, 80/3.  Silk thread in dark blue from Gutterman's (for sewing the blue linen around the neck and sleeve-ends). 

How historically accurate is it?  The pattern is as accurate as present research can make it.  It is completely hand-sewn, and at least some of the construction stitches I chose are accurate though I haven't checked very closely.  The colors would be plausible for wool, and the blue was possible on linen (it's pretty close to the blue of the linen apron-dress loop found in the 10th century Pskov grave).  However, I can't document that the particular green I chose for the body of the dress could have been achieved on linen during that period, and there's always the issue of whether linen was used for clothing other than undergarments in period.  So let's say 70%-80%, though that might be wildly optimistic on my part. 

Hours to complete:  5 hours, spread out over almost as many months.

First worn:  Not yet! Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday for photographs, including photographs of the entire Middle Byzantine outfit.  

Total cost:  Hard to say because most of the costs were incurred years ago and the blue silk thread was originally bought for another project anyway.  If you added up the original cost of the linen thread and the cloth used, it probably comes to no more than $30 USD.