Get Ready with Me - Dressing as a Viking Woman

Hello my Historical Fashion Friends!
Today I am doing another getting dressed video as a Norse/Viking Woman. We will see how she puts on her smock, kirtle, apron dress, tortoise shell brooches, hose, shoes and cap. She is ready for a special day, and wearing her favorite and best outfit.
For the videos on making the pieces of this ensemble, see the links below.
Kirtle
• Making an Early Mediev...
Smock Pt 1
• Making a Medieval Smoc...
Smock Pt 2
• Making a Medieval Smoc...
Apron Dress
• Making a Viking Apron ...
Weave a Hem
• How to Weave a Hem Usi...
Silk Cap
• Making A Viking Cap
Instagram
gabrielle.westwood

[@Neidhard-von-Blaufels]

And now she is ready to conquer England.😂

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Absolutely.

[@garylester3976]

I had a sweater once made of flax fiber, its was exquisite, had a cool feel to the touch, that I've never experienced in clothing before.

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

I've never seen a knit with linen but I would love to have something like that! I am starting to make most of my clothes from linen and wool now.

[@garylester3976]

@@gabbytriestomakethings Yeah, I grew flax experimentally, very easy to grow, very pretty in flower, my grandmother said when she was little people grew fields of flax, and when the breeze blew the blue flowers, she imagined thats what the ocean must look like. The sweater I got at JC Penny's in the 80's, was dyed sky blue, and like nothing I had ever experienced before. kept you warm but felt cool to the touch. strongly suggest you try knitting with flax. Its so pleasant knitted. likely that blue dye came from the flax flowers. was lighter than Indigo blue. I have grown Indigo here in Central America before, its a nice plant to grow also. its what blue jeans were originally dyed with. I'm currently starting to sew all my own clothes, worked on pants number 5 this morning, but here only crappy Dacron. even thought the anscestor to cotton grows here as a full sized tree, have grown them too. I'll be moving back to US eventually and get better cloth. Or build a loom there. Have you ever seen the three book set; "A History of every day things in England"(quinnel) it has quite a bit on clothing styles thru the centuries.

[@garylester3976]

Also those books have a lot on spinning machines and looms. including transitional tech between spinning wheels and thread spinning machines. And nice drawings of how Jaccard looms functioned with wooden cards strung together. Sure you could find those books used or thru inter library loan, they are like a Universe of drawings and images.

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

I haven't seen those books, I will have to take a look. That image of the fields of flax sounds so beautiful. I haven't tried dying with indigo yet, hopefully I will try when I have a backyard as I know there is a strong smell. I have only knit on a loom, making scarves and hats, but I want to try a sweater.

[@garylester3976]

@@gabbytriestomakethings Not sure the indigo plant here in central america is the same thing then, because there was no smell. The sweater was knitted of flax yarn, what a sailor would call loose laid, versus hard laid. very soft fiber. Maybe was rhetted extra? You can plant flax seeds from the health food store, and they grow fine, also flax seed good for getting garbage out of your eye, like when husband is working on something... and comes with the eye problem. 😢 soak the flax seeds a few minutes in water, put in behind bottom eyelid, they emit and antibiotic gelatin that dirt and things stick to, and then seeds come out of your eye pretty much by themselves. Also the oil from seeds is a good wood preservative, also metal, its what oil based paints were originally made from, its photo reactive, gets hard when exposed to light. Oil painting artists still use it. Linseed oil. The flowers are very small on a bulb shaped thing where seeds form, petals fall quickly. Plant doesnt seem to need alot of fertilizer, and you can broadcast on tilled soil and just rake in, as you want it close together to get upright growth. Its a nice plant, fun to grow, and a delight to see the flowers in broad areas. The books are a treasure, show all kinds of things especially farming tools and early mechanized equipment made mostly of wood. plows, harvesters, etc. with the history and story of inventors. its like the info you would want to start from scratch and reboot civilisation. And the trxt is a treasure of information also. things that explain stuff we dont even know the why of now. Alot on textiles and clothing, a gazillion great drawings, many old paintings etc. Basically covers from early Feudal to industrial age. You can get lost for weeks in those books if you love fundamentals. Another book thats a real delight if you like fiber crafts, is the Ashley book of knots. its over 4,000 knots, and covers all kinds of cordage arts. One to get the Husband for Christmas, and then keep him fed and hydrated, until he comes up for air again. Last time I visited my oldest son, he had to show me he got his own copy of Ashley's... 🤣 He grew up with my copy. Loves Fox Fire books, and gardens enough to make all the group Moms work during canning season.

[@ah5721]

The socks wouldn't have been knitted - they would have been Nalbind socks. Knitting didn't come around Scandinavia until after the viking age.

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

I wish I had more specifically said Nailbind because at the time I felt like no one watching would know what I meant but I wish I had explained more specifically.

[@GreatGreebo]

Question: did bustier women wear some sort of stays or bindings? Please and thank you in advance. Great video.

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

There is some possible evidence of people using linen wraps. In addition, for bustier women, linings can help make the garment stiffer, and therefore more supportive. Sometimes I don't line my garments because I live in a very hot climate, and I don't need the support, but in the things I have made which are lined, the shaping does a good job. I think Morgan Donner has a good video on kirtles for bustier women and how she does the shaping of the top.

[@GreatGreebo]

@@gabbytriestomakethings Thank you for your informative reply! I will check out the recommend videos as well as the rest of your channel's videos. Cheers and once again, Thank you.

[@dkoz8321]

I remember being a man during that time. I tried to sell my busty woman in exchange for 20 horses or one dragonboat for raiding. But she objected and split my skull with her axe, sending my soul into next life. I gave her that are as a wedding gift.

[@ah5721]

as far as my research goes mose just wore a supportive kirtle of shifts . check out the Lengberg bra. its dated sometime in the 1200's -1300's. some women wore supportive smocks/shifts in europe as seen in many pictures of finds . In ancient greece women used long lengths of cloth wrapped around not for binding but for support to hold up their breasts during the olympics .

[@mmclaug907]

She doesn't quite look ready to pillage, must have left her horned helmet at the last raid. The belt is interesting - I remember in the mid 2000s when stomach belts were all the rage.

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Haha. I think she's the gentle type. Just out to adventure. I believe the Welsh Viking does a good bit on the horned helmet somewhere in one of his videos. I think I have mentally blocked out most of the mid 2000s, but I vaguely remember. Middle school for me is a blur.

[@ah5721]

vikings didn't wear horned helmets just conical peaked ones with nose guards.Horned helmets are a 1800's opera Wagner costumers design choice.

[@Annakist76]

Hi- do you have a link for the evidence of knitted stockings you mention? Do you mean nålebinding? I have never heard of there being any evidence of knitting in the viking age. It only arrived in Europe somewhere around the 1500 or so...

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Yes, I am speaking of nålebinding. Not modern knitting. Here is an article on the sock. www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/fvO4ZPlnTKyGE0dWyuOdBQ

[@Annakist76]

@@gabbytriestomakethings Oh okay, I thought for a moment I had missed out on a new archaeological discovery of knitting 😄 I do nålebinding myself 😊(and knitting).

[@ah5721]

@@Annakist76 I love nalbinding too !

[@ladyjusticesusan]

Thank you!

[@ourtinytownhome-stead]

I might have missed it in the video, but around what year would this be?

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Hi! The intention of this is to be around the years 700-900 C.E.

[@carlylewis7088]

Is the wool felted, knitted or woven?

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

The wool I am using is woven. The orange is a twill weave, the apron dress is a plain weave, although from the dying process it was getting closer to feeling felted because of how much it was agitated in the dye bath. The hose I am wearing also is a twill weave.

[@bobblowhard8823]

What time period would this have been?

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

This is meant to be around 800 CE

[@bobblowhard8823]

@@gabbytriestomakethings Ahhh... and yet it seems just like yesterday. My how time flies. Thank you for your wonderful videos.

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

@@bobblowhard8823 😂😂Thank you!

[@siglindefurst4290]

Schön 👍🏻

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Thank you!

[@catsandravens]

Not knitted, naalbound socks.

[@gorsian1979]

How old are you

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Early 30s. Although interested in how old I seem.

[@gorsian1979]

@@gabbytriestomakethings I born in 1985 born in 1980's you look like Egyptian Actress who born in 1990's that is why I asked you

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

@@gorsian1979 oh so interesting! I am half lebanese actually.

[@gorsian1979]

@@gabbytriestomakethings Thanks you So Much , and here is the Egyptian actress that has the Same Age like you her name is : Salma Abu-Deif

[@audhumbla6927]

sleeping on the floor isnt that accurate

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

Yes, people did have beds or something similar but I don't have anything near suitable so this was the closest I could get as my only bed is extremely modern.

[@charlesdaniels4082]

Because they denied that they came from here they can't stand y'all and y'all didn't do anything but be vikings They left here and headed on down to Germany

[@lisesieniski555]

Je ne crois pas que les vêtements étaient aussi serrés et moulants ....

[@gabbytriestomakethings]

The kirtle would have been looser, you are right. I didn't have enough fabric for this, so it is tighter than I would like. The apron dress isn't really that tight, but my shoulders are much broader than my waist so it looks really tight when I try to put it on.