...ars sine scientia nihil est...

No photos, but expect them soon!

( hanbok update )
I'm not 100% happy with how this outfit has turned out, but that's one of the pleasures of making historic outfits-- you always learn something new. I just occasionally wish I wasn't so fascinated in things very few people seem interested in, because then I'd have more people to exchange ideas with. :)

Here's what I've found so far...
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Another link, showing a reconstructed 16th century outfit: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/05/29/2006052961020.html

I've mentioned the painting of what seems to be court dancers before, but here it is again.
Ignoring the brightly coloured girls (as much as I want that overcoat), check out the girls in the lower left-hand corner.

If wikipedia is right, the headwear of an uinyeo/medicine woman, is a garima, which transliterating into hangul gives me these two pictures of a stiff veil-thing.
Could that be what the solid blue-ish thing on the back of their head is? Trying to show a veil that apparently is usually depicted as black, against black hair?

It is a longshot, since most 'traditional' elements of hanbok usually are 18th century, but it's interesting.
Mind you, wikipedia also says gisaeng wore po on their heads, wouldn't that mean a jangot/(장옷)?

In a sort-of related link: 16th century mummy and her reconstructed clothes!

I've started sewing the jeogori, and am making it silver with blue trim.

So I've put in one side-gore, and pinned on a norigae (there is some evidence for norigae before 1600, and this one is a cheap but similar-looking one to the one worn by the mysterious lady in Miindo. I had mis-read a costume book, since it is often claimed that the painting is an 18th century interpretation of the 16th century Hwang Jin-i. But it seems the fact that it isn't actually a 16th century painting is often overlooked.)

So here is the colour combination:
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And here is the top that I'm inspired by (my underarm gussets are too large, as always. But there is always next time.)
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I don't think I'm doing too badly, for an outfit based on guesswork and staring at photographs. :)

So, I have a magenta-coloured skirt. What colour should the top be?

Yellow?
Blue-ish?
Or Purple-silver?

I'm thinking the silver, with the blue used for cuffs, collar, and overlapping panel. Or the blue as main and silver as accents.
But I'm also notorious for having dubious taste, and I don't want to accidentally blind people.

I have decided, I'm going to have a go at making a 16th c. Yangban-class Korean ladies outfit, for midwinter. At worst, by the time June rolls around, I'll have half-finished an outfit that I can then wear at something else. At best, I'll have finished it, and have enough time spare to work on a Livonian outfit (which there is no guarantee I'd be physically up to wearing, which is why it isn't top of the list.)

( The list of what needs to be made )

My order of 5m of chain arrived today, so I spent my lunchtime attaching chain to chain-holders. Five metres (16.4 feet?) really doesn't go very far when you're draping it all over your chest. But, since that really was and is all I could justifiably afford to spend on this project, I'll just have to wear upper-thigh height chains. Oh, woe is me and my social status amongst the other Livonians in the SCA... o_O

If you think that sounds long enough, usually the chains are reconstructed as ending just above the knees:
Archaeological find: small picture here, on the lower right.
Reconstructions: here (on the left) and here.

People with long memories will remember the other finds from the grave that I was working on last year.

I really need to get off my bum and start figuring out the exact details of applying bronze spirals to fabric. If only the Livonians and Finns did it identically, then I would be laughing, but it is never that easy. (My best bet at the moment is to make up a bunch of spirals of different lengths, and see which ones are easier to keyring-style thread into fabric.) But I've been saying this for years now, and I can't see too much happening this year. Oh well. (It's moments like these I wish there were more people doing early period Baltic stuff around, because then we could compare notes and share books. Alas! Everyone is overseas, so I can't invite them over for a cup of tea.)

I forgot I have a webcam, so here are some low-quality images.

felinophile, I hope you approve of this use of your fabric. :)
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The yellow wool blend is a tabby weave, and it's all French seamed with a lemon yellow silk thread, and when that ran out, a poly-cotton thread. The 'embroidery' along the seams and strings are woollen; the embroidery thread is from Erickr's Homespun, dyed with Azelea, and the string is made from balls and balls of wool from the op-shop, that is also being used as cord-edging on the shirt.

What could be done better
The strings probably need moving further back, and if budget wasn't a concern I'd find some magical twill wool that fulls at the drop of a hat, so I could finish the hems with whipstitching without folding over. I'm very proud of the size of my french seams though!

My hems, with a pen for comparison: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/quokkaqueen/garb/skjoldehamn/Image_00007.jpg

From http://chitlinsandcamembert.blogspot.com/2007/05/timeless-trendiness.html

It does look very 13th century to me in shape, and it's sleeveless. How cool.

So, j_v_lynch found my unloved dress-diary and has been asking about clothing. I found some really cool stuff un-related to his question.

I found the lj of aslaug, and the scans put up of Latvian dress.
http://aslaug.livejournal.com/38906.html ('ancient' dress)
http://aslaug.livejournal.com/39728.html (folk dress)

It's too hot to do anything serious right now. It's 28°C(82.4°F) inside. That's just not right.

aslan42's family has the tradition of having one big Kris Kringle gift, so other than a graduation marsupial, I got from Quiet Press some Baltic-style tortoise brooches.

I plan to pull out my book on the Salaspils Laukskola finds, as well as the other stuff I can find on Liv brooches, (I'm pretty sure Rituals and Relations has a picture of the same find.)

And all of the information I've been collecting about the 'Gotlandic-style' [PDF] bead spreaders can be put to good use.

( Non-Christmas related, just pretty Korean pictures )

Also from the Amore Museum: Tea culture.

Since I love the whole idea of underarm gussets, even if I'm leery of them being on the Eura gown, I decided to sew my own version of the shirt from Manazan.
The fabric is a white and very pale pink plaid in soft linen, from my fabric stash, originally from Eliza Fabric in Sunshine.

It's such a pale pink that it isn't photographing properly, and from a distance it looks like a white tunic that was accidentally washed with from bright red fabric. It also isn't hemmed yet, because I haven't decided if I'm going to wear it underneath a Skjoldehamn outfit or not.

( Photos! Updated! )
Have put up all the photos now.

Here's a scan of the pattern and layout of the Eura dress:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/quokkaqueen/garb/eurapattern.jpg
Note the subtle difference in how there is a flattening-off of the angles that make up the bottom of the body piece, thereby making the long gores end before the wrist. Unlike the version usually copied, like this.

Some other things I found while looking for those pictures:
I think cute photos of your cat 'helping' you weave is universal.

Tablet weaving, including (from what little I follow) some based on Finnish grave finds.
http://koti.mbnet.fi/almie/lautanauha.html
http://koti.mbnet.fi/almie/lautanauha2.html

I thought I'd show my evolution of pleated-front apron dress ideas...
( including links to photos! )

Let's see if I've understood the arguments in this post correctly.
Correct me in the comments and I'll update it.
Edit 1: Adding in textile, and find-place of garments.
Edit 2: Added in links to comments in this entry.
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Last season, there was a fashion for pleated-front strappy tops that made everyone look pregnant at best. (Which gave me plenty of chances to stare at modern clothes, and figure out how all the different pleating styles were done, and looked, before I made another iteration of the Viking pleated-front-apron dress.)

Last week, while I was out, I noticed a few girls in very angular sundresses, with beads strung between the straps like an apron dress without the brooches.

The question is, am I just noticing this because I'm a crazy, Viking-age clothing obsessed woman, or have other people noticed this?

Edit: See my attempted summary of what is being discussed in this post here.

I really like this webpage:
http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~hmg/lrp/kostyme/viking/v-k-underkjole.html

And it includes an interesting pleated Birka smock interpretation I hadn't seen before.

Has anyone seen a copy of Handbook of Viking Women's Dress AD 700-1200 by D. Rushworth?
ISBN:1858183367
http://www.bokus.com/b/9781858183367.html
http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Handbook_of_Viking_Womens_Dress_AD_700_1200/9781858183367

Is it any good? Does s/he make any interesting clothing-related arguments?

Photos of the cloak:

I haven't woven the front edges yet, but here are some photos anyway.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/quokkaqueen/garb/cloak-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/quokkaqueen/garb/cloak2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/quokkaqueen/garb/cloak3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/quokkaqueen/garb/cloak4.jpg

I could have sworn I'd previously posted pictures of a statue, with a woman wearing a cloak held in place with a brooch, but I can't find it now. It was German or Scandinavian...

Anyway, picture 3 shows how the hem is pretty wavy after I threw it in the wash. I'm assuming this is because the wool trim and the wool fabric shrunk at different rates, and the trim wants to be straight while the curved hem of the cloak is stretchier.
The fourth photo is a close up, showing how my band weaving is bulky and really basic, compared to the machine-woven fabric.

The hem of my new half-circle cloak (looking a little like this) is done (I was experimenting with how to fake tubular selvedge so the edge of the half-circle now is covered with a tabby woven band I sewed into the fabric as I wove.)

I should have then continued up the fabrics' selvedge (ie, the front opening of the cloak) but I'm too eager to see what the weaving does after it's been through a hot heavy-duty wash in the machine. So, I'll let that finish, dry it on the line, and then hopefully take photos and be eager enough to make all its edges covered with some really simple weaving.

Oh, and the ties on the front is a really basic fingerloop braid.

I really have the feeling that I'm starting to acquire the sewing-related skills that I need in order to sew and make the clothes that I want! (The next step is either to make a Finnish or generic Baltic cloak, or figure out how to weave twills on my little loom and make some leg wrappings with the tubular selvedges.)