opening night of the Viking! exhibition

I enjoyed being part of the opening ceremony for Viking! at the ANMM and in the pic the hyperlink is to, I'm holding one of the flaming torches.  yes, despite my limping gait, I was allowed to carry one.  I didn't get a pic of me in my new garb, though here is one with me (taken by Lily Smith) in which I think I look preggers. Dang hormones causing crazy bloat!


After the performance we formed a guard of honour so that the guests could go through to see the exhibition & after a while we were let loose to join in the eating, drinking & chatting with the guests.  It was amusing to me that we swarmed to the BBQ table and then the soup & cheese tables - and the wine.  Cheese!  delicious cheese and I enjoyed the fish/prawn/veg soup though I suspect there was barley in it. Though I'm already bloated enough that it's not possible for me to tell if it there was and it's affected my poor innards.  I had some lovely chats with others -  local re-enactors and some know from closer to Canberra, a craft blogger and event ticket holders. 

 I did a selfie of me at the light-rail station at the start of my trip home afterwards.  It reminds me that these colours are soooo unflattering, and I look tired. Cos I have been tired for a couple of weeks. I'm finally being able to sleep in a new position for almost a whole night.


I've thought of making a braid to go around the edges of my new gown & embroidering the seams.  First I need to take it in a little, and then overdye to darker tones.  These colours are achievable with natural dyes but they don't suit me

promised pics of hand sewn things

An inside view of the shift/gown 


The almost complete green apron gown - a yellower green in real life. If only it was as the photo, cos then it'd be ok. I've only one set of shoulder straps to go. Even the seams finishes are neatened quite nicely.


And as a pork knuckle has just finished roasting in my oven, I'm going to have a late dinner and do the strap tomorrow

snail pace hand sewing in progress

I'll have pics in a day or so to share - maybe even some later tonight.

I spent saturday sitting on a comfy sofa, occasionally being snuggled by delightful dogs, while I cracked on with the viking shift. Completely hand sewed the keyhole neck with facing, assembled the sleeves and inserted both of them. When I reached my tolerance point - after neck & 1 sleeve - I had a break while re-stringing my viking necklace.

On Sunday I had a friends pop in for coffee and to collect 2x plastic drawer sets that I don't need now my Ikea drawers are set up under my cutting table. Funnily enough she'd given me a single 4-drawer thing a couple of years ago which I'm still using, and now they've moved they can use my two similar ones.

I then met another friend for lunch & a movie (Elysium which I thought was patchy) and came home to do laundry & dither over the apron gown. I couldn't face anymore hand sewing that day, which isn't suprising. I rummaged into the giveaway bag of fabric and pulled out a length of bright grass green linen to turn into a viking apron gown. I'll need to subdue the green with a coffee rinse as it's not a shade I can find linen in vegetable dyes. Silk perhaps, but not linen.

On the shift gown, what's left to do is the side seams & hem, and last night I used the sewing machine to side seam from the sleeves to hem. I'll hand stitch the seam down, so it'll look the same on the outside as the sleeves etc. I also machined the seams for the apron gown, and hand hemmed the top edge.

At lunchtime today I did half the bottom edge. It's a much better quality fabric and so much easier to hand sew. Plus I'm using silk thread for it. tonight I'll finish the apron gown, so that I can tone down the green and have it dry in time to take to work on Thursday morning. And I can finish the shift gown hem tomorrow night.

I'll cut up my current apron gown (all machine sewn) so I can have a new cap or scarf for Thursday night. One way to disguise my short modern haircut.

dark ages viking - time to upgrade to a hand sewn ensemble

Tomorrow I'm going to be sitting on a sofa watching Game of Thrones season 3 while hand sewing a new viking shift/tunic.

The only reason I'm doing so much handwork is that next Thursday it's the opening night of the national maritime museum's new exhibition - Vikings - Beyond the Legend. To quote from the exhibiton page on their website:

The fascinating world of Vikings is revealed in the international blockbuster Vikings - Beyond the legend - open for a limited season.

This must-see exhibition draws on recent archaeological discoveries and nearly 500 rare artefacts to shed new light on the Viking way of life while challenging stereotypes of Vikings as ferocious, plundering pagans in horned helmets.

Many of the artefacts have never been seen in Australia such as the oldest known Scandinavian crucifix, finely crafted bronze and silver jewellery, exquisite gold and silver pendants, small statuettes of Norse gods, and Viking swords dating from 700-1100AD.

Visitors can also see an eight metre replica of the Viking boat Krampmacken, and step on board the Jorgen Jorgenson - a newly restored reconstruction of the late 9th century Gokstad ship.

I got the chance to get a ticket to the opening night by wearing my dark ages viking, but it needs a few fixes

My current shift/tunic is machine sewn so not re-enactment level. That and it's too short And I'm so unwilling to unpick machine sewing and hand sew it again, that I'm going to belt through a rough hand sewing of a better fitting blue linen shift. Plus it uses up stash :D It's not as shade of blue that suits me that well, but it's going to be done and I can dye it darker before I wear it again, and as I'm going to use cotton thread for stitching that will dye too.

If I get it done quickly (not easily cos I'll bleat like a stuck pig the entire time), I might make another apron style overdress And let's be honest, for hand sewing I really need a deadline or I'll avoid it like the plague. It's all about using stash - and I like having dark ages viking in the cupboard now that I have all the accessories.

Must find that dang belt!

Spring Medieval Fair, Parramatta Park