Over Tunic

I used the same seam and fell technique
that I used on the under tunic. 

Sewn by hand, made with 100% linen.

Gores were an economic way to add fullness
to a tunic. Somewhat narrow, excess fabric could be used to
make a gore.

I added eight gores to this tunic for
additional fullness.

Embroidery







“A tree-like motif emerging from a stepped base,
done in outline except for some fragmentary foliage at the top,
 between a pair of facing animals variously interpreted as "deer" or "lions";
they have long narrow legs, long tufted tails,
but the heads are both fragmentary and don't help much in identification.
The animals are entirely filled in, and the pattern of the fill adds contours of the legs
 against the body. There are no color photos of the original and the lighting
on the photographs makes it difficult to distinguish shades.
The only shade distinction visible in the original drawings appears to be
a dark eye-ring, with the rest of the embroidery being an indistinguishable medium tone.”

I worked the small faces as a duplicate of the museum‘s
replica--dark blue outline with three leaves sprouting
 between each joining in a sequence of gold, white,
orange and brown. The face “chain” drapes around
the neck, perhaps mimicking a Knights’ chain or some such.

The National Museum of Denmark replicated this Mammen
outfit and in their “leopard” they used dark blue for outlining
 and the spots, gold for the ankles, belly stripe and tail
tuft, white for the teeth and an orange tongue and pupil.

I wanted to really make this tunic and outfit unique to my
 husband, so I opted to omit the leopard and instead put
 part of Padruig’s arms on the sleeves. I used the same colorings--dark blue
, gold, pale orange, white and medium brown--and put an eagle head on one
 sleeve and a rampart dragon on the other. I used the stem
 stitch for the embroidery, just as the museum did.







 Tablet Weaving

“The motif for this tablet-weaving "recipe" is based on a Viking
Age brocaded tablet-weaving pattern found on Bands 22 and 23 at Birka, Sweden.

Over 80 hours of weave time.
I ended up with 214 inches of finished weave that is ¾ an inch wide.