On Thursday 26 July 2007, michael tartaglio wrote: > Hi, All. Is it possible that the outer garment was wrapped around in > some way and that the loops line up based on that? I realize that the > "front" part, the section that is higher up, needs to be centered to fit > correctly (perhaps it isn't the front after all, but the back???).
It's worth considering every possibility, since all we have is a one-meter by 26 cm square of cloth, with two thin strips coming off two of the corners. :-) I think, though, that the problem with assuming that the biggest section is not the front is that it is composed entirely of silk; blue and purple silk at that. Silk was not so common in the Viking world that you'd put it on any part of a garment that was unlikely to be seen, and purple silk was likely to have been rather expensively dyed. By the way, I'm not really convinced by the theory that the back *was* lower than the front. I've been experimenting with paper cut-out pieces, and it seems to me that you'd get a similar result with a tube that was the same height front and back if you took the big silk piece, edged it with a silk strip all around except for the top edge (like the find) and after you placed it on the garment, extended the edging along the top edge of the garment in the back. When/if I make my sample garment, I'll take plenty of photos and post them so I can better explain what I mean. > I am > probably looking at it wrong or am misunderstanding the concept, but I > would be curious (and glad of any interpretation) because I'd like to > recreate one for my wife. The best thing I can tell you, Mike, is to read Beatson's summary and study the pictures and sketches. Then you'll know as much as I know now. :-) If you read Russian, go to the Pskov researchers' own site and read *their* report. (If you do that, note, as Beatson does, that they refer to the apron dress as a "sarafan" and the shift as a "rubakha" because those are familiar historic clothing terms for similar items to someone who's got a background in Russian clothing history.) > It sounds like a comfortable garment. I've made similar wraparound garments and yes, they tend to be very comfortable indeed. Here are some photos. This one is my interpretation of the Adwick-le-Street find in England: http://www.slumberland.org/gallery/album07/Picture_020 This one is based on the Birka find that Agnes Geijer believed was two dresses, one over the other wrapped in opposite directions: http://www.slumberland.org/gallery/album07/Picture_006 This one is the exact opposite of the Adwick dress; it has two sets of long loops and one set of short ones, instead of the other way around: http://www.slumberland.org/gallery/album07/Picture_018 And this one is a tube with the top front taken in with pleats; it's based on a Danish find: http://www.slumberland.org/gallery/album07/Eura_006 Good luck! -- Cathy Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "You've got to have the proper amount of disrespect for what you do." -- George Mabry _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
