My first A&S Entry

Recently at Fall Coronation in Northshield, I finally entered into an A&S competition for the first time.  It was a last minute decision, so I knew the finished product wasn’t going to be as good as it could be, but it was a chance to just take the plunge and do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

On Wednesday, I spent several hours at the computer searching for a project that I could sew that would also fit the theme of the event (Viking Age York).  I discovered the Thorsbjerg trousers.  These pants first show up at a Viking peat bog burial in northern Germany.  They date to the 3rd century.  However, there was another example of the same style seat construction found used as caulking on a ship in the Hedeby Harbor which dates to the 10th century.  It took A LOT of time just staring at the patterns to figure out how the pants were supposed to sew together and how to measure for the various components.  This is a very weird looking pants pattern. (See it here, on page 6:  Making_Anglo_Saxon_Garb.pdf 629.80 Kb 27/09/2010, 21:27) 

On Thursday, I sewed the pants together and realized that I need to be more generous with my measurements.  The pants were a bit on the tight side and about four inches too short at the back waist.  However, even being somewhat too small, they were very comfortable and I was able to squat half-way before I felt any stress on the seams of the pants.

Next time, I will use my husband as a model (having just come off night shift, he was asleep when I needed measurements before) and I will add about an inch to each pattern piece across the hips.  I will also cut the back higher.  For fabric I plan to use a twill because that is what the extant examples were made with.  My goal is to get the measurements refined, then hand sew a pair to submit in the next A&S competition that I’ll be at.  (Not sure when that will be.)