Vigdis' Viking Apron Dress:
please note that this is not a documentably period pattern, but is is SCA-compatible
While doing research on what exactly an apron dress is, and how it should
go together, I found several good websites.
Here are their respective pages, for your perusal and edification: Now, you think, that with such fabulous information out there already, why in the world is Vigdis putting up a page, too... Well, after reading everything those wonderful ladies had to offer, I got down to the nitty-gritty of digging out my pattern fabric (trust me, no matter what else you do, if you've never made a particular style before, do it on cheap fabric first!). Using Ellisif's design, because it seemed to be the best use of fabric, I first saved the picture and increased the size of it to see what measurements to take (wow, that font is tiny). Then, I measured, measured again, then measured one more time to be sure. After laying my fabric out on my living room floor, I chalked in the design. Okay. Looking again at her diagram and comparing to my chalk lines... Cool, it matches. So, out come the scissors; I cut on all of the lines, and ended up with a pile of pieces. Looking at her "figure 1", I layed out the pieces on the floor again, in order. --- Uh-oh! --- I had a major problem. While Ellisif's design is easy to follow, saves cloth, and is conjecturally period... What happens if your fabric isn't the same on both sides? My pattern fabric is a .25/yard paisley block-print; and the fabric I had decided to use for my final piece was smooth on one side, nubby on the other... Looking at my trapezoids and triangles, two of the pieces would have to be flipped to get the layout to work. Hmm. That would make two pieces on my final apron dress be nubby while the rest of the pieces were smooth. That definitly wouldn't work. Thank goodness I use pattern fabric first! Now, what shall I do about this? I've only got a week before Coronet... I dug out a pad of paper, a pen, and my paper scissors. Drawing Ellisif's diagram again, I looked carefully at it. Sure enough, layed out that way, two of the "half panels" would have to be flipped over to continue the layout. I cut out the paper diagram, and started playing with it. I know I can get this to all fit onto the rectangle without any waste. But how? Finally, I figured it out! If I just bump the diagram over by 1/6th of the pattern, I end up with this:
That's all well and good, you say, but how the heck do I turn that into a dress that fits me?
Someone had mentioned to me that a measurement I had was a bit confusing...
Okay, now, you'll need a piece of fabric that is as wide around as measurement
(1).
For example:
You will notice that if I use those widths, I'll end up cutting a strip off the side. Well, that's used for the straps.
Here's where it gets a little more complex: Now, mark everything out like this:
Then, cut on the chalk lines. If you lay them all out, you'll then have pieces like this:
Sew them together in the above order.
You should be able to pull the dress on over your head. Trim the hem a little, so you don't have all of the jaggy edges, then hem it.
Fold the top edge over, and sew down.
To make straps, take 2 strips of fabric about 18 inches long by 4 inches
wide.
To place the straps, pin them in place 1-2 inches on either side of the center
back seam and sew them down
At first, I sewed down the front part of the straps, too. You can decorate the straps and the top part of the apron with embroidery or trim if you'd like. Well, hopefully this makes sense. If not, feel free to email me at vigdis1066@hotmail.com, and I'll try to help.
In Service, Click here for the Underdress information!!
The old cutting diagram: Now, mark everything out like this:
Then, cut on the chalk lines.
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