I admired the apron dresses my friend Eabha was wearing last weekend at GWW. There were tons of other  nice-looking apron dresses walking around too. I deliberately placed my persona in time and region (late 11th Northumbria) so I could take advantage of Norse fashion. It’s not an exact match since the apron dresses and tortoiseshell brooches had probably vanished by then. But it’s not a big SCA-persona stretch to have some Norse outfits.I also specialize in telling stories from the Norse sagas and it would be fun to wear matching garb.

So this morning I was reading from my Giant Book of Norse Sagas (not actually called that) and thought, “What fun to have an apron dress! And beads! And brooches! And general all-around Viking bling!” So I might do that for Estrella, and if I get lucky for Naevehjem Anniversary/Frost Dragon Tourney this November.

BTW, I’m going to start taking notes about garb mentions in the sagas. They’re not usually detailed but they’re common enough, and it’s interesting to hear what the sources say. For example, the 11th century Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue has this report in it:

“The king thanked him for the poem and, as a reward, gave him a cloak of scarlet* lined with the finest furs and with a embroidered band stretching down to the hem.”

*Note that skarlat referred generally to richly colored wools and not specifically to the color red.

Here is a report from the 11th century Saga of the People of Laxardal on an upper class woman’s clothing:

“Gudrun was wearing a long tunic, a close-fitting woven bodice* and a mantle on her head. She had bound a shawl about her that was decorated in black stitching with fringes at the ends.”

* I’m interpreting this as a close-fitting over-tunic, which we may interpret as a shaped “apron dress.” In this case it would have the straps we associate with this style, rather than the sleeves of the Anglo-Saxon over-tunic.