Greenland Style Gown

This project started several years ago, while coming up with an entry idea for Kingdom Arts and Science championship. It was heavily influenced / motivated by the book "Woven into the Earth" when it came out. My goals for the project where simple, talk my wife into weaving me fabric, come up with a style of gown I liked, and hand sew the whole thing with a bone need and the same wool thread it was woven with. (I knew better to ask my wife to first spin the wool before weaving.)

Style of the Gown:
I know that there is some that believe if you are going through all the trouble of using woven fabric and period techniques, and basing it on an extant garment. You should pick one extent and stay focused to that. For this project though I looked more at it with a tailors eye, looking through the available extent pieces and looking at design elements, and making a gown that though there is no extent piece of, would not look out of place comparing it to fashions of the time and location.

Note: I'll try to get some better pictures and more info

  • Front view of the gown
  • Back view of the gown
  • side view of the gown
  • Close up of pocket slit on the front seam
  • Close up of front, showing the gores
  • Close up of sides, though taken in on the sides, it is a lose fitting gown. also the center seam in the gore is a false seam
  • Close up of the seam finish work, Seam was pressed up with a stone then overcast stitched down.
  • Detail pic of the weave