Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns Hardcover – December 15, 2010

So I want to start off by saying that I am a novice at sewing. Before my attempt at one of the dresses in this book I have never actually completed a garment. I also stink at maths, so so bad at maths. To make matters worse I also had to grade up the dress to fit my proportions in both width and height. This was my first ever attempt at drafting. And I can say it went well, I completed a mock up and all of my grading worked, minus the length of the sleeve. A few minor adjustments and I was able to create a real working dress, I did put one sleeve in backwards but that was my lack of attention. If you want something bad enough it doesn’t matter how much of a novice you are, you can do anything you put your mind to. I believe in you.

What I got is 'Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns', the "companion" book to 'Woven into the Earth: Textile finds in Norse Greenland', which is an expansion of Poul Norlund's work in which he summed up the excavation, in a 1920s book.So I have a copy of the original, and the we-have-better-technology-to-do-this 'Woven' book, and now 'Medieval Garments Reconstructed'.I don't really need this third book, which is just a graphing out of patterns, as I have been doing the same thing since I read Norlund's original book, back in the 80s.But this book does stand on its own, without the other books. It has some nice, and large, pictures of the original garments, and then their reconstructions (right down to hand spinning the same type of yarn, and weaving it the same way, and sewing it the same way, reconstructions!) I do have to admire the people who undertook this great research, as there is no way I could have ever had the space or time, to do this. They even make recommendations about where to get the wool from the same type of sheep that were there in Greenland. The type of combs that were used are shown, and there are clear pictures of floor standing looms, and a discussion of weights, etc.They do talk about finishing edges, even braiding cords, making buttons, and give diagrams.And the graphs of those patterns which can help people who don't want graph out patterns on their owns - you can easily blow theirs up, make a mockup, and then tweak to your size and shape. A lot of us just do that ourselves, but I do know how daunting somethings are without a pattern. And that is the purpose of this companion book, to give those graphed patterns.There is lots of white space in this book, around pictures, and on different pages.It isn't really necessary to get this book, if you have 'Woven', and have been doing this anyway. But I didn't know that until I got it, and the pictures are very large and sharp.IF you don't have 'Woven", then this book stands on its own, and would be very helpful.Rowena

Great book! Well written and great diagrams. I've made several items from this book and am very happy with the results.

I considered rating this book three stars, but decided to give it four as it filled in some information gaps I had been hoping to fill. This is a great resource for a re-creationist when it comes to viking garb, but for an academic is does leave me wanting more information about the individual pieces. I had to go digging for information such as location, date and excavation records. What would have been helpful to know is that it focuses on Icelandic vikings, as I might have skipped over it. I was not originally aware this was a supplement to another book, but some of the missing information makes much more sense. That was an error of me, the buyer, rather than any fault of the book.However, despite my issues, I did enjoy the book. The information as to stitching and details of fabric weave were great. The book is quality and well put together. The patterns have proved useful as I am terrible at drafting my own. It would have been nice to of had more to read, but I will be picking up the original supplement at a later date to use with it.

Lilli Fransen has in her book created an easy read and thorough guide to Norse clothing in the arctic along with clear instructions on how to reconstruct and create these garments.This book would be suitable for people interested in history, either if it's history on the Norsemen or on European textile production and usage. The work is carefully illustrated, and both the original garments from the Copenhagen museum are displayed as well as the recreated pieces. Other techniques on decorative crafts found in Greenland and Scandinavia are also mentioned and described.The author stresses the authenticity of the presented patterns, and states in the book that patterns that could not be accurately measured from the original finds have been excluded."Medieval garments reconstructed" is perfect for textile and viking enthusiasts, and I would absolutely recommend it!

Love it, it has extremely good information and tons of pictures of both the actual finds and the recreations of the finds! The patterns are clear and while they aren’t my size it’s not that hard to adjust them!

This is an amazing book! Very informative. All of the patterns are in cm so if you have inch pattern paper you might want to warm up your math brain before drafting the patterns.

Fantastic book for the re-enactmetor. Has complete patterns for several garments including hoods and socks. Great history too. The patterns are on grid paper and scaled to cm in a 1:5 scale. I found that two squares to an inch works pretty good. Made a nice hood and look forward to trying a more advanced pattern

Ottimo libro sull'abbigliamento medievale della comunità di Herjolfsnes. Per ogni abito ritrovarlo c'è una scheda tecnica e la sua ricostruzione oltre al cartamodello. Ottimo acquisto, soldi ben spesi. Lo consiglio

Fabulous book! As a reenactor, having access to patterns taken from extant garments is priceless. There’s a great section on sewing techniques at the beginning, too.

Grâce à Amazon Prime, j'ai reçu le livre en un jour ouvré comme promis, les coins du livre étaient un peu abîmés mais cela ne m'embête pas vraiment.Quant au livre lui-même, il comprend une introduction d'environ 40 pages évoquant les fouilles à Herjolfsnes et les vestiges archéologiques textiles découverts puis les techniques pour les reproduire. Le reste du livre comporte des diagrammes où sont présentés les patrons des vêtements découverts lors des fouilles mentionnées dans l'introduction. Les patrons sont accompagnés de photos des vêtements trouvés et de leur reproduction, ainsi que de tableaux pour adapter les patrons à votre taille et des plans de coupe pour prévoir combien de tissu nécessite chaque vêtement !C'est donc un très bon livre de patrons pour quiconque qui souhaiterait réaliser des vêtements médiévaux datant du XIVème siècle.

This book will be in my collection for a long, long time!There were not as many garments as I thought there would be. What is there, however, is very well presented and the patterns and fabric guides that are shown are great. This makes up for the lack of garments in my honest opinion.I'd say overall that this is a great resource for Hard-out Reenactors though perhaps for that sort this book would be at it's best when paired with "Woven Into the Earth"... which goes much more indepth with the details, but lacks the measurements and patterns as this book does.As a stand-alone book though, Larpers, SCA'dians, Reenactors and anybody else with the desire to make very authentic Medieval clothing but isn't as interested in all the details from "Woven Into the earth"... this book is perfect for that audience.

Me parece muy bien explicado y realista, la estructura de los patrones es perfecta y facilita la reproducción de las prendas. muy recomendable