This outfit, for a 9th-10th century conquest era magyar female, was created in December 2011 by some really amazing artists based on the direction of my current research. I’ll be speaking about each piece in future posts, but thought I would get a gallery up for people to look at. Yay for eye candy!
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- Full length view of the outer Kaftan layer. The fabric was woven from natural and indigo-dyed worsted wool in an original draft inspired by an extant example. It is edged with fine dark blue linen. All the seams are turned under and finished. The Kaftan pattern is based on an 8th century Alanic find at Moscevaya Balka.
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- Kaftan layer detail view. The medallions were made by a metal-smith friend and are a very close replica of extant examples from magyar grave finds of the conquest era. The medallions were cut from copper sheet, dimpled and filed smooth and then silver plated. The gold was applied to the center dimple and then they were sewn to the garment. The pin is a 10th century piece and was a gift from friends.
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- This is the middle layer of magyar clothing. This layer is based on garment construction theory developed through observing the placement of metal ornaments in the grave. The double-breasted cut is a common steppes construction. This garment is made of olive-colored textured silk woven in a diamond pattern.
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- Detailed view of the middle layer neckline. This view shows both silk weaves that made up the fabric bolt and were incorporated in the garment as well as the two different types of metal plaques used to ornament the neckline.
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- Both sets of diamond shaped ornaments were made by artist Vandy Hall. The silver plaques are cast pewter, with applied gold. The bronze plaques are thin pressed metal. Both styles of metal ornament are found in graves of the period.
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- Felt booties based on extant Altaic examples. Booties are made of natural colored icelandic wool felt that was flat felted. The felt was cut into the bootie pattern and stitched together by hand.
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- Detailed view of boot mounts in cast bronze custom made by Bronze Hammer based on extant examples. Plaques are stitched to the bootie tops. The three middle plaques are held in place by a black bead which has been stitched to the felt.
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- Appliqued leather soles for felt booties. Soles are two layers of leather. Red layer has cut out designs and is applied over a solid layer of gold-painted leather. Both are then stitched to the felt. Applique and original design done by a dear friend based on an extant example from the Altai..
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- Mount ornamented felt booties shown worn with leggings.
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- Leggings cut and constructed from a pattern based on a find at Moscevaya Balka. The foot portion is cut from heavy linen canvas. The uppers are made from hand woven woolen fabric. Seams are completely turned under and finished.
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- Detail view of woollen fabric in broken diamond twill used for the legging uppers. The fabric is shot in dark maddery-orange and soft yellow.
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- Undertunic made of fine unbleached linen and edged with a narrow band of brocaded silk in a maddery red. Round metal ornaments are applied at the neckline. The cut, construction and ornamentation of the tunic is based on examples from several nomadic cultures in and around central asia and the Altai regions.
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- Detail view of the under tunic neckline. The seams are completely hand finished. The reddish orange seam embellishment is applied fingerloop braiding made from silk that was hand-dyed with madder a friend. The round metal pieces are commercially purchased and approximate the placement and shape of a period piece.
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- Pants made of fine, natural linen. I developed the pattern is based on an intact, extant 8th-9th century find from Moscevaya Balka.
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- Detail view of linen pants. The embroidery is in tambour stitch. The embroidery was completed in green silk hand dyed by a friend.
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- Medallion is carved from moose antler. Design was created based on magyar artistic styles. Lampwork beads are based on 9th and 10th century bead styles found in Magyar and Viking grave finds.
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- Reproduction Silver coiled terminal wire bracelets based on 10th century hungarian grave finds.
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- bead row pendant earrings in silver with brass wire coils.
Hi I love your stuff, I was wondering were do you get your wool from?
especialy the diamond twill.
best regards
Michele
Hi Michele,
Thank you for for the compliment. 🙂 I weave my own fabric. This tag has links to my blog articles about weaving.
http://www.amagyarjurta.com/index.php/tag/weaving/
Enjoy!
This is lovely! Well done!
I’m looking forward to your commentary on the individual pieces, such as why you chose which shapes for each layer. I also hope you’ll post some pictures of the outfit being worn, since clothing looks and behaves differently on a person than on a hanger.
Thank you for all your lovely research and for sharing it with us!
Greeting I was wondering if you have a photo of you wearing your Magyar Clothing so I can see that the drape of the outfit should look like. Yours hopefully Rachel
I was wondering where you got the book you used as a reference for your 9th century women’s attire–I can’t seem to find it on amazon. Thank you.
Jennifer,
There isn’t a book specific to clothing of this era. This is based on a decade of research and a healthy dose of speculation.
Hi!
Amazing work you´re doing here!
Do you take orders?
Best regards from Sweden
Hi. An article came out today in Forbes Science about the “Hungarians” in 1000 who were great archers. I do SCA mounted archery, so have been thinking about going with a Eurasian type, early persona for riding clothes. Thank you for your work here!! This is a great place to start on my new garb.
Hi,
I am in the SCA and have been pondering a secondary persona of a pre-1000 Magyar. I don’t weave. Where could I get wool that would be appropriate for the outer layer, and what kind of silk is good for the middle layer?
Greetings, I am in the SCA and am working on my Magyar personae. Do you have a source for your patterns that you could share? I would be grateful.
Hi Leslie, I don’t use patterns, rather I use my measurements to create the fit of the garments.