Craft imitates art
One of the joys of reenactmend and historical sewing is being able to recreate things you see in art. This jacket, and by extent outfit, is an attempt to recreate the clothing of the dancing maidens in Carl Larsson’s massive painting Midvinterblot.
The mural depicts the legend of Domalde, a king in old Uppsala who was sacrificed to the gods, in exchange for a good harvest to save his starving people. The dancing maidens wear these amazing black and grey outfits and seem manic with grief.
In order to document my process and the story of the painting I also made a video. You can watch it and follow along, down below on this page.
I drafted the pattern for the jacket myself, taking inspiration both from medieval dress and Swedish folklore costume. The grey embroidery on the jacket is applique, and the loose collar was handdyed for a more aged look.
