By Stellaria

This dress style, though based on the Viking women's hangerok, has been altered with "artistic license" by me to make it a bit more flattering, and to make it stay in place a bit better in battle.

The apron-dress is basically a sundress, made to be worn over a tunic-type underdress. Alric's tunic tutorial is an excellent starting place for making an underdress, since all it is is a long tunic with really wide gores. My apron-dress design makes a dress with a very wide skirt, and laces up the sides to make the dress form-fitting and very adjustable.

To make your pattern, you will need a tape-measure and some pattern material of some sort. I would suggest going to the fabric store and buying a couple yards of Pellon Tru-Grid from the interfacing rack. It has a 1" grid printed on it, so it'll make measuring out your pattern REALLY easy.

The diagram assumes that you will be using 60" wide fabric, and so it is drawn 30" wide. Notice that the skirt doesn't take up the full 30" of width, but instead has to stop short to leave enough room for the torso of the dress side-pieces. Keep this in mind when you draw your pattern out.

Draw out your pattern on the gridded material according to the diagram and your personal measurements. Remember that the width at the top is HALF of measurement d. Be sure to add about 1" to the top and the bottom edge for hems, and to CURVE the bottom line rather than drawing a slanty line. The curve makes the hem of the dress hang straight instead of wavy.

Once you get the pattern piece drawn out, trace off a second piece on the remaining pattern material - it's easier to do the cutting if you have 2 pattern pieces, even if they are exactly the same.

To make the dress, you will need about 3 yards of a sturdy fabric. 60" wide cotton duck-cloth (canvas) is what I have been using, just because it's easy to find, doesn't have a "shiny" texture to it, and it holds it's shape. (That might not seem very important, but after wearing thinner linen apron-dresses all week at Rag, I started to get disgusted with how the tummy area would stretch out. The duck-cloth doesn't do that!) A heavier wool fabric would be awesome, too, as would heavyweight linen. You will also need about 40 small brass drapery rings (found in the home-dec area of the fabric store, where all of the drape-hanging supplies are), some embroidery floss and a needle for sewing the rings on, about 6 yards of leather lacing or satin cording for the sides, and 2-4 buttons or brooches to cover the spots where the shoulder straps are sewn to the dress. (The buttons or brooches will be used to hang beads and household implements from, if you are portraying a Viking persona.)

BE SURE TO PRE-WASH YOUR FABRIC BEFORE CUTTING!!! All natural-fiber fabrics will shrink in the wash, and I've had too many dresses come out of the dryer 8" shorter than when they went into the wash! So wash and dry the fabric before you start. If it gets too wrinkly in the dryer, iron it.

OK, you're going to take your preshrunk fabric, and you'll fold it in half lengthwise, matching up the selvedges (the non-ravelly side edges), and making sure it lays smooth. Then you'll fold it in half the other direction. This gives you 4 layers of fabric, with a fold at the top and two folds at one of the sides. Then you'll lay one pattern piece along the edge with the folds (this will be the front and back panels) and one, upside-down, along the selvedge edge. If the selvedge has a noticeably wide or puckery/wavy border, pull the pattern in from the edge to avoid it.

Save that little bit of fabric left at the top fold - you'll use that for the shoulder straps later.

Now you have 2 pieces that are cut on the fold (the front and back panels) and 4 pieces that were cut separately (the side panels). Your first step will be to sew those 4 side panels together in the center to make 2 full-width panels. Just match 2 up along the straight edge, and sew them together, repeating with the other two. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but this is what you'll have when you're done - 4 panels, all the same size.

All you have to do now is sew the panels together, and the main part of the dress will be done! Match up the edge of a full-width panel to the edge of a seamed-width panel, and sew together. Then match the other seamed-width panel to the other edge of the same full-width panel, and sew. Now sew the other full-width panel to the unsewn sides of the seamed-width panels. You should have a tube on top and a huge full skirt at the bottom, with seams up the sides, when you're done.

Press all the seams open, then hem the top and bottom. For the bottom hem, it REALLY helps if you press the hem up first before you stitch it, because of the curve. Use plenty of steam. If you don't press up the curve, you're likely to get a puckery hem.

Now for the shoulder straps. From that last bit of leftover fabric, cut 2 rectangles about 15" long (you may want to go longer, if you're taller) and 5"-6" wide. Fold them in half long-ways, right sides together, and sew them into tubes. Turn the tubes right-side out, and press them so the seam runs right down the middle. You can either sew the ends to the dress full-width, or you can pleat the ends in a bit before sewing them on.

Sew the straps to the back panel first, about 1.5" from the panel seams. Secure the straps with 2 rows of stitching - one at the top hem stitching line, and one close to the top edge.

Then try the dress on, and figure out how long the straps need to be to keep it where you want it to sit. Trim off the extra, if needed, and sew the strap ends to the front panel.

Almost done! Use a chalk pencil or a washout marker or something, and make marks 1.5" apart down each panel seamline from the top to the waist. Mine has 9 marks per seamline. Use the embroidery floss (all 6 strands) to sew a brass ring to each mark. You want the stitches to go right through the seam, so the fabric won't rip when it's laced. 3 stitches per ring should be plenty.

Now all you have to do is sew the bottons on at the ends of the straps, and use the lacing or cording to lace up the sides, and you're done!

I usually keep a longer length of cord laced through the rings, and knot the ends together permanently with an overhand knot. I make it long enough that I can slip the dress on over my head when the laces are fully un-tightened. Then all I have to do is tighten the laces and tie another overhand knot to keep it secure until I need to get undressed.