Fitting the Kragelund Tunic (c.1040-1155.)
for a Large Man

I do not know much about this tunic except what is on Marc Carlson's site: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/kraglund.html

Here is what Marc has to say:

Found in the Kragelund Bog by Viborg in Denmark, this garment was found with a pair of shoes (now lost) but were alleged to have been of a pointed toe 12th-13th Century design. 

According to "Stella" hecaba@inspire.net.nz to 75years@yahoogroups 15 Feb 2002;  Porl Grinder-Hansen, curator Danish Middle Ages and Renaissance, Nat. Mus. of Denmark had this carbon14 dated in 1998 by the AMS-laboratory in Århus, Jutland, using the accelerator technique and calibrated according to Stuiver and Pearson 1993.  It was dated to c.1040-1155.

There is a 7 cm (2.76") opening extending down from the neck opening.

The material of this outfit is a "threeshaft frieze".

  • Kyrtle Length: 114 cm (44.9")
  • Hem Circumference: 250 cm (98.4")
  • Neck Opening Circumference: 82 cm
  • Waist Circumference: 114 cm (44.9")
  • Arm Length: 63 cm (24.8")
  • Armhole Circumference: 75 cm (29.5")
Material Thread Count
  • Warp is 11 threads/cm (27.9 threads per inch)
  • Weft is 7 theads/cm (19.05 threads per inch)

Some Sources:

  • Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials tr. Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark, 1980.
  • Nockert, Margareta. Bockstenmannen, Och Hans Dräkt. Halmstad och Varberg: Stiftelsen Hallands länsmuseer,
    1985

Laying out the tunicFitting it to a Big Man

I am a big guy, 6'3" tall, 265 pounds, I wear a 50L sport coat or suit jacket, and I wear an extra long sleeve length in a modern shirt 36/37. I have a large chest, gut, and 16.5 inch biceps. This pattern will fit anyone up to 6'5" tall and in the same chest and arm size.

Layout

Ok first I started with a 56 inch wide by 100 inch tall piece of wool. I start buy cutting it in half so I have a 100in x 28in piece that makes the body and the rest is cut from the other half. A good way to think about laying out the tunic is displayed on the right (click on the image for a larger version) The blue areas represent unused material. (image is to scale)

Assembly

The arms

First attach your lower arm piece to the arm gore, sew one of the longer sides of the gore to the long side of the lower arm. Pictured below:

.Step one

Now sew the short ends of the lower arm and arm gore onto the upper arm piece. Pictured below: (Fabric is flexible do not worry about the angle the arm gore sits at)

Before

After

The Body Gores

The four body gores in the original are all 2 piece gores I simplified it to three one piece gores and one pieced together gore. You start with a 30in x 28in piece of wool. On the top mark 7.5 inches in from each side, on the bottom mark the half way point 14 inches. You then simply connect the dots. It will look like the image below:

After cutting out your 5 parts you need to sew the two 30in x 7.5in pieces together on the flat, or 90 degree angle parts as pictured below:

Assembling the Pieces

So now the total layout. You will notice the original had the arm gores facing the front of the tunic. I always put any split gore in the back of my tunic, the original had all 4 gores made from 2 pieces but it seems wasteful compared to my modification. Attach the opened arms to the body then add the gores and close the arms last. The arms are easy on this tunic not having a gusset, when they are laid out like this you simply run one line to close them.

Hem the bottom and arms as you see fit. Using fulled wool I simply rolled my edges one time and whip stitched the hem, wrists, and neck hole.

Final Result:

Click on images for larger version

I love this tunic, arms fit tightly and it goes together so easily. As you can see the fit is fantastic.