Elstrid

This Carolingian-inspired undergown and overgown are based on one of Elstrid's outfits in Margaret Carver Leighton's historical novel, "Journey for a Princess," which is based on the real-life Aelfthryth of Flanders (c. 877-929). It was a favourite book when I was a pre-teen. Elstrid, youngest daughter of King Alfred the Great, feels awkward and plain next to her older siblings. Her time to shine arrives when she must greet newly allied visitors as the oldest unmarried daughter of the household. Her aunt searches through her own wardrobe to lend something to Elstrid: “Rich, many colored Eastern silks, damasks and tissues shot with threads of silver and of gold—she inspected each briefly but laid them all aside until she came to one of a soft, deep, violet-blue. ‘This is what she should wear... [and] I think this white damask will do very well [for the undergown],’ Gunhild said, lifting out a length of lustrous, woven silk....At last, newly bathed, scented with her aunt’s fragrant lotions, clothed in the long, close-fitting gown of silvery-white damask and the violet tunic, Elstrid stood waiting for her summons to the king’s hall. Her hair had been brushed until it shone like pale golden silk and the plaits were interwoven with strings of tiny seed pearls. A slim coronet of larger pearls bound her brows” (p. 47-48). The violet tunic was a gift to the aunt from a Carolingian princess, so I took my inspiration from both Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian styles of the period.