How Much Fur Did the Vikings Wear?

To my readers: Happy New Year, and a wonderful 2025! Number 66 of the Archaeological Textiles Review is now available on the ATN Friends website. A table of contents for this issue, and a download link, can be found here.

I have just begun looking through that issue, and already have found an interesting article about a newly-commenced study seeking to establish a critical fact: was fur commonly used in Viking age clothing? It turns out that no comprehensive review of Viking age finds containing evidence of fur on clothing has been done to date. The few finds that document survival of fur on clothing are problematic as evidence, in part because it is very difficult to identify the species from which a fur specimen came using microscopy.

A project has recently been initiated to examine extant Viking age clothing finds in Denmark for fur and evidence about fur. The article in ATR No. 66 that discusses the project and the reasons such a study is important and necessary is: Luise Ørsted Scharff Brandt, Imported fur in Viking Age Denmark and its importance as a visual marker, Archaeological Textiles Review, No. 66, page 111.

Happy reading!

Margrethe Hald Archive

I have spent too much time being, alternately, busy, exhausted, and sick, to want to blog much. But the discovery I made on the Internet today is worth sharing. The Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen has made the Margrethe Hald Archive available on the Internet! The archive consists of PDF copies of papers that Professor Hald authored or co-authored during her lifetime, free to download. The page you need to access is here. Please note; most of these papers were written in Danish, not English; the PDFs are of pre-computer age originals. I first learned about Professor Hald with regard to her work on Danish textiles and shoes worn during the Iron Age, she also worked on other ancient textiles, notably in Peru. Enjoy exploring!

An Excellent Lucet Article

Common modern lucet.

"Lucet" (or "lucette") is the name given, at least in English-language sources, to a type of device used to turn yarn into cord.  The photograph to the right, from Wikipedia, shows a type of lucet that is common nowadays, but other forms have been proposed.

10th c. "lucet" find.

I became interested in lucets because it has been often proposed (though not proven) that the Viking cultures used them to make cord.  While fork-shaped finds of bone have been made in Viking contexts, none have been, to my knowledge, associated with cord production.  The only type of device arguably linked to cord-making is a small tube with posts or prongs at the top (such as the second image from Wikipedia, a 10th century find from northern France). 

Today, I found a long article about lucets that was written by an archaeologist. The article is called "Brief History of the Lucet Braiding Tool." It can be found on the "LRCrafts website and read here.  It systematically discusses the evidence for lucets, complete with numerous photographs, some I have not seen before (including some from Southern Europe).  It even includes an instructional video on how to use the fork-shaped lucet shown above!

 

I am looking forward to reading this article in full, and I suggest that readers interested in the lucet, as well as in Viking and medieval clothing history read it as well.

Fashioning The Viking Age

Happy September!

During the summer I was too busy to think about historic costume, let alone blog about it.  

So it was a delightful experience to learn from the University of Copenhagen's website, that the ongoing Center for Textile Research project on Viking Age clothing (called "Fashioning the Viking Age") has led to the publication of two books so far:  "Fibres, Tools & Textiles," and "From Analysis to Reconstruction." Both are available for free download on this website.  Alternatively, one can order paper copies of the books (though not for free).  

I haven't had time to read either book yet, but they are wonderfully illustrated with full-color photographs of actual finds as well as reconstructions.  Enjoy!

Shawls and cloaks, part 1

Today, I discovered that Hilde Thunem has published the beginning of a new paper, this time on Viking era shawls and cloaks worn by women.  That paper can be read and/or downloaded here.

The portion of the paper that Hilde has completed is a description of the various archaeological finds that appear to be pieces from a shawl or cloak, along with descriptions and pictures, and explanations of the reasons why they nave been so categorized.  The harder part, picking through the known information to arrive at conclusions upon which to base clothing reconstructions, is not yet written.  Based on Hilde's other articles, though, it will have been worth waiting for.  

I am still reading through the completed parts of the paper and already have learned many things.  Hilde's work should not be missed by anyone interested in Viking era clothing.

---------------------------------------------------

P.S.  Sorry to have fallen behind on updating this blog, but I had a good reason:  my husband was diagnosed in June with stomach cancer.  Fortunately, it was a type of tumor that is very slow growing, and had not spread.  He had surgery in July to remove the tumor, and is now recovering well.

Knitted Cord, Revisited

Years ago, I wrote more than one post on the subject of lucets, specifically oriented toward discussing the subject of whether the Vikings used lucets, or a similar knitting technology.   

This month, Piecework magazine has published an article on "knitting nancies," or knitting spools, spool knitters, or corkers, or any one of more than half-a-dozen other names for a simple device that makes square cord that is similar in appearance and structure to luceted cord.  The Piecework article can be read here. 

The author of the Piecework article,  Mary Polityka Bush, does not discuss the Victorian lucet, or the controversy about whether the Vikings used lucets (and if so, what they might have looked like).  She merely discusses what she was able to discover about the device from early modern times (i.e., late 16th century and later) onward.  

What Ms. Bush found isn't much!  She found a suggestion that a kind of "knitting frame" might have been in use as early as 1535 and that such a device was permitted to be used by professional knitters.  She also discusses modern variants of the two-peg knitter, and that such "spool" knitters could come with different (even) numbers of pegs.  But most of her article is anecdotal evidence of the use of spool knitters by 20th century fiber artists, and lovely, full-color photographs of different modern spool knitters.  

So the evidence for the invention and development of modern "spool knitters," like the evidence for Viking-era lucets, is similarly anecdotal and inconclusive.  It is even possible that the Vikings or another early people invented the "lucet" but that the invention was lost, and later reinvented--possibly more than once.   That's one reason I keep posting my little articles on the subject of knitted cord.  Maybe through collecting such snippets I may eventually locate enough information to make an attempt at solving the mystery.

April HSM Project

April already.  Wow, has the time flown.

Between financial activities (work, taxes) and political (don't ask) activities, I have had little time to even think about this blog for the last two months.  However, I do have a happy development; I have decided upon an HSM (Historical Sew Monthly) project for April!  

April's HSM theme is "Bags."  I finally decided to buy myself a replica of the Great Bulgarian bronze mirror find, which is barely 2 inches (about 5 cm) across, for my birthday.  Though it's not a "Viking" piece, it's not impossible that a Viking might have obtained such an item through trade.  All I'd need to make a small drawstring bag to protect it is a small scrap of wool and a similarly sized scrap of linen, seamed together wrong side to wrong side in such a way that the seam allowances do not show, with a channel seamed in near the top for a closure.  I think I still have a small amount of thin cord that I could use as a drawstring, but if not I could probably braid some from thread if need be.  

It would be a very quick project, which is the sort of thing I need right now.  Wish me luck in actually finishing it before May!

P.S.  The blue cord I use to close my bag of (speculative) Viking age toiletries is perfect in thickness for the little bag I have  in mind, but is way too long.  I might cut some of the extra length off and use it for the little mirror bag.  

 

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 63

At the beginning of this month, Issue No. 63 of ATR, i.e., the 2021 issue of the Archaeological Textiles Review (formerly Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, or ATN) was made available for free download.  ATR is published by the Friends of ATN, and hosted by the Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen.

As always, ATR has excellent professional research articles on clothing, textile, and related finds and research.  The subject matter of its articles ranges throughout history and prehistory and is worldwide in scope.  They consider themselves an "open source" journal and for years have made all of their back issues available, all the way back to ATN No. 1, here; just look at the left-hand side bar and select the link for "Download issue".  

But I'm writing about ATR again now because their latest issue has an amazing number of articles about Viking age textiles and/or clothing, and I thought that those of my readers interested in Viking age clothing would be interested in reading them.  Here is the list, complete with the page in the current ATR issue on which each article starts.  Judge for yourself.   All articles in ATR come with bibliographies that are a gold mine for further research.

Julia Hopkin.  Raincoats or riches? Contextualising vararfeldir through multi-perspective experiments. (Page 31)  The article describes the author's physical experiments involving making samples of different types of fabric, including vararfeldir, the shaggy "fake fur" exported by early Iceland, in an attempt to gain insight as to what qualities of vararfeldir made it valuable and desirable during the late Viking age.

Vedeler, Marianne. Golden textiles from Gokstad. (Page 47)  The author describes early textiles woven with precious metal thread, including two textiles found in the hollowed-out ridgepole of the burial chamber of the Gokstad Ship.

Jørgensen, Lise Bender, Moe, Dagfinn and Lukesova, Hana.  Viking Age textiles and tapestries: drawings by Miranda Bødtker. (Page 58)   Miranda Bødtker worked for many decades making technical drawings for botanists, zoologists and archaeologists at the Bergen Museum in Norway.  The article gives a brief account of her life (she passed away in 1996 at the age of 100!) along with excellent photographs of some of her drawings and of the textiles they depict.

Mannering, Ulla.  Fashioning the Viking Age: status after the first three years. (Page 138)  Parts one and two of this project were concluded in 2021, and the article summarizes the results.  They include full color photographs of two reconstructed outfits:  a man's outfit based upon the Bjerringhøj grave find, and a woman's outfit based upon the Hvilehøj grave find.  

For readers whose clothing interests predate the Viking age, the following articles may be of interest as well.

Nørgård, Anna.  Reconstructions revived:  a handweaver's personal perspective. (Page 90) A long, well-illustrated essay about well-known reconstructions of ancient Scandinavian clothing by a woman personally responsible for many of them.  With good photographic and sketch illustrations.

Grömer, Karina, Ungerechts, Silvia and Reschreiter, Hans.  Knowledge sharing:  a newly found 2,700-year-old tablet-woven band from Hallstatt, Austria.  (Page 115)  The article describes a newly-discovered tablet woven band, and provides a weaving diagram, in full color!  The band itself is depicted on the cover of Issue No. 63, and a color photograph of the reconstructed band appears in the article.  

Grömer, Karina, Saunderson, Kayleigh and Pomberger, Beate Maria.  Metallic idiophones 800 BCE to 800 CE in Central Europe:  their function and acoustic influence in daily life. (Page 129) "Metallic idiophones" are metal ornaments fastened to clothing that make noise by jingling, rattling, or clinking.  This article discusses some of them and discusses ways to discover how they sounded when worn.  Well-illustrated with color photographs, sketches, and graphs.

Enjoy!  

Mystery Solved?

Many of us who are interested in Viking era Scandinavian costume have heard of, or seen pictures of, the amazing Mammen find; remains of an embroidered garment that may have been a tunic; the padded cloth cuffs, adorned with metal brocaded tablet weaving; and other signs that a wealthy and powerful person/s had been buried there. 

What I hadn't known before now is that bones from this grave were originally discovered, but have been missing for over 100 years.  The bones from this find, also known to archaeologists as the Bjerringhøj find (the actual find location, which is near the village of Mammen) had gotten stored with bones from a find at Slotsbjergby, in Zeeland. 

Now, the bones have been rediscovered in the storage area of the National Museum of Denmark, where they apparently had been stored with another find.  Charlotte Rimstad, along with other researchers, wrote a report describing how the bones were lost and found.  That article was published online by Cambridge University Press, accessible free of charge:  it can be read and downloaded here.   In short, the Rimstad article notes that the newly-re-discovered bones were re-connected to the Bjerringhøj finds by analyzing the textiles that remained on them, and those textiles appear to be the remains of a set of ornamented pants cuffs similar to the ornamented wristlets associated with the "Mammen" find!

This story of mislaid bones is relevant to this blog because being able to study the bones, and not just the textiles that had been found with them, will provide (indeed, have already provided!) a greater amount of knowledge about the textiles than the textiles alone could provide.  

Follow-Up on Hestnes Burial

A few weeks ago, I wrote a brief post about an unusual recent archaeological find at Hestnes, which is located in central Norway.  That post can be read here.  

Today, on Alexandra Makin's textile blog I discovered a link to a video about a textile specimen from the Hestnes find.  The video can be found on the NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet's Facebook page, here.

NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, i.e., the NTNU Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, is located in Trondheim, Norway, and the video is in Norwegian.  However, the visuals themselves are instructive; they include a schematic showing various items in the woman's grave at Hestnes.  Judging from the video, the specimen in question was found on a tortoise brooch.  There are also images of textile bits from the grave, some of which appear, even to my unpracticed eyes, to bear traces of long stitches in different colors.  

I commend the video to your attention, even if you don't understand Norwegian.  You may be certain that i will be on the lookout for additional information about this find.  If any of my readers see any articles with additional information on textiles from Hestnes, please let me know!

New Viking Clothing Web Exhibit

Recently, the National Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, reconstructed two complete outfits, a man's outfit and a woman's.  The man's outfit is based upon a grave in Bjerringhøj, in Jutland, Denmark.  The woman's outfit is based upon a grave at Hvilehøj, also in Jutland.  Both are dated to the 10th century CE.  

The University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History has created a virtual web exhibition based on these costumes, which may be read and viewed here. Further discussion may be read on the reconstruction project's Instagram, which can be accessed here. This post is based upon the information that appears in the web exhibition. 

Left: reconstruction of the costume of the man buried 
at Mammen, Denmark. Photo via Wikimedia Commons*

As has almost always been the case with Viking age grave finds, the textiles recovered from the grave are sufficiently small that ascertaining what scraps came from which garments or items of grave furniture is a matter of interpretation.  The results of the interpretation by the Danish archaeologists may be seen in the photographs of the exhibition.  However, to whet my readers' appetites for viewing the web exhibition, I will provide a brief summary here.

Both the man and the woman are depicted as wearing outer garments made from fur; a cloak in the case of the woman and a coat in the case of the man.  Both wear goatskin shoes, in styles copied from shoes found in Hedeby.  The man's clothes also drew upon the textile finds in the man's grave at Mammen (also in Jutland), which has also been dated to the 10th century. 

The man's clothes feature a belt that ends in large triangular pendants.  The insides of these pendants are decorated with nalbinded fabric fashioned of silver and gold threads, rather like the large bands (believed to have been cloak ends) of the Mammen costume.  His undyed wool shirt is decorated with colored embroidery of a number of different motifs, including motifs found on the man's tunic at Mammen.  The reconstruction includes tablet woven bands trimming the edges of the shirt sleeves and pants, but the grave find appears to indicate that the Bjerringhøj man's shirt was trimmed with red silk fabric in a samite weave, decorated with a gold-thread heart motif.  That fabric was reproduced separately, and a photograph of the reconstructed samite also appears in the web exhibition.

The woman's gown is made from wool, with woven-in geometric designs in the chest area (because all of the geometrically decorated wool in her grave was found in the chest area). Remains of tablet woven bands with metal threads were found in her grave, and appear as part of the edging on her fur cloak.  No brooches, either tortoise-shaped or otherwise, were found in the grave, and therefore none appear in the reconstruction, but some glass beads were found, which are reproduced as a necklace.  A Frankish coin from the middle of the 10th century appears to have been the centerpiece of this necklace.

Without more specific information about the actual textile scraps recovered, it is impossible to deduce all of the reasons supporting these costume interpretations (e.g., why was the man's costume reproduced with yellow pants?).  I will be looking out for a report of the reconstructions, and reviewing the Instagram account of the project very closely!

EDIT:  (1/17/2021)  I recommend checking out the project's Instagram (link above).  It contains a number of pictures not featured in the web exhibition, including a back view of the man's reconstructed coat.

* Nationalmuseet - The National Museum of Denmark from Denmark, CC BY-SA 2.0

A Wealth of Tutorials

Recently, I learned that the Handcrafted History blog contains a wealth of free tutorials--51 to be exact--for projects of various complexity and length. The blog is a wonderful place to explore, particularly if your costuming interests lie in the medieval period.  

Many of the tutorials are in English, though some are in Swedish.  Many of them are for 15th century clothing, though by no means all--there are a few tutorials for Viking age clothing. and one for a "bathhouse babe" type of sleeveless shift.  All are well-illustrated with color photographs.  I suspect that the ones in Swedish could be adequately navigated by English-speakers using Google Translate.

Linda, the blogger, runs a small (mostly) historical clothing business.  You can find her on Instagram (where I first found her), Facebook, Etsy, and Patreon.  Her Etsy site sells kits which consist of patterns and instructions to make small projects.  Note that if you decide to contribute to her Patreon account, she will be able to make more free tutorials available on her blog.   

EDIT:  12/22/2020 Corrected description about Linda's kits, which include patterns and instructions but NOT materials.

Newly Discovered Viking Burial in Central Norway

Beads found at Hestnes, in Central Norway.
(Photo: Åge Hojem, NTNU University Museum)

This week, I read an article about an archaeological dig this fall by archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ("NTNU").  The dig was in Central Norway at Hestnes in Heim municipality.  The article appeared in partner.sciencenorway.no, and can be read here. 

The researchers were surprised to discover a grave, because no other graves have been found anywhere nearby.  Even more interestingly, the grave was nothing like any other Viking era grave finds in Central Norway.  It was a chamber grave, of which few if any have been found previously in this region.  Such graves are characteristic of more urbanized areas than Central Norway, such as Birka and Hedeby.  It was possible to tell the burial had been a chamber grave from the imprints left were the supporting poles had been, the remains of the chamber walls, and the size of the "chamber" where the remains lay.  The way chamber graves are built, the "chamber" is dug into the earth, and a lid is placed upon the top after the deceased person and her grave goods have been deposited.  This particular grave has been dated to between 850 - 950 CE.  

The article from partner.sciencenorway.no does not mention any textile remains, but there were a number of jewelry finds, including a pair of double-shelled tortoise brooches, a tri-lobed brooch, and a large number of tiny beads.  A photograph of the tiny beads that appeared in the article is reproduced with this post.  339 of the tiny beads had been located as of when the article was written, each of which is between 1-2 mm in size.  Beads in that size range are typically called "seed beads" today, and they have been, and still are, used for embroidery on clothing.  The article observes that, according to one of the NTNU researchers, a similar find at Hedeby has been interpreted as containing the remains of beaded embroidery.  

The tortoise brooches, which at other sites have been found to contain bits of textile from the dead woman's clothing, here contained fragments of bone and teeth, which have not yet been analyzed.  A spindle whorl was also found in the grave.  

It was suggested by one of the researchers that the woman had come to Hestnes from the south (e.g. closer to Hedeby or nearby areas) and had been buried with jewelry characteristic of her home region.  

I will be looking out for analyses of this grave in the hope that some textiles, or other materials giving a clue as to her costume, are eventually located.  I will also look out for articles on other Viking women's graves containing large numbers of seed beads.  Perhaps we are looking at the first hints of finds showing another distinctive fashion among some Viking women.

Returning to Gokstad?

The Gokstad Ship.  Photograph by Karamell, 
found on Wikimedia Commons

In 1880, a 9th century CE Viking ship was discovered in a burial mound on farmland at Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. The ship, the largest Viking age ship found in Norway,  is on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. 

The mound contained more than just the ship.  It contained the grave of a man, aged approximately 40 to 50 years old, powerfully built and between 181 and 183 cm (roughly 6 feet) tall.  The bones of twelve horses, six dogs, and a peacock were laid out around him.  The grave contained other goods, including three small boats, a tent, a sledge, and riding equipment.  Gold, silver, and weapons were surprisingly lacking, suggesting that the grave may have been robbed in antiquity.

Or so the current state of public knowledge goes.  I learned tonight that Aarhus University Press is planning to augment that knowledge with a three-volume series of books, called "Returning to Gokstad," that will review the Gokstad finds: 1) in light of other visits to the site over the last few decades; 2) other ship mound burials from Hedeby, Ladby and Sutton Hoo, and 3) the results of applying new scientific techniques to those finds, such as iron provenancing, aDNA, isotope analysis, osteology, and new dendrochronological results.  

What interested me in the book is the suggestion that there may be new textile information in it also.  Specifically, I found a rumor that there is an article in the first volume of the series about the textiles at Gokstad, written by Marianne Vedeler.  

The first volume is listed on the Oxbow Books website with a projected publication date of this year, but it is not yet available for purchase.  However, it can be preordered through Oxbow (but not through Oxbow's American affiliate Casemate Academic; I could not find any mention of the book at that site).  Likely it may be available for pre-order from bookstores in Scandinavia as well, though I haven't attempted to track such stores down.   

I doubt I will be able to afford the first book, let alone the set, but I am making a note to myself to look for the first book, and try to obtain it by interlibrary loan after it comes out, to see what textile information I can find. 

One Afternoon Tutorials--Aprons!

Today's collection of one-afternoon projects is about aprons.

Aprons appear to have been made throughout history, and could be practical or ornamental (like the bronze ornamented one found upon the woman in the Eura grave in Viking age Finland, or the 16th-17th c. lace aprons worn in France and elsewhere in Europe).

Aprons come in a wide variety of styles and fabrics.  Work aprons can be as simple as a piece of cloth with a band sewn to the top, to tie around one's waist, but can also be full length overgarments.  There are a plethora of modern apron projects to be found on the Internet also; ruffled bib or half-aprons in cheerful colors or prints; silly "chef's aprons"; pinafore aprons for little girls; and more!  Because this is a historical blog, I have stuck to patterns/tutorials for historical designs instead of diving into the vast array of modern patterns of all types. 

Please don't assume that, because I have listed only one pattern for a period, that the pattern shows the only way aprons were made in that period!  Although I have not conducted detailed research on the subject, there appear to be a variety of different apron designs for every historical period, and no reason to believe that aprons didn't vary by region as well.

Because I am not (yet!) a reenactor and have no present need for a practical period apron, I have not tried out any of these designs (except for the Eura apron, which I did a bit differently).  As always, do your own research to ascertain whether a particular tutorial suggested here will work for you.

• Viking Apron Dress:  Viking apron dress designs are still conjectural, but two types have a substantial amount of evidence and support; the pleated-in-the-front tube (Kostrup) and the fitted tube (Hedeby).  The tutorial featured here is from the Handcrafted History blog and is a fairly typical fitted tube kind of pattern (though not necessarily what was used at Hedeby).   We don't know if the Vikings used the apron dress as we would an apron (to protect other clothing) but we do know that some aprons (notably lace aprons--17th-18th centuries) were worn for style purposes, so I am adding an apron-dress pattern to this list.  Note:  Making such a garment might take longer than a single afternoon if you stitch it entirely by hand.
• Eura (Finland):  Based upon an archaeological find near Eura in Finland that has been dated to about 1100 CE.  The apron appears to have been simply made of a length of cloth, belted to the body with a piece of tablet weaving, but it was clearly an ornamental garment because the bottom edges was decorated with designs crafted from small bronze coils.  Making and sewing on the coils would likely take the making of such an apron outside the range of a one-afternoon project, but finishing the apron by fringing the bottom and hemming the other edges is another possibility and would be fairly quick to do.  A diagram illustrating how archaeologists believe the Eura apron was made may be found here; the original blog site (which was used by a Finnish college student to house her thesis) is no longer live.   
• Medieval:  Here are several different types of medieval period apron.  Edyth Miller of The Compleatly Dressed Anachronist provides instruction on a type of late medieval apron associated with midwives--it's a full body overgarment.  Edyth's tutorial is here. 
• Medieval, part 2:  The second type of apron is a smocked top apron tied around the waist; you can find it in Matilda La Zouche's LiveJournal here. (Note:  If you have not done smocking before, you may wish to look for instruction on how to do smocking before you attempt this kind of apron.  Gina's Medieval Silkwork blog gives a list of smocked apron tutorials, with links, here.  She includes Matilda's tutorial, but you may wish to try some of the others, which give more detailed instruction about doing the actual smocking.)
• German Renaissance: (15th-16th centuries)  Genoveva has a video tutorial she claims will teach you how to do a smocked apron, much like the medieval ones above, in one hour!  Find it here.
• 18th c. work apron.  Burnley & Trowbridge have a series of three excellent clear videos demonstrating how to make a basic 18th century style work apron.  The set is in the "Sew Along" playlist; you can find the first one on YouTube here.
• Regency:  The blog Sewing Empire features two different apron styles for the Regency period:  this one for a quick waist-length apron, and a second one for an apron with full-body coverage.  
• Victorian:  Sew Historically has a tutorial on how to make a "pinner", an apron with a bib that pinned onto one's clothes. Find it here.
• Edwardian:  From a blog called Cranial Hiccups comes a tutorial for a rather plain and basic, full-body apron; find it here.
• 1920s:  Also from Cranial Hiccups comes this 1920s apron tutorial; yes, it's a period tutorial, complete with an image containing the actual period pattern!

Feel free to dive into the Internet (Pinterest is not a bad place to start) to look for other possible apron DIYs/how-tos/tutorials and patterns.  Have fun!

New Resources

For me, January was mostly a loss; I spent part of it recovering from a bone strain (that might otherwise have resulted in a fracture) and the rest being sick, and then recovering from it.

So I haven't done much in the way of costuming or even reading about historical costume for more then a month.  But I have collected some resources that may be of interest to some of my readers.

The video to the right is from the reenactor group Marobud; it shows a Viking man getting dressed in period attire.  Note that a lot of his clothing is based upon the Skoldehamn find, which is probably Sami, not Viking.

For later-period enthusiasts, the Archaeological Textiles Review has made Issue No. 60 available for free download, here. (Just click the link that reads "ATR 60").  This issue is dedicated to issues relating to knitting, and thus may be more interesting to costumers whose primary area of clothing or textile study is the late Middle Ages, or later.

Finally, there have been a number of interesting articles on Academia.edu that have come to my attention.

• An article by John Peter and Felicity Wild about the provenance of certain cotton textiles found at Berenike and dated to the Roman period;
• An article discussing how accessible blue dyed textiles would have been in early Iron Age Europe.  This one is from Archaeological Textiles Review No. 61, the current issue, which is not yet available for free download from ATR.
• A paper by an SCA Laurel and two others about their recreation of the clothing of the Princess of Zweeloo (including the jewelry and shoes).

Enjoy!

A New Necklace for the Völva

The completed necklace.  I may trim the cord later.

After months of dithering, I have finally assembled what I  consider to be a reasonable necklace for my völva costume.  See the photograph with this post.  The bead colors shown are pretty close to the actual colors, though the brown fabric in the background is very grayed out for some reason.

For reasons of cost, most of this necklace consists of glass pony beads, which I was able to obtain very cheaply in a reasonable size.  (Beads of that shape and size have been found among Viking age remains, but not typically in the quantities that I'm using.)  I've also added a few beads that look like bone, but appear actually to be glass, to give a little variation to the strand (and because decorated glass beads were more than my budget can presently manage.  That was one reason why I took so long to complete this project).  The two big blue beads near the ends are actually made from polymer modeling clay, but they don't look obtrusively anachronistic, so I included them in the finished product.  

In light of the absence of large, fancily decorated beads, my völva is clearly not wealthy as völvas go.  But then, there is no indication that the völva in Eric the Red's saga was unusually wealthy except for her gem-ornamented cloak. Making my version of that cloak will be a project for another time.

It occurred to me while I was finishing the necklace that it applies for the current Historical Sew Monthly ("HSM") theme which is "Above the Belt", so I'm providing hat information below.

The Challenge:  November--Above the Belt

Material:  Glass beads (with two polymer clay beads added), leather cord.

Pattern:   None needed.  I did attempt to stick with types consistent with bead types I've seen in pictures of Viking age bead finds.

Year:  Viking age, that is, early medieval.  Roughly ninth-eleventh centuries CE.

Notions:  Same as materials, see above.

How historically accurate is it?  We don't know what Viking beads were strung on since they are usually found loose in the grave, with the stringing material disintegrated and vanished.  Glass beads of similar shapes have been found in Viking age graves, and collections of a comparable number (50-60) and similar sizes have been found.  On the other hand, polymer clay with random swirls in it didn't exist in the Viking age.  So maybe 75%.

Hours to complete:  About a half an hour for arranging and stringing (somewhat longer to decide what beads to purchase, but I didn't keep track of that).

First Worn:  Tonight, to see whether the strand is long enough to remove without untying it, and whether I can make a hood that is open enough for the beads to be visible.  (The answer seems to be "yes"; the necklace is longer than I thought it would be.)

Total Cost:  About $15.50 USD; approximately $2.50 for the leather cord at my local JoAnn Fabrics store, and $13.02 (including shipping) for all the beads but the two polymer beads.  Those I've had for years; they were purchased for a project that never worked out.

The Red Plaid Underdress--Calendering the Linen (Part 1)

Fabric, dry rubbed, mostly on the left side.

Today's photograph shows the results of my first attempt to "calender" my linen.  Calendering is the technical name for any process used to make a fabric smooth and to give it special properties, such as shininess.

On an industrial scale, calendering is done by running otherwise completed fabric through large rollers, and applying lots of pressure.  I have no idea how much rubbing the Viking women applied to their linen; a certain amount of trial and error will be required here.

The first photograph shows the fabric after it had been rubbed for about a minute with the glass stone; again, click the photograph to see it bigger and with more detail.  The result was a pronounced smoothing of the fabric, but only a faint increase in shininess that doesn't show up very well in the photograph.

At that point, I started looking for more information about the process.  Phiala's String Page states that linen can only be cold pressed (i.e., without heat) so long as it is damp, and I have seen similar comments on other educational sites.  That suggests that damp rubbing appears to be the way to go--particularly given my lack of obvious results from dry rubbing.  But how damp?  Slightly, or just short of dripping?  And for how long?  I suspect that if linen needs to be damp in order to be modified this way, the rubbing probably needs to continue until the linen is dry.

Thank heaven I only have two yards of linen to handle. 

There will be more on this subject after I have had time to experiment with damp rubbing.

EDIT:  To correct my spelling error:  Rubbing fabric to smooth it and give it a nice finish is called "calendering," not "calendaring".  

Red Plaid Underdress: Washing the Linen

Fabric as received.  The coins are to give scale.

These pictures show the changes in appearance of my linen fabric after soaking it for about 4 hours in lukewarm water, washing it in lukewarm water, and letting it hang up overnight to dry.  Click on any of the photographs to see the image larger and with more detail.

The first photograph shows the fabric as I received it in the mail, before any soaking or washing was done; I've added a .5 Euro coin and a US quarter to the photographs to give the viewer a better idea of the scale of the grid of the fabric's design.  The Etsy vendor's page said that the squares of the grid are 3/4ths of an inch on each side, and that looks approximately right though I haven't measured them.  

In person, the fabric looks more orange in tone, and less rose-colored, than it does in the as-received photograph, and the grid threads appear to be yellow in the direction of the warp and light sage green in the direction of the weft.  As my first post about the fabric shows, I thought that both sets of grid threads were white when I placed my order, but the difference between the photographs of the fabric on Etsy and the actual appearance of the cloth is subtle enough that I feel no need to complain to the vendor or abandon the project.

Fabric after soaking, washing and hanging to dry.

The second photograph shows the linen after the soaking, washing, and drip-drying had taken place, but before anything else had been done with it.  Because it was taken during the day, with natural sunlight coming in the window, it shows the true colors of the fabric.

At the point where I had the washed and dried fabric, it occurred to me that I didn't really know anything else about the rubbing process.  Do you rub the fabric when it is dry, or  while it is damp?  Maria's post doesn't answer this question, but I've seen at least one Internet article claiming that you should keep a spray bottle of water or other means to keep the cloth damp as you rub.  I will try both approaches, on different parts of the cloth, and photograph each, before I decide on how to treat the rest of the cloth.  At that point, it will be time for another update on this project.

The Volva Outfit--Another Piece Done

My faux "shaggy calfskin shoes"

At least six months after acquiring the necessary components for the "shaggy calfskin shoes" for my völva outfit, I have assembled them into something I can wear.  The result is shown in the photo to the left.

My method here was not even remotely historical, so I am not counting this as a Historical Sew Monthly project.  This is essentially a quick-and-dirty modern "costume" style item, meant to approximate the possible appearance of the shoes described in the Saga of Eric the Red.  As I said in an earlier post, the foundation of these "boots" is a pair of Minnetonka brand boots, which in turn are based, loosely, on historical Amerind moccasins.  The shaft is a band made of faux fur, sewn into a tube and slid onto my leg, where it's positioned so that it conceals the top of the Minnetonkas at my ankles.  After settling the bands in place, I took a long thin lace for each "boot" and strung and knotted large brass beads onto the ends, and used those laces to tie the faux fur cuffs closely around my ankles.  Originally I was going to tie the thongs around the both top and bottom of the faux fur band, criss-crossing the laces in back, but it occurred to me that for that to work I would need to sew the thong into a channel at the top or bottom of the band, and since the band stays up pretty well without any tying, I thought that for my purposes it would be sufficient to just wrap the length of the band around my ankle (and over the faux fur band).  So that's what I did.

Interestingly, if I tie the thongs with enough length between the knot and the beads, the beads clack together when I walk.  I wonder if that was why the völva wore big brass knobs on her boots?

Calves, Highland Cattle breed
(from Wikimedia Commons)

Finally, since the shoes are described in the saga as "calfskin" the faux fur I used is a bit of a stretch.  Most cattle do not have thick fur like the faux fur I have chosen for this item.  One of the plausible exceptions, a breed called simply Highland cattle, has long fur that looks rather like the sheepskin-textured faux fur I am using (see the picture of Highland calves to the right of this post).  However, Highland cattle were brought to Britain during the Neolithic period, and, to my knowledge, did not arrive in Scandinavia during Viking times (though it can be found there now). Highland cattle are more cold-tolerant than many cattle breeds, though, and they probably could have survived in Viking age Scandinavia had they been taken there.  (Icelandic cattle, which probably do go back to the Viking age, don't look anything like Highland cattle, and do not have shaggy fur, unfortunately.)  I can't use the thongs I selected with the Minnetonkas alone, leaving off the faux fur cuff, because the thongs are too thin.  In addition, the balls I strung onto the ends of the current thongs do not have holes big enough for me to string them onto thicker thongs that might work with the Minnetonkas.

So I've accepted that my boots are for general Northern flavor, and are not documentably historical.  I could always experiment with wearing the cuffs and thongs with my more accurately styled Viking shoes, or even get other thongs if I find brass balls with suitably sized holes--my improvisation only cost about $10.00 USD.

In other news, I have concluded that I should use my old Migration Period necklace for this outfit, to avoid having to incur additional costs for beads to make a new necklace. That makes sense, since the necklace won't show much, if at all, underneath the type of hood I'm planning to make.

And I still have the mittens to finish.  I'm not sure whether that will come before or after the lambskin hood, since I still haven't bought any lambskin or lambskin substitutes yet.