How To Make Viking Pants

Mak­ing Ba­sic 5iking–Age Men's Cloth­ing
Ver­sion two.3

This guide out­lines the ba­sic pat­terns and con­struc­tion tech­niques of Viking–Age men's cloth­ing, westwardhether that be a Saxon or Viking per­sona. This is the starting time­ing signal for all new mem­bers in the levy look­ing to put male kit to­gether for their first pro­mo­tion. This cos­tume is typ­i­cal of most men in the Viking–Historic period — that of An­glo–Saxon or Scan­di­na­vian freed­men, labour­ers, sub­sis­tence farm­ers, or ap­pren­tices. For a more generalised view of Viking-historic period wearable, see our article here.

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Construction Techniques

Even the poor­est peo­ple in the Fiveiking–Age so­ci­eties of Northward­ern Eu­rope were good tai­lors — they had to be, most peo­ple lived far abroad from ur­ban ar­eas, and even then they might not take the coin or goods to trade for com­pleted gar­ments. Exist­cause of this, I sug­gest plenty of prac­tice at seam­ing, and fit­ting. Old tea tow­els and bed­sheets are adept to prac­tice onorthward.

Tools of the trade

• Nee­dle
• Thread — wool for westool, linen for linen. Avoid cot­ton thread
• Scis­sors or shears
• Apparel-mak­ing pins
• Tai­lors chalk, or fab­ric marker (for draw­ing pat­terns or mak­ing advertisement­just­ments) or use
• Pat­tern pa­per - cre­at­ing a pat­tern on pa­per means you can reuse pat­terns, and whatsoever changes you make can be drafted for the next time yous de­cide to make a gar­ment
• Beeswax — run thread through a beeswax block to stiffen the thread, pre­vent knots and be ex­tra westwarda­ter­proof

Tip. When cutting fabric, go along the bottom blade of your shears on the cutting surface. This will allow them to glide smoothly through the cloth. If yous can, utilize clamps or weights to help the fabric movement less when cutting or measuring. If you are cutting 2 or more layers at once, think virtually getting a rotary cutter.

Basic Stitches to Principal

• Run­ning Stitch
• Back Stitch
• Due westhip Stitch
• Blan­ket Stitch

Term: A tack sew or basting stitch is a very quick and loose/long form of running stitch to piece together a garment for plumbing fixtures.

Run­ning Stitch

Run the nee­dle right to left, in–out–in–out. If y'all utilise run­ning stitch for seams, yous will need to coil/​fold the seam and use a westwardhip sew for re-in­force­ment (dis­cussed later).

Back Stitch

You become dorsum over your own stitches and so that the stitches are smaller onorth one side than the other. Bring the nee­dle upwards at A, back through the same hole of B, then up at C, so dorsum down through D/​A. This is very strong, and pre­vents the thread from pulling out. Apply for seams.

Due westhip Stitch

Also known as over­cast stitch, use this onorthward the edges of fab­ric (eg. un­hemmed, or seam over­flow) to re­in­forcefulness and end fray­ing.

Blan­ket Sew together

Also known every bit just­ton­hole run up, this is sim­i­lar to due westhip sew in that it's for fin­ish­ing a raw edge, but it catches the loop of thread re­sult­ing in an L or J shape along the border of the fab­ric.

Seams

Cer­tain seams wsick need more re-en­force­ment that oth­ers. The shoul­der seams, and un­der­arm gus­sets wsick need ex­tra se­cu­rity, and so use back sew at that place. Side seams can be washed westwardith a tight run­ning stitch (aim for 8-10 stitches per inch on light fab­rics, 5 min­i­mum on oth­ers). Some seams will want to exist folded and re-en­forced with a westhip stitch, es­pe­cially odue north linen which is decumbent to fray­ing.

A seam, fixed with a run­ning stitch, then re­in­forced with a westhip stitch.

Fold the two sides of fab­ric in to­wards each other. Run the stitch (run­ning or back) along the in­side por­tion, be­ing sure to catch all 4 lay­ers of fab­ric. Once done, whip stitch the top of the bring together.

there are other seams you can use that ex­ist in Fiveiking–Age ar­chae­ol­ogy, merely this is the sim­plest. Jen­nifer Bak­er'southward ar­ti­cle is a great re­source for seam­ing ideas.

Under–Garments

Overview

It's not clear from ar­chae­ol­ogy how 5iking-Age peo­ple lay­ered cloth­ing, equally nearly finds are frag­men­tary, ad­hered to the un­der­side of metal brooches and buck­les odue north the top­most layer.

How­ever, through the ex­am­i­na­tion of lit­er­a­ture, and air-conditioning­counts from the pre and post Viking–Historic period, due westeast can de­ter­mine that there are two dis­tinct male gar­ments: the shirt, and the kir­tle. The shirt, westwarde as­sume, is an un­der–gar­ment. It'southward shorter that the kir­tle — just be­low the westwardaist — and is prob­a­bly close fit­ting.

One of the only known ex­tant finds of a Viking–Age shirt is from Fivei­borg in Den­marker. It's a fabricated from many small pieces of linen fab­ric, with a describe­cord neck­line and sleeves that are tight at the westwardrist.

Weast can ex­trap­o­late a sim­pler pat­tern from the Fivei­borg shirt by look­ing at a frag­ment of a child'south linen smock from York. It had two sleeves, a side and part of an un­der arm gus­set.

An­other part of the un­der­wear is the breeches & hose, or trousers. Aproceeds, much of our knowl­edge comes from pre and mail Viking–Age finds, such as the Thors­berg trousers and Dät­gen breeches, but there is some con­tem­po­rary arachae­ol­ogy. Thither's a frag­ment of woollen hose found in Hedeby, Ger­many, and an elab­o­rately dec­o­rated pair of woollen leg­gings from Skjold­eastward­hamn, Nor­way.

One of the almost in­ter­est­ing and com­plete finds from York is a westwardoollen sock westwardo­ven us­ing a tech­nique called Naal­bind­ing. The knot­ted con­struc­tion makes them ex­tremely hard weav­ing, and quite wa­ter­proof.

Textiles

For the shirt, use a medium w8, undyed Tabby (plain due westeave) linen. Become one with a sett of 15-xx threads per c1000.

Undyed linen colours range from bleached grey­ish white to a muddied green–brown.

The Sett is how finely the yarn of the warp and weft threads are woven together.

For the breeches or leg­gings, use a semi-fine, or fine-medium westool. Again, stick to nat­ural colours: white fleeces were pop­u­lar, as were light brown and dark brown. Some­times, a light wool and dark wool westere used to­gether to add a two tone ef­fect to the weave. Be odue north the look­out for a 2/​1 or 2/​ii twill or her­ring­os (chevron) weave.

The weaves expect very distinctive. ii/1 and ii/two twills take diagonal lines, while herringbone has alternating bands of diagonals. There are many kinds of twill used in the Viking–Historic period.

Colour Palette

Linen

Westool

Shirt

This is a hugely sim­pli­fied ver­sion of the Vi­borg shirt. You can ei­ther cut two rec­tan­gles, or fold the fab­ric over and cut only the neck hole like a pon­cho. The square gus­sets can be in­serted un­der the arms for ex­tra space. The sleeves ta­per to the wrist, be­ing quite close fit­ting. The bot­tom hem should sit just be­low the groin. Cut the neck pigsty quite pocket-size, and brand a short front end open­ing. This can exist pinned, or laced.

Measurements: Around the chest, under the armpits, this volition give you the width. Keep this garment more or less square. For sleeves, armpit to eye of the palm of y'all paw for length, then take measurements for the bicep and wrist. Remember to go out allowances for seams, and refitting!

If you lot fancy a go at the more elab­o­rate Vi­borg shirt, take a look at this ar­ti­cle from which the pat­tern is based.

Breeches

Be­sides the Skjold­e­hamn an­kle–breeches, there are frag­ments from Hedeby and ear­lier Iron–Age footed–breeches that in­di­cate pos­si­ble meth­ods of con­struc­tion.

The legs of the breeches, how­ever long, are cut every bit tubes westwardith a sin­gle seam — ei­ther in­side or out­side. The breeches take a large seat, and some bag­gi­ness for the be­hind. A sep­a­rate waist belt is folded over to in­cor­po­rate a draw­string.

Brusk breeches should autumn just be­low the knee, long breeches should be fit­ted at the an­kle. There is a small cut to al­low the pes through, which is re-en­forced westith a blan­ket stitch.

Socks

There is ac­tu­ally very lit­tle ev­i­dence for socks be­sides the sin­gle find from York and westool socks from Skjold­e­hamn. The for­mer is a naal­bind­ing sock westith a mad­der-dyed trim, the lat­ter are woollen rec­tan­gles sewn upward un­der the heel. They may have been a rare item; per­haps leg wraps were ex­tended to wrap around the anxiety, or shoes were lined. Sadly, the ar­chae­o­log­i­cal record does­n't say much, so utilise your dis­cre­tion — it's OK to do westwardith­out!

Ornamentation

Some sim­ple dec­o­ra­tion can be added to the seams of the breeches. A com­mon course of december­o­ra­tion is u.s.­ing a vis­i­ble stitch in a con­trast­ing colour. Sev­eral ex­am­ples of a Her­ring­bone Stitch have been found do­ing simply this.

You could too sew a pocket-size three-ply complect onto the edge for added pro­tec­tion and colour.

Colours

Stick due westith com­mon mad­der and woad based dyes - giv­ing a brick ruby-red, or light bluish.

Outer–Garments

Overview

Outer–vesture for most peo­ple of the Viking–Historic period was fabricated of westool. Due westool is a expert ther­mal in­su­la­tor, so helps in both the win­ter and the sum­mer, al­though it'south easy to as­sume that lay­ers would be dis­carded in hot weather. Wealth­ier peo­ple were known to westear linen as the outer layer — Saxon buri­als from be­fore the pe­riod testify this, just those clothes could too be fu­neral dress so it's difficult to tell.

The 'kirtle' or over–tu­nic is a knee-length gar­ment with a full skirt. It could be hitched upward at the waist with a belt, and sleeves are slightly bag­gier and can be rolled up. The neck lines of these outer gar­ments seem to take a wider neck that the shirt, but wdue east have 5ery lit­tle in­for­ma­tion — near ex­tant finds of tu­nics are ei­ther frag­ments, or pre or post Viking–Age. Thank­fully, at that place are some il­lus­tra­tions of every­solar day dress in con­tem­po­rary art work.

British Li­brary, MS. Cot­ton Tiberius B. v Office 1, fol. 5r

The cloak due westevery bit an im­por­tant item, par­tic­u­larly in the souvenir-giv­ing cul­ture of the Vikings. Adue south well as exist­ing an­other layer of thick westwardool for warmth, they brand cracking blan­kets. Sim­i­larly, there are phases through­out the Viking–Historic period westhither head wear comes in and out of fash­ion. Hats, caps and hoods are known in ar­chae­ol­ogy.

Textiles

For outer–gar­ments use wool, but attempt to get medium or hairy wools. Aproceeds, like the wool tex­tiles for the breeches, search for 2/​i, two/​two and Her­ring­os (chevron) twills. There is also ev­i­dence for di­a­mond twill fab­ric at York, and in ear­lier finds such as the Thors­berg tu­nic. There are wool tab­bies pre­sent in ar­chae­ol­ogy, but they are all quite loosely westwardo­ven, per­haps for blan­kets or sacks, so avert.

Di­a­mond twill weave in con­trast­ing warp & weft colours.

Tunic (kirtle)

The tu­nic should be knee length and with a full skirt. This can be achieved past cut­ting the brim width into the pat­tern, or by adding tri­an­gu­lar gores into the sides and op­tion­ally, the forepart. Al­ter­na­tively, for­get the gores and have a split up in the side (don't have a split in the front). The arms are a bit bag­gier, simply should still ta­per to the due westrist. op­tion­ally, you can in­prepare the sleeves at the shoul­der for a bet­ter fit. The shoul­der seams are op­tional — you can fold the fab­ric over similar a pon­cho and just cut the neck hole.

For the neck­line, use a round cut rather than foursquare (which is an 11th cen­tury fash­ion suit­able for our belatedly–Saxon por­tray­als). You can 'cardinal­hole' information technology with a slit at the front in the cen­ter and utilise a thong or pin to continue the it closed. Some ex­am­ples of cervix­lines are quite wide, com­ing from the neck to the col­lar os. A short v-neck is also ac­cept­able, with a rounded dorsum.

Utilise the aforementioned fab­ric (and colour) for all the parts: sleeves, gores and gus­sets.

The Kragelund tu­nic has a dis­tinc­tive 5-cervix.

Measurements: Mensurate the length from the back of the neck to the back of the knee. If y'all want a ameliorate fit (and you should), take a measurement around the breast and around the waist. If the waist is slimmer than the chest, bring the garment in before fanning it out for the skirt. To inset the sleeves, measure from the point of the shoulder, behind the neck to the opposite signal.

Colours

Stick with nat­ural wool colours — calorie-free-brown to dark-brown. If you lot choice a dyed fab­ric, endeavor to find one westith a washed–out colour, like a onion skin colour, or brick red.

Cloak

A ba­sic cloak is sim­ply a rec­tan­gle of heavy–hairy wool. The fab­ric can be tabby westwardo­ven or a sim­ple twill similar her­ring­os. The edges should be raw, or fixed due westith a blan­ket sew together.

British Li­brary, MS. Cot­ton Tiberius B. five Part 1, fol. 5r

The cloak is clasped at the shoul­der (right shoul­der, un­less yous're left handed!). A50­ter­na­tively, it can be a semi-cir­cle with the curved side at the bot­tom when information technology is pinned.

The clasp can be a sim­ple af­fair — leather thong­ing, or a pin. The pivot can be made from wood, bone or metal. One of the most pop­u­lar types of pins in the 5iking–Age, westas the ringed pin. Again, these can be made from bone, atomic number 26 or cop­per-al­loy.

A ringed pin from Got­land in the British Mu­seum

There a few other de­signs of pins — an­nu­lar, penan­nu­lar and ansate, and a num­ber of brooches. For a sim­ple kit, stick westwardith a pin.

Chapeau/Hood

Most male hats in ar­chae­ol­ogy point to a sim­ple westoolen cap — in that location'south pan­eled hats from Birka, pill­box caps from the Nether­lands, naal­bind­ing caps from Ger­many and po­ten­tially sunday hats due westhich are seen in art­piece of work.

Left to right: 4–panel hat pattern, pillbox lid pattern, possible straw sun hat from the 11th century.

Ornamentation

Asouthward with the breeches, you can add together dec­o­ra­tive stitches in a con­trast­ing colour to the seams, and thin braid on the edges of the cervix and cuffs.

Dou­ble her­band­bone stitch over brown wool felt.

Accessories

The ac­ces­sories listed here are per­sonal items that fin­ish off a cbone­tume. these are key items for the fit of cloth­ing — usu­marry func­tional as well as december­o­ra­tive, and some es­sen­tial for any westork or trade.

Shoes

Shoes from the Viking–Historic period are fabricated of leather and are usu­ally of the 'turn shoe' con­struc­tion. The tiptop office is cut equally one slice and so stitched to the sole in­side out around a final — it is then turned the correct way out so that the run up­ing is on the in­side.

Il­lus­tra­tion of a turn shoe

Sole con­struc­tion

Stitch­ing the sole

Re­pro­duc­tion of a plough shoe with V-dorsum heel riser, based onorthward a find from York.

Belt

Men wore a gir­dle effectually the westwardaist, usu­marry of leather but pos­si­bly rope or cloth. The strap is about one/​2 inch to ane inch in width and tied (with divide ends) or cadet­led. Buck­les can be made from bone, iron, pewter or cop­per-al­loy for this kit. Buck­les are usu­ally ac­com­pa­nied by a strap end due westhich pro­tects the leather and pro­vides ex­tra dec­o­ra­tions. Many metallic items in the Viking–Historic period westere stamped with a ring and dot mo­tif.

A se­lec­tion of fe buck­les and strap ends.

Knife & Sheath

A knife is of course a neat util­ity. Made of atomic number 26, some­times with a hard steel edge, the pocketknife or seax could be any­where from a cou­ple of inches to the size of a ma­chete. These aren't adapted for war­fare, but tools that are used effectually the house, or out in the fields and due westoods.

The han­dle would be of due westood, or bone, some­times due westith cop­per-al­loy or iron fit­tings. Hous­ing the pocketknife is a leather sheath. The sheath is made my westwardrap­ping the (moisture) leather around the knife, cut­ting to shape and stitch­ing one seam. In some cases the stitch­ing is pro­tected and re­in­forced by a metal fit­ting.

Leg Wraps

Leg westwardraps are cloth strips that westrap around the calf and fas­ten just be­depression the knee. They func­tion as sup­port and besides to pro­tect the trousers from wear. The cloth strips should be 2–iii inches thick and around 12 feet long and made of wool in a sim­ple twill weave. They are westrapped around the calf first­ing at the an­kle (or around the foot) and necktie effectually the back of the knee with thong­ing, cloth or with a hooked tag made from iron or cop­per-al­loy.

The wraps, some­times called winingas or putees, could exist wo­ven as a sin­gle piece or as a cut off from other fab­ric and joined to­gether.

Jewellery

For this por­trayal, a sin­gle cervix­lace westith a pen­dant will suf­fice, and per­haps a ban­gle of cop­per-al­loy. Thither are many finds of crosses, ham­mers, spears and axes as pen­dants made from fe and cop­per al­loy, and some of os. Apply woollen yarn or leather for the neck­lace.

Fur­ther Read­ing

This ar­ti­cle is meant as a guide to new mem­bers to get their first kit to­gether, rather than as an aca­d­e­mic work. How­ever, if yous are in­ter­ested in find­ing out more most Viking–Historic period cloth­ing and ac­cou­trements, please find a se­lec­tion of books and on­line ar­ti­cles.

Books

• Ben­der Jør­gensen, Fifty. (1993). North Eu­ro­pean Tex­tiles un­til Advertisement thou.
• Ew­ing, T. (2006.) 5iking Cloth­ing.
• Lars­son, A. (2008). Viking Age Tex­tiles. In: Brink, S. eds (2008). The Fiveiking Due westorld.
• Osouth­ter­gaard, E. (2004). Wo­ven into the Earth: Tex­tile Finds in Norse Green­land.
• Owen-Crocker, G. (2010). Apparel in Anorthward­glo-Saxon Eng­country.
• Pa­ter­son, C. et al (2014). Shad­ows in the Sand: Ex­ca­va­tion of a Fiveiking–Age Cemetary at Cumwhit­ton, Cum­bria.
• Wal­ton-Rogers, P. (2006). Cloth and Cloth­ing in Early on An­glo-Saxon Eng­state: Advertizement 450-700.

Websites

• Viking Wear and Jewellery - An Overview
• Hurst­wic: Cloth­ing in the Viking Age
• Viking An­swer Lady: Cloth­ing in the Fiveiking Age

Source: https://www.vikingsof.me/downloads/clothing-guide/male.html

Posted by: hubertimas1991.blogspot.com

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