How to Make Viking Clothes

This is a quick start guide on how to make Viking clothes. The guide covers the basic patterns and hand-sewing techniques needed to make clothing for most people who lived in north-western Europe in the Viking-age. This is a starting point for simple first impressions in Viking reenactment, or accurate costume for TV and film, cosplay etc.

The typical person in the Viking-age was a subsistence farmer, apprentice or labourer, and this guide reflects that reality. For a more generalised view of Viking-age clothing, see our article on Viking Clothing and Jewellery.

Table of Contents

Hand Sewing Techniques

Even the poor­est people in the Viking-Age so­ci­eties of North­ern Europe were good tai­lors – they had to be. Most people lived in rural communities, and even if they lived in an urban area, they might not have the money or surplus goods to trade for completed garments. Be­cause of this, I suggest plenty of practice at seam­ing and fitting. We’re not going for a ‘rustic’ look, but a quality garment. Old tea tow­els and bedsheets are good to practice on.

Tools

Viking age people had access to most of the same tools to make clothes as today, albeit somewhat cruder. Delicate fish-bone needles have been found along side chunkier iron and copper-alloy needles; scissors or shears retain the same long straight edges as today, but are made from iron; wooden, bone and copper-alloy pins came in all sorts of sizes; and there’s evidence of woollen and linen thread, alongside silk and metallic foil used in decorative bands and expensive accessories.

What you’ll need:

• Sewing needles
• Scissors or shears
• Dress-making pins
• Measuring tape
• Tailors chalk or fabric marker (for drawing out patterns or making adjustments). You might also want to test your patterns on paper – something Viking-age people didn’t have access to, but useful if you don’t want to cut into expensive fabric straightaway, or want to reuse patterns later.
• Thread: a good rule of thumb is to use linen thread on linen fabric and woollen thread on wool (and silk on silk etc.) One option is to pull threads from your fabric for truly invisible stitches. When you are practising, use a thread of a contrasting colour to the cloth.

TOP TIP

Run your thread through a beeswax block to stiffen the thread, prevent knots and to help water­proofing.

Stitches to Master

These are stitches discovered in archaeological excavations that show how viking clothes were made. They will serve as the base for seaming, felling, and hemming. Fully explaining them is beyond the scope of this article, but there are many comprehensive hand-sewing tutorials online.

Seams and Seam Treatments

The simplest seam when making Viking clothes is just two pieces of fabric layered together and sewn with a running- or back-stitch (called a butted– or bound seam). When it’s turned inside out and pressed, the seem will look smart on the outside, with stitching and excess fabric hidden on the inside of the garment. But, the raw or cut edge of the fabric is likely to unravel or fray during use, especially if using linen, or wool that has a loose weave. To combat this, we use a seam treatment. Make sure you leave enough excess seam allowance when you cut your fabric to be able to do these techniques.

Hems

The hem is where you treat an unjoined edge. Viking-age hems are almost always folded inward and then whip-stitched. On lighter material, such as fine linens or silk, the edge can be rolled in. On bulkier material, hems may have just been blanket-stitched. Occasionally we see the use of herringbone stitch on either the “right” or “wrong” side of the fabric.

Viking Clothing: What You Need

Through the exami­nation of archaeological fragments, art, literature, and accounts from the pre and post Viking-Age, we can determine that there are a few distinct gar­ments, depending on whether you dress as male or female.

Shirt or Serk/Skyrta

The serk or skyrta, we assume, is an under-gar­ment. For male dress (skyrta), it appears to be just longer than waist-length, while the female version is a gown (serk) that is just slightly-shorter than ankle-length. They’re both shorter that the kyr­tle, an over-garment, and are prob­a­bly close fitting at the neck and wrist to allow the larger kyrtle to be comfortably worn over it.

There is evidence for both woollen and linen under-garments. A linen shirt from Viborg is made from two layers, with a tight neck-hole finished with a tie, and tapered to fit at the sleeves. A woollen shirt from Skjoldehamn in the north of Norway has multiple gussets and a stand up collar, and another from Guddal shows similar construction.

The neckline on the female serk may be pleated

Tunic or Kyrtle

The Kyrtle is a woollen outer-garment with a large skirt – it’s length is below the knee for men, and to the ankle for women. It could be hitched up at the waist with a belt. The sleeves, while still tapered to fit, can be slightly baggier so they can be rolled up.

It’s not clear from archae­ology how Viking-Age people lay­ered cloth­ing exactly, but fragments adhered to the un­derside of metal brooches and buck­les on the topmost layer sometimes have multiple fabrics. This indicates that, at least at the time of burial, people wore an under and outer layer.

Legwear

An­other part of the un­derwear is the breeches and hose, or trousers. Again, much of our knowl­edge comes from pre and post Viking-Age finds, such as the Thors­berg trousers and Dät­gen breeches, but there is some con­temporary archaeology. There’s a fragment of woollen hose found in Hedeby, and fragments of an elab­orately dec­orated pair of woollen trousers from Skjoldehamn.

Woollen leg wraps may have been worn to protect the trousers or the bare calf while working in the fields, and there are several fragments of coarse cloth that are candidates for belong to this garment, along with fasteners.

Accessories

Along with the main clothing, there is evidence for headwear such as caps, hats and religious garb such as wimples. There are complete mittens made from wool for cold hands, and one of the most interest­ing and complete finds from York is a woollen sock woven using a technique called Naal­bind­ing. On top of that, any cold or wet weather is best survived with a large shawl or cloak, and sturdy leather shoes.

For more elaborate dress, specifically for Scandinavian female impressions, check out this great article on the Smokkr, a woollen over-garment fixed with beautiful oval brooches.

Making a Viking Kyrtle or Over-Tunic

As discussed above, the Kyrtle is the main outer-garment of the Viking-age person. It is made from a medium to thick wool, perfect for inclement weather protection, and to last as long as possible.

Textiles and Colours

Viking-age fabrics are commonly found woven in a Plain or Tabby Weave, or in a Twill Weave, usually 2/2 twill or 2/1 twill. To judge the fineness of a fabric, we use a measurement called sett. The sett is how many warp and weft threads there are per square centimetre (or inch, depending on where you are in the world). For wool, we also describe its hairiness. Hairy fabric has short curly fibres that are often coarse and scratchy, finer fabric has longer fibres that feel soft. For your kyrtle look for a medium-hairy fabric with a sett between 10 and 14 (ie. 10 to 14 threads per cm in both directions).

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Period fleece was prepared for spinning in a process called ‘combing,’ where the selected fleece is drawn through the teeth of large iron combs. This produces a ‘worsted’ yarn that is made of mainly long, straight fibres, giving a soft texture. Later medieval, and modern wool yarns are often made by ‘carding’ the fleece, which produces a ‘woollen’ yarn that is made of short, curly fibres, giving a ‘hairy’ texture.

There were plenty of ‘hairy’ textiles from the Viking-age, probably made by adding more teeth to the combs for speed of processing, but modern people don’t often like wearing it close to the skin! It can be hard to tell the difference via a photograph, so always try and handle the fabric to see if it is soft or hairy, or look at the product description carefully (or ask the manufacturer) before buying. Fulled fabrics are not common in the Viking-age, so avoid buying them (if you can’t see the weave, it’s probably fulled or felted).

Types of Weave

Most woollen fabrics, especially those intended for hard days of manual labour were probably undyed. Undyed colours range from bleached greyish white to a muddy green-brown.

However, access to gardens with dyestuffs, or trade through urban centres meant that other colours were available. Wool takes dye pigments very well, and if a person had access to a lot of dyestuff, or a mordant to help fix the pigments to the fibres, colours could be quite vibrant. Madder and woad based dyes were the most abundant, giving a brick read and light/mid blue respectively. Other plants like tansy and weld give yellowish-green colours. More rarely, certain lichens give a pale purple/lilac colour.

Kyrtle Pattern

This pattern is based on interpretations of fragments found at Hedeby, and shares similarities with other finds, such as Skjoldehamn and Guddal, and medieval garments from Greenland. The period silhouette in art indicates a wide skirt, achieved by added 2 or more triangular inserts (gores).

The Hedeby fragments suggest an inset sleeve, contouring to the shoulder, and tapered at the wrist. One set of fragments from Hedeby also shows a pieced arm, perhaps to extend an otherwise tight fit.

Some interpretations suggest that the body of most early-medieval tunics are are ‘poncho cut.’ in other words, it’s made from one long piece of fabric and folded in half before cutting the neck hole.

To add a fuller skirt, you can add more gores. An interpretation from Hedeby has a separate skirt sewn to the body at the waist, in which case it can be made from many pieces.

Measurements

Measure whist wearing a thickish layer as this is outerwear. Add an extra 3-5cm for seam allowance. Medium sized people need about 2m x 1.5m of fabric.

1. Length: For men, from the shoulder, over the breast to the knee. For women, from the shoulder, over the breast to the ankle.
2. Arm length: From the point of the shoulder, over a bent elbow (teapot!), to the wrist.
3. Bicep: Around the thickest part.
4. Wrist: Around the thickest part of the hand.
5. Chest: Arm-pit to arm-pit over the breast.
6. Shoulder to Arm-Pit: From the point of your shoulder to under your arm-pit.
7. Gores: For men: waist, from the hip to the knee. For women: waist, over the hip to the ankle. The pattern above uses 2 gores in the sides for a simple Viking-age silhouette, but you can add 4 (or more), in the sides, front and back for a fuller skirt if you wish.
8. Neck: All around the lower part of the neck, then half the measurement.
9. Waist (Optional): You can make a more fitted garment by measuring your waist, wrap the tape around you, and halve it (allowing for seams).

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When cutting fabric, keep the bottom blade of your shears on the cutting surface. This will allow them to glide smoothly through the fabric. If you can, use clamps or weights to help the fabric move less when cutting or measuring. If you are cutting two or more layers at once, think about getting a rotary cutter.

Neckline

There are many necklines shown in period art work, and a few remain from the surviving fragments. The simplest neckline is a circle, just big enough to fit your head once hemmed. A nice variation of this is a circle just about the size of your neck with a split down front (keyhole), or offset to the side, where you can attach a thong, or use a bead as a fastener.

The ‘boat shape’ is common in art work, where the neckline is cut along the fold of the material and rounded off on the front and back to make it comfortable. The Kragelund tunic (left) has the boat shape over the front and back instead, giving it a distinct look.

The Skjoldeham tunic has a large ‘V’ neck, with decoration lining the cut.

Sewing

Sewing the kirtle is straightforward. Start by sewing the sleeves into the arm holes, then stitch from the under arm to the waist. Use back stitch for this. Sew up the sleeves, then add the gores. Finish off by hemming the sleeves, skirt and neck, and felling the seams.

Making a Viking Shirt

The shirt pattern is a simple rectangle design, but otherwise follows the same measurement/construction method as the Kyrtle. The main difference between the male and female pattern is the overall length, and the need to add gussets for the longer female serk. For men, it should be above the knee, for women, it can be longer. In both cases it is shorter than the kyrtle. Additionally, skyrta/serks are fairly well fitting underwear, especially around the neck.

Textile and Colours

The shirt is best made from linen, although if you find softer, long-fibred wool, it’s not a supper itchy experience, and it’s that much more authentic for lower-status folk.

Use a medium weight, undyed tabby (plain weave) linen, or light weight tabby wool. Get one with a sett of 15-20 threads per cm for linen. Most linens would have been undyed in the Viking-age. Flax fibres do not hold much pigment, so without expensive mordants as fixatives, the colour appears washed out, or quickly fades. As the garment sits close to the skin, it will get very apparent sweat marks without thorough washing, which will also fade the colour.

Shirt Pattern

This is a hugely simplified version of the Vi­borg shirt without the lining, and is also similar to the T-tunic of antiquity. You can either cut two wide rec­tan­gles, or fold the fab­ric over and cut just the neck hole like a poncho. Insert square gussets under the arms for extra space. The sleeves taper to the wrist, being quite close fitting. For a female variant, add in triangular side gores to fill out the skirt (see the kyrtle pattern above) use a circular neckline and use pleats/gathers to fit the neck-hole nice and tight – there’s fragments of pleated material from Hedeby, Pskov and Birka that suggests this was a style used.

A Note on the Viborg Short

The Viborg shirt is a much more complicated garment than the simple pattern above. it is made of two layers of linen in the body, sewn together with a running stitch. The arms are made from two pieces, rather than one tube. The skirt is made of two pieces, one wider than the other to form an overlap, but it doesn’t have side gussets. The double layered body means that the neck hole consists of two flaps that are tied through a loop on each side.

Measurements

Measurements are taken the same was as the Kyrtle above: around the chest, under the armpits, this will give you the width. Keep this garment more or less square, and slightly wider than the shoulder. Remember to leave allowances for seams, and refitting! Optionally, you can add in pieces to make a wider skirt, or add in a standing collar (best on wool shirts): this type of construction is seen on the Skjoldeham shirt.

Medium sized people need about 1.75m x 1.5m of fabric.

Sewing

Sewing the serk is broadly the same as the kyrtle, but if you use square gussets, attach them to the sleeves first, then set the sleeve in. For the longer serk or gown worn by women, you can include gussets in the sides for a fuller skirt.

Making Viking Trousers or Breeches

Besides the Skjoldehamn trousers, fragments of legwear from Hedeby and earlier Iron-Age footed-breeches indicate possible methods of construction.

The legs, however long, are cut as tubes with a single seam – either inside or outside. Trousers have a large seat, and some bagginess for the behind. A separate waist belt is attached and folded over to incorporate a drawstring, or additional loops are sewn on to accommodate a belt.

Textiles and Colours

As with the kyrtle, choose a medium-hairy woollen fabric of around 10-14 threads per cm. Twill woven wool works best as the fabric stretches well in the bias. Again, colours are best plain, or using the simple dyes available to early-medieval people.

Trousers Pattern

This pattern is based on a find from Migration Period Germany (Thorsberg) which are form fitting and comfortable, with durable seam placement.

Measurements

Add a 3-5cm seam allowance to each measurement.

1. Length: Waist to ankle, measuring down the side of your body. These should sit high on your waist, not low slung on your hips.
2. Hips: The widest part around your hips.
3. Waist: Around your waist, over your belly button.
4. Seat: From your belly button, between your legs, to your waistline on your back.
5. Thigh: Measure loosely the widest part of the circumference of your thigh.
6. Knee: Measure loosely the circumference of a bent knee.
7. Ankle: Measure loosely the circumference of your ankle (we will cut a split to get your foot in).
8. Seat Length: Measure from your waist at the back, to below your buttocks.
9. Crotch Length: Measure from your waist at the front, under your legs to below your buttocks.

Also, measure ankle to knee, ankle to thigh, thigh to waist.

Trousers are basically two tubes (legs) attached to two rectangular gussets (a large square for the bottom, narrow rectangle for the crotch). The Waist band is sewn on separately and can either be made as a tube for a drawstring, or you can sew on 6-8 belt loops.

Short breeches should fall just below the knee, long trousers should be fitted at the ankle. There is a small cut to allow the foot through, which is re-enforced with a blanket stitch.

Medium sized people need about 1.5m x 1.5m of fabric.

Sewing

Sewing the trousers can be a little more complex than the tunic or shirt, so take your time, and use pins or tack-stitches to get the right shape. Try them on a lot!

1. Pin the legs together along the curved edge from ankle to thigh, leaving 10cm at the bottom for the ankle slit. The garment will not sit perfectly flat or even at the ankle – this is ok, you’ll hem the ankle and tidy up later.
2. Tack stitch (long running stitch) the seam and try the leg on to make sure it fits, adjust where needed, then back stitch the seam. Repeat for the other leg (remember to mirror the fold as you’ll get two of the same legs!)
3. Pin the seat into the legs – start at the top and work down the curve from hip to thigh/crotch. You will not keep it perfectly square – this is good, you want a lot of stretch.
4. Pin in the crotch – it will connect to the seat, and the remaining parts of the legs. The leg seams will fall to the sides.
5. Tack together and fit, adjust as you need, then back stitch together.
6. If you find they are too tight in the thighs, add in triangular gores to the inside of the legs.

Waistband

1. Turn the trousers the proper way out (as if you are wearing them). On the outside, place your waistband so the edge of the waistband and top edge of the trousers meet (the widest part is at the back, the join is at the front – especially important if you use a drawstring!) Back stitch just below the edge, to the waistband is like a flap all around the waist.
2. Now fold the waistband up and over the edge and to the inside of the trousers. Roll the edge (so it is on the inside) and whip stitch it on.
3. Whip stitch the belt loops equally around the waist.

Making Viking Legwraps

Legwraps, sometimes called winingas or putees, are cloth strips that protect the lower leg. They need to be at least 2m long and are 10-20cm wide, whether they are woven as a single item, or cut and hemmed. A twill or herringbone wool is the best fabric as will be stretchier while you move around. Alternatively, a smaller tablet-woven band could be used.

Legwarps can be fasted with hooked tags, common throughout the Viking world, or tied with a band or thong. Project Forlog has a great page on the use of hooked-tags as clothes fasteners.

Cloaks and Shawls

Icons of female figures show a sort of shawl, where the rectangular or square-woven cloth is wrapped around the body and fastened at the front. It might look something like this:

Making a Jorvik Cap

Cap Pattern

The cap is a simple rectangular head covering with a tie under the chin. You can make it out of wool or linen. Cut a rectangle to the following dimensions:

1. Length: From your chin, to your right ear, over the crown of your head, down to your left ear and to your chin. (approx 60cm for medium sized head)
2. Width: From your forehead to the back of your skull, then half it. (approx 20cm for medium sized head)

Sewing

1. Fold in half
2. There are two methods to round the corner:
   1. Pictured: Sew an arc from the middle of the fold to the back edge and continue to sew the back seam. Cut off the excess and treat the seam.
   2. Sew the back edge, then pull the top in. Whip stitch the outside to create the curve.
3. Finish the back seam and hem the open edges
4. Optional: Add a tie – a loop of braid, or folded strips of linen.

Wimple Pattern

Alternatively, Christian women wear a wimple, a formal head scarf, in period artwork. The wimple is a a long semi-circle of cloth.

1. Length: is the length of out stretched arms
2. Width: at it’s thickest point is 1/4 to 1/3 the length. eg. If length is 100cm, with would be 25cm or 33cm.

You can use a bone, wooden or copper-alloy pin to secure, or use a tablet-woven band (sometimes called a fillet).

Making a Viking Hat

Several hats are present in the archaeological record or the Viking-Age. The two simplest to make are a 4-panel hat based on a find from Birka, Sewden, and a ‘pillbox’ hat from Leens, Netherlands. Other headgear also exists, such as hoods.

4-Panel Hat Pattern

Pillbox Hat Pattern

Accessories

The accessories listed here are personal items that finish off a costume. These are key items for the fit of clothing – usually functional as well as decorative, and some essential for any work or trade.

Shoes

Shoes from the Viking-age are made of leather and are usually of the turnshoe construction. The upper is cut as one piece then stitched to the sole inside out around a last – it is then turned the right way out so that the stitching is on the inside.

Knife and Sheath

Belt

Men wore a girdle around the waist, usually of leather. The strap is about 1/2 inch to 1 inch in width and tied (with split ends) or buckled. Belts are often made with two thin layers stitched together. Buckles are made from bone, iron, lead-alloy or copper-alloy. Buckles are sometimes accom­pa­nied by a strap-end (gesel) which protects the leather and pro­vides extra dec­oration. Many metal items in the Viking-age were stamped with a ring and dot motif, or scored with ‘dogs teeth’ markings.

Socks

The best preserved sock is from York and made from wool with a technique called nalbinding. The knotted construc­tion makes them extremely hard wearing, and quite wa­terproof. Then there’s simple sewn socks using normal woollen textiles, found at Skjoldeham in Norway.

Spindle

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For more information about textiles and clothing of the Viking-age, check out our article. We also have a summary of Viking Children’s clothing. Now ensconced on this blog, this page will be easier to edit and we intend to add pages covering other garments, such as the apron-dress or smokkr, the Klappenrock jacked, caftans and more.

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Further Reading

This guide is for new reenactors starting out, and those putting together simple costumes of early-medieval/Viking-age people, rather than an academic work. However, if you are in­ter­ested in finding out more about Viking-Age clothing and ac­cou­trements, please find a se­lec­tion of books and online ar­ticles below.

• Ben­der Jorgensen, L (1993). North Eu­ropean Textiles until AD 1000.
• Brandenburg, C.R (2010). Early medieval textile remains from settlements in the Netherlands. An evaluation of textile production. In Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries
• Burch, C (2019). Viking Age Fashion: Men’s Type I Tunic from 10th Century Haithabu (Hedeby) In: Project Broad Axe: Life, Death, and Fashion in Medieval Europe [Online]. Available at: https://projectbroadaxe.weebly.com/viking-age-nordic-history/viking-age-fashion-mens-type-i-tunic-from-10th-century-haithabu-hedeby
• Burch, C (2019). Viking Age Fashion: Pillbox Hat from 10th Century Haithabu (Hedeby). In: Project Broad Axe: Life, Death, and Fashion in Medieval Europe [Online]. Available at: https://projectbroadaxe.weebly.com/viking-age-nordic-history/viking-age-fashion-pillbox-hat-from-10th-century-haithabu-hedeby
• Cameron, E. Carlisle, I. Mould Q (1997). Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York
• Ew­ing, T. (2006). Viking Clothing.
• Fentz, M (1992). An 11th Century Shirt from Viborg In: Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe – Report from the 4th NESAT Symposium. Available at: http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/Viborg/VIBORG.HTM
• Geijer, A (1938). Birka III. Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern
• Hagg, I (1984). Die Textilfunde aus dem Hafen von Haithabu
• Hald, M (1980). Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials
• Haptalaon (2028), Masterpost: Dark Ages menswear for Vikings, Normans and Anglo Saxons. In: A Slip in Time [online]. Available at: https://aslipintime.wordpress.com/2018/03/31/masterpost-dark-ages-menswear-for-vikings-normans-and-anglo-saxons/
• Heckett, E (2003). Viking Age Head-Coverings From Dublin
• Jesch, J (1991). Women in the Viking Age
• Larsson, A (2008). Viking Age Textiles. In: Brink, S. eds (2008). The Viking World.
• Oster­gaard, E (2004). Woven into the Earth: Textile Finds in Norse Green­land.
• Owen-Crocker, G (2010). Dress in Anglo-Saxon England.
• Priest-Dorman, C (2001). Viking Resources for the Re-enactor. [Online] Available at: https://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikresource.html
• Priest-Dorman, C (2003). Textile Resources for the Re-enactor. [Online] Available at: https://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/textileres.html
• Rabiega, K (2019). Viking Dress Code: Textile and Leather Clothing in Scandinavia
• Schietzel, K (2022). Unearthing Hedeby
• Vlasatý, Tomáš (2023). Construction of early medieval tunics. In: Project Forlǫg [online]. Available at: https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/construction-of-early-medieval-tunics/.
• Vlasatý, Tomáš (2023). Notes on Early Medieval Women’s Dress. In: Project Forlǫg [online]. Available at: https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/notes-on-early-medieval-womens-dress/
• Wåhlander, L (2023). Buried at Birka. Three centuries, four Viking lives
• Walton-Rogers, P (2006). Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England: AD 450-700.
• Walton-Rogers, P (1997). Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate
• Walton-Rogers, P (1997). Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate