"I am not a primary source... I am barely a tertiary source." Statements like this are how I know I can actually *trust* someone presenting me with information.
@@SnappyDragon I've recently been listening to Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology - Freya's Unusual Wedding. Highly recommend if you aren't already familiar with it.
Every time I hear about Viking women's clothing, I remember that one weird historian (whose name I cannot be bothered to recall) who tried to suggest and put forward the idea that turtle broaches/oval broaches were nipple piercings. and that. Viking women would hang their wool dresses from these pins and piercings because reasons or something. I don't entirely remember what they were trying to say about it, but I still get a laugh that anyone could think that a wool dress could hang from a piercing like that and not just ruin everything in moments.
I haven't heard the nipple piercing thing but I have heard someone propose that the tortoise brooches were meant to go over breasts and that would make the apron dresses lower down.
I feel safe assuming women's belts were worn outside their dresses, for a number of common-sense reasons: hanging kit from the waist belt, getting the dress out of the way for work, looking not like a tent, and better distributing the weight of the wool dress.
When you said "I have never made any Viking women's clothing for myself" I just knew that was soon to change!😂💗 Lets all do a sew-along: apron dresses for all!
"Linen under wool" I recite, "avoid cotton" even though I've never and don't plan on making a reenactment viking age outfit for myself. That's a sign of a good video
I'm like "oh no I'm allergic to wool, hopefully the linen keeping it off my skin will be enough to- hold on... i forgot I have no intention of doing viking age reenactments"
This avice holds true for cold weather outdoorsing as well. The common saying is cotton kills (in cold weather). So thick wool layers over thinner long underwear and socks is what to wear for, say, climbing a snowy mountain or something like that. Even if you're doing no reinacting, it's still good advice.
@@chloepainter4064 It may be that, "cotton kills," because cotton absorbs moisture, but is not great at dissipating it. It will stay moist next to your skin, and in the cold, it will lower your body temperature. Linen wicks moisture away from your skin. I don't do reenactments, but I do wear only linen under my winter gear. And I never feel clammy from too much perspiration being held next to me.
My aversion to re-enactment clothing being made of man-made materials is primarily safety based. I love cosplay, but seeing someone get too close to an open flame, even a candle, while wearing polyester or rayon is terrifying. Please don't do it, no one wants a trip to the burn unit.
Cotton is actually aß dangerous aß Polyester. While poly-fabrics Melt Cotton, Lünen and so in burn (I try to use as much Natural Fiber aß possible for my Cosplays. Mostly Cotton and Lünen)
@@KaliqueClawthorne Ma’am, cotton and linen are indeed flammable, and you are right to be cautious with them, too, but polyester (and some other synthetics) MELTS onto skin, making the burning garment difficult to remove and causing a really awful burn. (Ref: I am a doctor who has worked in trauma & emergency departments.) Besides being generally cautious around fire, tailoring one’s garments closer to the body reduces the chance one’s clothes will catch on fire. Also, loose, airy weaves are the most likely to catch on fire & burn quickly. Wool can burn, of course, but it generally smolders, and is therefore less dangerous.
As a female viking reenactor - thank you for doing an evidence based video about this subject. You make many great points here, and I like that you encourage people to keep it simple and base their clothes on actual sources. I just found your channel, and will look at some more of your videos now. And also... yes, you should totally make a viking dress! :D
My grandmother liked to dress simply and modestly in natural fibers and colours, often accentuated with jewelry and silk or woolen shawls (some of which I inheirited). In other words, she dressed more like a Viking woman than the studded leather fantasy gear they are often portrayed as wearing in the movies...and although she was only about 5 feet tall, she had ginger hair when she was young and was as fierce as any Valkyrie. Her great granddaughter resembles her in many respects, save that she will probably be taller.
So cool you inherited such treasures! Your grandmother sounds like an awesome woman, it goes to show even shorter women can have a powerful presence. Also I've always admired ginger hair, it's the rarest color, and always reminds me of sunrise in autumn with the leaves in reds and golds. . .
I love how you talk about the thinking and research behind reenactment and historical interpretation, instead of just a list of rules - it's really engaging and invites people in to think and learn and make their own decisions!
thank you for pointing out that women were NOT treated equally, I get so annoyed when people claim that women were actually highly respected in viking culture (literally have seen someone say it's because men thought women were magic and so was math and so women controlled all the finances??)
Ezra, perhaps look into Icelandic history. Women ran the farms, they sent men off to fight - in fact the men couldn’t say no if the woman of the house sent off to kill a neighbour or two. I can’t stand when generalisations are made. Not all viking history is homogenous.
@@SifDal Exactly! These are people living across the entirety of Scandinavia, who made it all the way to Africa, Asia, and North America, during several centuries. It is impossible to speak for all of those people in single statements. One has to remember that at this time, people lived in small villages or farms and most people weren't necessarily very connected with the outside world. How each place looked and ran likely varied wildly.
@@PuffyRainbowCloud Yes there would definitely be regional differences, even more markedly so in these times when news and travel took longer than they do nowadays. I just find it annoyingly anachronistic when people try to shoehorn modern sensitivities into earlier time periods. I'm a woman, but I know women haven't been treated as equal to men all throughout history; and that doesn't lessen my own self esteem any. 🤷🏾♀️
So, no leather bustiers? Or loosely braided dredlocks? How about skin tight leather pants? Oh wait, I did see you video/rant about the costumes in The Vikings TV series. ;)
I think covering your hair has a practical aspect as well: it protects your hair from dust - useful in a time when people probably couldn't wash their hair as soon it got dirty, protects you from getting too hot from the sun (depending on color or fiber content).
Yay for floofiness in a Viking lady's dress. It would be like wearing a beautifully warm blanket around your legs all the time. The brooches sound kind of like an early version of a chatelaine. Thanks for sharing. So cool. Take care. Happy New Year!
They really are! I currently live far north for an American (Minnesota) and I love wearing woolen dresses all winter! So much cozier than pants. The Vikings were wise about dressing for the weather.
My persona is 10th century Icelandic. I made a linen basic under tunic and a linen apron dress with side gore's. I have rabbit skin lined linen York hood for warmth and a light weight. My belt is tablet woven wool (my craft is textiles).
14:16 now that you mention it.... I would love a video showing how viking reenactment fashion has changed, if that's something you can do! I think it'd be interesting to see how people used to interpret the information they had and why we now think differently.
Oh, I would be very interested in seeing that as well. It is always tricky to come to conclusions based on (in some cases) just a few scraps, and learning about older theories and why they are not seen as probable today, might help.
Years and years ago when I was in the SCA, there were many people who held that Viking apron dresses, open all the down on the sides, were not belted. That would have been both impractical for keeping you warm and dangerous for leaning over an open fire. I'm very glad to hear that you think they wore belts. I once ran across a book in the Iowa State University Library that contained an old photo of three women in traditional Scandinavian folk costume of their region, and the outer layer of all three costumes consisted of an open-sided apron dress that was belted together at the waist. Aha! To my mind, it was obviously an echo of the Viking apron dress.
You’re just trying to flatter him so he’ll give you the dress! But not if I flatter him first! I’ll be the prettiest man in the county with a nice Viking dress that matches my beard!
Nettle cloth! I'm just recalling some bog samples of underwear we thought was linen, but it was nettle. So, thay's be a fun historical weaving project.
re. Belts being under or over the dress, did the buckles and strap ends we’ve found in women’s graves consist of decorative castings and patterns? Or plain and undecorated? A mixture of both? I feel like an elaborately designed buckle wouldn’t be worn under a dress where nobody could see it. Just a thought though I’m no expert
Most medieval finds and sources say if your wealthy you flaunt it baby! You wore your belt over your clothes. Why wear a belt under? That makes no sense.
@@RandomAFP yeah probably, though there would have been a shift in between. Womens foundation garments barely changed between the early medieval period and the early 19th centuries. Doing reenactment? Get a linen shift from the approximate century/period.
This was such a jewel to find. It was like Matt mercer's respect and energy + Karolina Żebrowska 's sass and love for good research. I love this kind of content and I'm guessing I'll love this kind of community. Staying for the ride!! 🌿🎇
Married or single, covering the hair, at least with a coif or kerchief, WAS DONE. It keeps hair in place, keeps it cleaner. Modesty issues are optional. Any rational woman who cooks with open flame will cover her hair. Otherwise, do you know how fast hair burns? and what it smells like? Full on, uncovered, long hair is seen on a bride at her wedding, or a Queen at her coronation. I do Carolinigian, 780-800. Illumination? NOT a bliaut. It's the standard Frankish dress, a-line, with elbow/mid-arm trumpet or cone sleeves. It's covered with a mantle that covers the head and is pinned at the neck or on one shoulder. A bliaut doesn't appear until very late 11th c, but doesn't hit the form we associate with the term until the middle of the 12th c. (Something of a quick thumbnail on Frankish women's clothes- thin Byzantine, without the bling. A-line, yoke with the stripe down the center, band on the hem and sleeves. Use a brocade with rondels for the trim if you want the classic 'circles' look. And don't forget the mantle! --Liutgard of Luxeuil, OL, An Tir
Yes! When our city was in lockdown, my hair ended up at a length between my knees and ankles (because all the salons were closed) and I found myself wearing a head covering whenever I was cooking, it just made sense.
@@nartyteek Yeah, I think if I ever did re-enacting again I'd do boy garb! I had one (very inaccurate) male Viking outfit & I just felt more like me... & long gowns are a pain; so impractical! :D
About the gores: If you're going to seam your apron dress on both sides, you probably need gores, because otherwise you couldn't walk, I have a shift that goes over my butt and then straight down and it's too tight around the legs to do larger steps. But if you pleat your dress, you can probably do without gores because you would take a wide enough rectangle to accomodate for walking and then reduce the excess width around the torso with the pleating.
And accommodating pregnancy. So pleats in front and belts when needed. I seem to remember a paper on that dress by an academic who was female and about five months pregnant as she wrote it. Beautiful example of why we want lots of different sorts of people all over the place. She quickly and firmly offered extremely convincing arguments about how that dress worked.
Thank you for this video! After I went down a rabbit hole starting in Herjolfsness, I spent the last 3 or 4 months researching earlier medieval women's clothing online. Now that I had almost decided on how to sow my aprondress you show this absolutely amazing example. Soooooo - my plans just might have changed... Hayyp new year, Jimmy!
Loved to see you include the bliaut type dress! I used those exact sources for an interpretation of dress for a Ottonian noble woman anno 1000. Spliced some Byzantine flavour into it, since this particular woman (Adela van Hamaland) reportedly was quite in awe with Theophanu and likely met her on more then one occasion... Piecing together an outfit to fit a particular person in time is such fun!
That is actually really well done. We have professional costume designers at the museum I work at but nobody ever considered the fashion impact of courtly cultural exchanhe.
@@luxborealis Thank you for that :) I actually made that outfit for a museum, and was initially worried "going Byzantine" would not resonate with visitors. But, it wasn't my job to uphold the Hollywood fantasy people are accustomed to, and the museum really liked the idea. What museum are you at? PS: link to a photo of that commission: facebook.com/hetateliervantoen/photos/1584167721628711
Thank you for this! And as for how I wear my belt with my women's kit...I don't like looking like I'm wearing a sack, and the dresses are very sack like, so the belt give a waist. Knowing that people can't tell me I'm wrong to do that is rather handy!
Not to be cringy - but periods? Abby Cox has done a video on the methods of 18th century "catching the flow" as it were and a belt could definitely be used there.
Wouldn't the belt be to adjust the fit of your dress based on whether you were pregnant or not? Maternity clothes are a relatively recent thing, and most women would have many pregnancies back then.
That would depend on how much fabric was in the waist to begin with. In fairly sure that mine would not fit a pregnant belly, and just cinching a belt astound that much fabric would not be flattering at all. Or comfortable.
Thank you for all the information. I can say that I am super happy with the pleating on my Viking dress. They make it so much more comfy to wear and easier to lend to friends as it is easier to fit on different shaped people.
No idea why this was recommended to me, but now I want to get myself a nice viking dress and just walk around in the forest. Thanks for the info, I feel inspired now
You'll find it remarkably warm and comfortable in winter! I'm addicted to medieval clothing, because I currently live in Minnesota and I hate being cold. Viking women's dresses are comfortable as well as flattering, and wonderfully cozy.
Why would women not wear belts? That was the most stupid thing I ever heard! Also, about the different shape of brooches. You probably know this, but the different shapes seems to be different fashion in different areas. Like the animal heads are mostly found on Gotland etc. So if one want to really go nerdy on that there is a lot of fun things just about the oval brooches. :)
I've heard another reenacter say that the belts might nor have been worn by woman as they would hang their ustensils on their broaches, and the rest would go in their bags ( and most of men's stuff would also be carried around in bags, so no point overloading the belts). That being said this is jsut what I've heard before and I'm very new to reenactment, I don't think either interpretations are stupid but if there was indeed findings of belts around the waist area in several women's grave I would assume they wore them. Hope that answers your wuestion regarding the reason why women might not have worn belts c: Personnally I'll do my research before deciding on either option, but I'd really like to wear a belt bc 1-it's pretty 2-I think I'd be more practical than having stuff danging from my bosom.
@@revededragonnette3864 First of all, belts are used for so much more than just carrying stuff. Like holding your pants up, holding in your dress at the waist (try and actually work and watch a baby in an A-shaped dress without a belt and you will notice that you soon are entangled in everything) and just making you look blingy. Second of all, the pins in the brooches was not always that sturdy. If you put to much stuff on them, there is a high risk that you will loose all your valuable things. Hanging things from a belt in a belt purse is much safer. Also, as a women with a large hand bag, I say that if I would hang all my things from my brooches I would look like a walking Christmas tree... Not a practical look.😉 The main reason I am really thinking that people that say belts was not worn by women is stupid is: If you don't aim for historical accuracy and just want to play viking because "Heey, fun! I can run around and drink mead and ale and just party at a viking market" that's perfectly fine. I strongly encourage people to go and have fun if they want to. I am, my self, not always wearing such accurate things all the time. But the problem is when people say women wear that and women did not wear this and say that it is historical accurate when they haven't checked things properly and is mostly actually making up shit and pretend to know stuff when they don't. Because that's when others, that think these people actually knows stuff, will take it for a fact and suddenly we have an whole bunch of people that truly believe that women doesn't wore belts during Iron age when in fact there is several archaeological findings that prove that they did.
The debate with yourself at the end was better than the post-credit scenes in a Marvel movie. Now I'll await your dressmaking video with bated breath ❤️
I sew & wear linen shifts and apron-dresses. I sew wool garments all the time, but I cannot tolerate any extra heat during our North American summers. That said, I have worn tropical weight wool dress uniform trousers, and they weren’t bad. But the weave looks very modern to me.
As a woman I've actually learned a lot from your previous video's. As a weaver it took some digging and you covered several aspects of what was available in types of weave and cloth. I'm looking at my linen and have great plans - so this video couldn't have been timed better :) Still looking to source good wool...
I know you've probably heard this a ton, but I'd really love to hear you do an entire video dedicated to beads. I think you'd cover it so well, both from a historical and a reenactors perspective. That would be amazing!
This popped up in my recommended videos (I'd been looking at sewing vintage skirts) and, although I'm not planning on reenacting anything, it was very interesting - watched all the way to the end. Thanks for a fascinating look at historical clothing! Now I'm off to watch more of your videos. (Also, your hair is fantastic.)
And I can imagine them using naalbind hats in the winters up here in the North xD YES! Make a whole Viking Woman kit and let us be with you on the journey! :D I have been thinking of making a Viking kit but I fell down the rabbit hole on Finnish/Baltic style of the apron dress in the same era.... would they count in being Viking? xD
Well. Since viking literally means 'person that goes raiding' I'm inclined to say it depends on whether or not they were going on raids during that time
@@Amy_the_Lizard I guess I didnt write well enough. I ment the clothing. If the clothing would be seen as the right kind of clothes in viking reenactment.
There definitely was happening trade between Finnish people and Vikings, so I'd say it counts. Also this Finnish Jewellery company called Kalevala has made reconstructions of jewellery finds.
Re: Viking and linen (for outer garment) - not actually Viking but I found out that Lithuanian people traditionally relied on linen as their fiber of choice for clothing (...and everything else, really), despite them living in higher latitude, and this is because Lithuanian sheep's wool fiber was coarse, thus not suitable for clothing (I forgot if they used wool for something else but it didn't seem like it). I don't know if there were certain Viking communities that did similarly to the Lithuanians (that, or perhaps the Vikings were just luckier since their sheep's wool fiber was fine enough to be used for clothing purposes 😜🐑)
I wouldn’t say that I was missing this topic, but hey, I’m glad you went there. I mean there’s lots of female oriented historic clothing, but few that cover the period that you do with the historic rigor that you apply, so it was really interesting to hear your take. I also think that making a dress would be very cool just to get another take on construction and a different style etc(yes I watched Liz’s videos on her Herjolfsness dress....‘‘twas great !!). There’s not a lot of documentary/archaeological evidence for cross dressing, Thor notwithstanding (but then gods always got to do the titillating things that ordinary humans couldn’t, didnt they) but there was a mention in a saga(sorry can’t remember which one or what country it was) where a woman sues for divorce from her husband on the grounds of cross dressing. If they had laws relating to it, it must have been a “thing” often enough to be noticed one infers. The Viking attitude towards women as their attitudes to most things, seemed to be based in pragmatism. Yes women had rights....well, when the men were off a’viking or fishing, or trading(and yes there were female traders too), “someone” had to keep the farm running, the animals fed, milked, slaughtered, butchered and the meat prepared and stored, butter and cheeses made, to sow the crops, harvest and store the grain, as well as the traditional “womanly” tasks like caring for children, cooking, weaving, sewing etc. if a little legal power made them able to do these things better, then most men were happy to allow them those powers. They generally, still considered women, lesser beings tho. Yes their woman had much more freedom than most.....but that’s not saying a lot in medieval Europe, where “most” had no freedoms at all.
There's some old Icelandic breeds if I remember correctly, or if you're willing to deviate into southern Europe there's always the Merino. They're a pretty old breed, but I'm not sure if they go all the way back to viking age. It's been a while since I had to memorize sheep breeds for a class, and I didn't do very well in that part of the class anyway...
I believe they were mostly smallish double-coated sheep. I've been using gute, Icelandic, Manx Loaghtan and Norwegian, but I'm told shetland is also pretty good. Finnish wool is softer, and seems to be the nålebinder's wool of choice nowadays.
www.bonesandrozes.co.uk/wool-in-the-viking-era-sheep/ includes some others, I got gute locks from a swedish Web site, world of wool sells combed top manx (lovely stuff) don't know of anywhere selling anything ready spun.
Actually... I'm new to all this, but I look at the reenactment combs and all I can think is if they were making such lovely jewellery they must have been able to make combs that didn't look like wonky nails hammered into a spare bit of 2x4, and the quality of the textiles argues for that as well because you can't spin fine with badly prepped fibre.
Aaand today the Judith Jesch book arrived and right near the start there's a picture of a *much* better wool comb than I've seen for sale as a reproduction suitable for reenactment. It seems likely it had fine points which rusted away and if so, it would have been every bit as good as my modern combs. Really looking forward to being able to get out to museums.
I just stumbled across your channel and I'm LOVING it. I just applied for University for anthropology to study Scandinavian history and your channel makes me so excited to study!
Very nice presentation. I do Viking in the SCA and have a simple kit: twill woven linen underdresses, wool apron dresses over those with two oval brooches and a small number of glass beads plus a toiletry kit. Your suggestions are spot on as far as my research has shown and well presented. I don't wear a cap but do wrap my head with a linen scarf to mimic some of the small sculptures of women, you know, the tight head cover with a knob at the back to cover your hair etc... Thanks for doing this video. It's encouraging.
My first time in Viking kit, I borrowed a male friend’s wool tunic to wear under my wool apron dress! Slightly short, but it was covered by the apron and worked perfectly.
I really appreciate this video as a starting place for finding good primary sources haha. I make my own norse garb but sometimes I loose my references... I should add both my dad and I do a lot of reading of primary texts in early modern scandinavia (usually family history reasons), as far back as records go sometimes, and even into the medieval period women's rights are surprisingly good--albeit often in more rural areas. We have a lot of family homesteads in areas close to the norway/sweden border in värmland, and there are innumerable records of women inheriting land, defending property and inheritances and all that sort of thing in court records. It's about 1/3 of the record, to 2/3 of men doing the same, but that is not insignificant and, reading between the lines and taking a wide net of records, it paints a good picture of a pretty surprisingly progressive picture. It's in swedish, but my dad's currently writing a comparitive paper about it. I might translate it into english if there is enough interest, but it's covering a very wide period (about 1350 - 1630) and tracks basically women's rights and treatment in rural areas. Just my 2c that women weren't equal citizens in the same manner as today, but it's all relative; in most areas where half the population was women, they couldn't afford to be treated as less-than and, though there were outliers and technical legal oppositions, many women had a lot of freedom and society was far more egalitarian than we think it was and than other areas of contemporaneous euope
Can't believe the argument about belts is still going on, I thought we resolved that one over thirty years ago! Love your work, btw, especially this one which covers a lot of the ground we were fighting when I was doing Dark Ages reenactment in the '80's :)
When the kids were little and we were home schooling about the Middle Ages, I made myself a costume to teach a group of children in. It was NOT wool. LOL it was a shiny green damask with contrasting cream damask. The sleeves were bell shaped and the head piece was a round tube of fabric with trim wrapped around it and made to look like a wreath in my hair. (I had someone make it for me as I am not a sewer at that level.) Anyway, it made a great Halloween costume snd a nice Middle Ages costume for the next few times we covered the topic! I’m glad I didn’t know how far away from the real thing I actually was! Ha ha
I know this is an old video, but in case noone else has pointed it out, there were linen hangerocks/apron-dresses/whatever-you-call-thems: Hägg, Inga, 1974, "Kvinnodräkten i Birka, AUN 2" page 51, fig 37 has a table listing graves of different periods with linen and wool examples. There are 3 undated linen examples, and just one undated wool example, but for 800s there is just one grave with linen hangerocks and 5 for wool, and for 900s there are 4 graves for linen hangerocks and 14 for wool. Hägg also mentions linen lining on wool hangerocks. It's an interesting book if you can get hold of it, and if you can make out the Swedish text (I got my copy in the 1980s, and it is so much easier to make sense of it now that online translators are a thing!)
Purple silk cap? Oh yes, I'm very tempted to make my ancient ancestors go "what are you doing girl? Get that silly Norse fashion tosh off your head, NAO!" :D Also, a resounding HELL YES to seeing Jimmy make an apron dress! Apron dresses for everybody!
Ahhh this was super interesting!! I love sewing things by hand and I’ve been thinking of trying to make some traditional medieval clothing lately, so it’s good to get a sense of the different components that would have made up women’s outfits ☺️
Very accurate, compared with what I’ve already learned. Basic clothing throughout medieval Europe was a linen undergarment, shirt/shift/smock, woolen hose, leather shoes and a wool gown based on the Late Classical tunica. (I think the linen undergarment was introduced relatively late, but I’m not sure when). The biggest differences between male and female dress were the length of the gown, sometimes shorter for men, and possibly the undergarment also, and the requirement for married women to wear some sort of veil or head wrap, indoors and out. Outerwear was similar for both, woolen cloaks and hoods/caps. Even in the hot p Mediterranean region, virtually all clothing was made of lightweight woven wool. I wish I could find suitable brooches for Ancient Greek peplos dresses, basically one length of wool pinned at the shoulders, but can only find modern, very Celtic-looking designs.
Linen garments were used in Europe 6,000 years ago that we know of, due to finds that date that far back. I doubt that linen undergarments were unknown in early medieval times; they certainly would've been more comfortable and practical than wool undergarments. Surely there had to be people who preferred linen to homespun wool against their skin. Flax grows easily and everywhere in Europe. Travel was far more extensive than most people think. Irish gold jewelry, for example, has been found in the middle east. 4,000 year old gold Egyptian jewelry has been found in Ireland, so there's no reason to believe that skills weren't traded, too.
I can hardly wait for this. I purchased some yards of beautiful soft yellow wool not long ago, just so I can make myself a proper Viking kit. First however, I am obligated for a pair of Rus 'baggy' trousers for one son, and a Rus tunic for my other son. :D All will be hand sewn of course and the tunic and dress modestly trimmed with silk. We're a Scadian family here - in the Kingdom of the Outlands, Lol. Happy New Year to you all! Cheers! and best wishes for 2021. Oh, and Master Jimmy, I wish you had a Patreon account. ;)
I always was taught that a fillet was a foundational cloth strip you wore under and the object you pinned the wimple to? Either way, my norse garb has really always been a basic kerchief for the hair, which I modelled after the Rus traditional dress, more or less. It's most practical in getting it out of the way, and less effort than futzing around with sprang experiments 😅 Keep it simple, logical and functional is generally something that has served me pretty well!
As earling Viking clothing was unisexual in design, hell yes to the dress! Lol My your and yours have a healthy, prosperous and creative year ahead. Cheers to 2021 and many more of your videos.
Thank you so much for going out of your way to provide us with a starting point for women's clothing, too. I appreciate how you always list sources and encourage us to do our own research. :)
I know, old vid, buuuuuut as a woman, with fairly long hair (to my waist) I have to point out that caps, vails and other means of covering the hair isn't by no means for female opression perpuse only....covering the hair keeps it clean and nice even when you can't wash it every time you done some kind of physical labour.
This is an unrelated comment to telling you this is a good video, but I LOVE your jumper. If you ever need someone experienced in reading medieval swedish/danish/norwegian and anything in between, do let me know, my dad and I do that a lot ;)
@@HosCreates mainly by using parish registers, wills and other things of that kind. If you know who was the son/daughter of whom and you can find addresses and records of christenings, weddings, occupations in census records, it becomes a bit easier. Sometimes it really is guesswork, however. If you can transcribe the swedish, you can plug it into google translate, and usually that kind of document isn't too complex and should give you some idea of what's going on. It's what I do when I can't read it/find my dad! If it's too hard that's when you dive into geneology forums
If you wanna earn some money off that, I happen to know Lionbridge is doing an early modern Norwegian transcription project right now. I apparently had too many transcript errors in my entrance test to be accepted (I am a historian of the 19th century, so my ability in older periods is limited), but you might have better luck.
Sorry for the third comment, but do you have a po box or somesuch? I do a lot of nålbinding, especially fine gauge, and I'd love to send you something cos I always do better if I'm making something for someone and I am always looking for project ideas. If you have a preference and would like me to make some norse object for you that could be of use, let me know!
Edit: Goodness, how generous! Whatever is your favourite garment to nålbind would be wonderful! I don't have a PO Box yet as they're a little expensive, but if you have Instagram or Facebook, do send me a message (facebook.com/thewelshviking1), and I'll happily send you a secure address! I'm negotiating getting a better one now which I'll put in my Community section soon :D
You have been a springboard for many a deep dive into hours of manuscripts and I've got several projects waiting in the wings as a result. As always, I'm appreciative of your starting points. It's making me a bit giddy that you shouted me out for this particular video lol It is my pleasure and I hope it helps for whatever you need it to
As a medieval reenactor, I wear my belt on top of all my layers. For practical reasons. If I keep stuff hanging from my belt which I will need regularly, it helps to have it readily available on the outside of my clothing. Also, when I step near a fireplace to tend to the fire or to cook, the swoosh of my dress is likely to catch fire, so what do I do? I tuck the hem of my dress up in my belt while I'm close to the flame. I believe there are some medieval illustrations that show women tucking their skirts in belts for practicality too, and when you're in a dress, it just makes a whole world of intuitive sense to do so.
Love this advise! being a Women, a "Viking" History enthusiast and archeologist this is a great video. I have made a couple of fun" non evidences " based dresses. With my next project I want to make all historically accurate as possible.. I have hand stitched 19th century clothing before. I started felting recently and was thinking of making a hat. was there any wool hats found at sites? Happy New year to you (and Mari) too!
Just discovered your channel looking for Viking historical fashion and I love this video! Time to binge all your content and add you to my ever growing list of costubers!
Good golly I can’t stop watching your videos. Such incredible content and cheekiness and charm. Thank you for all of the work you’re doing, and much love and gratitude from Vancouver Island, Canada 🇨🇦
I can tell you from being a fair skinned person that i wear head coverings when at events to help keep from being burnt as sunscreen doesn't really work but spf fabric does. so it could be if they don't need to wear it for other reasons that could be. now obviously i am drawing this hypothesis from my own experience but it is a simple reason
An interesting thing I saw about the history of women's clothing was focused on maternity clothing. Multiple youtubers and articles talked about how (with the exception of the extraordinarily wealthy) ALL women's clothing was maternity clothing. For centuries, in basically all of Europe, women wore dresses that had room for bloating, hormonal weight gain, and pregnancy. The same dress that fit you at 40 weeks of pregnancy, would simply be tied tighter about you as you lost the baby weight.
Your channel is a research prompt. I have learned so much by researching things you have talked about. I take notes of the things that peak my interest while watching your videos and dig deeper. Thank you!
For the winter times I do think that people did have some fur pelts or aspects for the outfits. Like fur leg and arm warmers. I don't know if people did wear fur items but I. Like to think they did.
Thank you for this! This video is really useful. My first foray into historical costuming is a male and female version of Loki. I've got the basic design down for the male version, but had no idea where to start for the female version. I'll go have a look at those references you left to continue my research. Thank you again. Go make yourself that dress! :)
Blast the algorithm that has hidden your videos from me for many months now even when I'm subscribed with all the alerts on! I have missed you mate! Thank you for this video, it's timely since I'm finally putting together an ensemble to wear. I'm not going for super historical, but decent enough. And of course you are one of my favourite research helper/jump-off points. x
"I am not a primary source... I am barely a tertiary source."
Statements like this are how I know I can actually *trust* someone presenting me with information.
A woman's dress is just a longer version of a man's tunic, so you've definitely got the skills. You could dress up as Thor dressed up as Freya.
I need this STAT.
@@SnappyDragon I've recently been listening to Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology - Freya's Unusual Wedding. Highly recommend if you aren't already familiar with it.
+
(and have a friend as Loki as Frejas handmaid)
He'd be the dude playing the dude playing the dudette.
Every time I hear about Viking women's clothing, I remember that one weird historian (whose name I cannot be bothered to recall) who tried to suggest and put forward the idea that turtle broaches/oval broaches were nipple piercings. and that. Viking women would hang their wool dresses from these pins and piercings because reasons or something. I don't entirely remember what they were trying to say about it, but I still get a laugh that anyone could think that a wool dress could hang from a piercing like that and not just ruin everything in moments.
Wha... wha... no! NO! That’s appalling!
🙀”ruin everything” is right!!! Nipples included I should think. Ouch!!,
I haven't heard the nipple piercing thing but I have heard someone propose that the tortoise brooches were meant to go over breasts and that would make the apron dresses lower down.
Thats the most ridiculous thing I've heard! They are always found at the shoulders.
@@VikingMakery Wow...
I feel safe assuming women's belts were worn outside their dresses, for a number of common-sense reasons: hanging kit from the waist belt, getting the dress out of the way for work, looking not like a tent, and better distributing the weight of the wool dress.
MAKE THE DRESS!
MAKE A DRESS, MODEL THE DRESS!
Want to see Jimmy sew the dress, please.
a Jim & Morgan Donner collab on making twin dresses !
@@LorChampan YES!
MAKE THE DRESSES!
@@LorChampan I'm totally here for that!
@@LorChampan 2 sexy potatoes together! I was wondering why he didn't mention the herjolfsnes finds, I suppose they are not "viking" by that period.
Oooooh man those pictures of a pleated apron dress ? They make my little perfection sewing heart bounce. So neat. So pretty. Plz make.
urd.priv.no/viking/kostrup.html -- really good info here
Right?? The first time I saw smocking on a Viking dress, my heart went all pitty-pat.
I'm very concerned if your heart is bouncing, my friend, because that's a heart attack
Right? That's basically sewing porn right there.
Mine too! That's a truly awesome find -- we could make it and it's authentic!
When you said "I have never made any Viking women's clothing for myself" I just knew that was soon to change!😂💗 Lets all do a sew-along: apron dresses for all!
"Linen under wool" I recite, "avoid cotton" even though I've never and don't plan on making a reenactment viking age outfit for myself. That's a sign of a good video
Hahaha. Same here! Not gonna do it but it's like:"let me write it down, just in case..."
I'm like "oh no I'm allergic to wool, hopefully the linen keeping it off my skin will be enough to- hold on... i forgot I have no intention of doing viking age reenactments"
This avice holds true for cold weather outdoorsing as well. The common saying is cotton kills (in cold weather). So thick wool layers over thinner long underwear and socks is what to wear for, say, climbing a snowy mountain or something like that. Even if you're doing no reinacting, it's still good advice.
You could use hemp cloth instead of linen.
@@chloepainter4064 It may be that, "cotton kills," because cotton absorbs moisture, but is not great at dissipating it. It will stay moist next to your skin, and in the cold, it will lower your body temperature.
Linen wicks moisture away from your skin.
I don't do reenactments, but I do wear only linen under my winter gear. And I never feel clammy from too much perspiration being held next to me.
How my history loving butt got here I do not know, but am I totally down with a handsome welsh Viking-man telling me about Viking fashion.
My aversion to re-enactment clothing being made of man-made materials is primarily safety based.
I love cosplay, but seeing someone get too close to an open flame, even a candle, while wearing polyester or rayon is terrifying.
Please don't do it, no one wants a trip to the burn unit.
Cotton is actually aß dangerous aß Polyester. While poly-fabrics Melt Cotton, Lünen and so in burn (I try to use as much Natural Fiber aß possible for my Cosplays. Mostly Cotton and Lünen)
@@KaliqueClawthorne
Are you okay? Seems you’ve got a bit of German in your keyboard.
@@KaliqueClawthorne Ma’am, cotton and linen are indeed flammable, and you are right to be cautious with them, too, but polyester (and some other synthetics) MELTS onto skin, making the burning garment difficult to remove and causing a really awful burn. (Ref: I am a doctor who has worked in trauma & emergency departments.)
Besides being generally cautious around fire, tailoring one’s garments closer to the body reduces the chance one’s clothes will catch on fire. Also, loose, airy weaves are the most likely to catch on fire & burn quickly.
Wool can burn, of course, but it generally smolders, and is therefore less dangerous.
@@Tina06019 that was what I actually meant.
@@luxborealis Maybe. My Smartphone doesn't like English on TH-cam
As a female viking reenactor - thank you for doing an evidence based video about this subject. You make many great points here, and I like that you encourage people to keep it simple and base their clothes on actual sources. I just found your channel, and will look at some more of your videos now. And also... yes, you should totally make a viking dress! :D
Jim...the description of the silhouette as "women's toilet" made me die omfg
it's true but you shouldn't say it
Same 😂
My grandmother liked to dress simply and modestly in natural fibers and colours, often accentuated with jewelry and silk or woolen shawls (some of which I inheirited). In other words, she dressed more like a Viking woman than the studded leather fantasy gear they are often portrayed as wearing in the movies...and although she was only about 5 feet tall, she had ginger hair when she was young and was as fierce as any Valkyrie. Her great granddaughter resembles her in many respects, save that she will probably be taller.
So cool you inherited such treasures! Your grandmother sounds like an awesome woman, it goes to show even shorter women can have a powerful presence. Also I've always admired ginger hair, it's the rarest color, and always reminds me of sunrise in autumn with the leaves in reds and golds. . .
Pure class in my opinion. I wish more of us took this approach to our attire.
I love how you talk about the thinking and research behind reenactment and historical interpretation, instead of just a list of rules - it's really engaging and invites people in to think and learn and make their own decisions!
Thank you! This is exactly what I was hoping people would feel after watching this one :D
thank you for pointing out that women were NOT treated equally, I get so annoyed when people claim that women were actually highly respected in viking culture (literally have seen someone say it's because men thought women were magic and so was math and so women controlled all the finances??)
Ezra, perhaps look into Icelandic history. Women ran the farms, they sent men off to fight - in fact the men couldn’t say no if the woman of the house sent off to kill a neighbour or two. I can’t stand when generalisations are made. Not all viking history is homogenous.
@@SifDal Exactly! These are people living across the entirety of Scandinavia, who made it all the way to Africa, Asia, and North America, during several centuries. It is impossible to speak for all of those people in single statements. One has to remember that at this time, people lived in small villages or farms and most people weren't necessarily very connected with the outside world. How each place looked and ran likely varied wildly.
@@PuffyRainbowCloud Yes there would definitely be regional differences, even more markedly so in these times when news and travel took longer than they do nowadays.
I just find it annoyingly anachronistic when people try to shoehorn modern sensitivities into earlier time periods. I'm a woman, but I know women haven't been treated as equal to men all throughout history; and that doesn't lessen my own self esteem any. 🤷🏾♀️
Life was rougher but if yo man brought back a slave or two, you could manage alright. (Less fish cleaning or wood gathering in your list of chores.)
@@MsBizzyGurl spinning. If you're sending men out sailing they need sails, and cloth takes an amazing amount of time to make. Fabric is wealth.
Please, with all my heart, make the apron dress. That's the wholesomeness we need going into 2021.
So, no leather bustiers? Or loosely braided dredlocks? How about skin tight leather pants? Oh wait, I did see you video/rant about the costumes in The Vikings TV series. ;)
Steam punk is awesome but people acknowledge more of the creativity involved.
I think covering your hair has a practical aspect as well: it protects your hair from dust - useful in a time when people probably couldn't wash their hair as soon it got dirty, protects you from getting too hot from the sun (depending on color or fiber content).
Isn't that also one of the reasons people braided their hair? That kept it neater, out of the eyes and mouth, and also kept it relatively clean?
Yay for floofiness in a Viking lady's dress. It would be like wearing a beautifully warm blanket around your legs all the time. The brooches sound kind of like an early version of a chatelaine. Thanks for sharing. So cool. Take care. Happy New Year!
They really are! I currently live far north for an American (Minnesota) and I love wearing woolen dresses all winter! So much cozier than pants. The Vikings were wise about dressing for the weather.
My persona is 10th century Icelandic. I made a linen basic under tunic and a linen apron dress with side gore's. I have rabbit skin lined linen York hood for warmth and a light weight. My belt is tablet woven wool (my craft is textiles).
14:16 now that you mention it.... I would love a video showing how viking reenactment fashion has changed, if that's something you can do! I think it'd be interesting to see how people used to interpret the information they had and why we now think differently.
Oh, I would be very interested in seeing that as well. It is always tricky to come to conclusions based on (in some cases) just a few scraps, and learning about older theories and why they are not seen as probable today, might help.
Years and years ago when I was in the SCA, there were many people who held that Viking apron dresses, open all the down on the sides, were not belted. That would have been both impractical for keeping you warm and dangerous for leaning over an open fire. I'm very glad to hear that you think they wore belts. I once ran across a book in the Iowa State University Library that contained an old photo of three women in traditional Scandinavian folk costume of their region, and the outer layer of all three costumes consisted of an open-sided apron dress that was belted together at the waist. Aha! To my mind, it was obviously an echo of the Viking apron dress.
I guess those costumes were Finnish.
This feels weird but I have to say.... You sir, are incredibly handsome
You’re just trying to flatter him so he’ll give you the dress! But not if I flatter him first! I’ll be the prettiest man in the county with a nice Viking dress that matches my beard!
Nettle cloth! I'm just recalling some bog samples of underwear we thought was linen, but it was nettle. So, thay's be a fun historical weaving project.
Nettle cloth existed. It's a fairly recent discovery.
Make the Viking dress. I would love to see how you interpret the broaches and jewelry.
PLEASE do a video making an apron dress! I would enjoy that so much!
If this helps: www.builtfjordtough.com/sewing-classes
re. Belts being under or over the dress, did the buckles and strap ends we’ve found in women’s graves consist of decorative castings and patterns? Or plain and undecorated? A mixture of both? I feel like an elaborately designed buckle wouldn’t be worn under a dress where nobody could see it. Just a thought though I’m no expert
That's a good point
Most medieval finds and sources say if your wealthy you flaunt it baby! You wore your belt over your clothes. Why wear a belt under? That makes no sense.
I was going to say it'd probably have been uncomfortable as well and then I remembered the world before lockdown with its fancy underwired bras
@@RandomAFP yeah probably, though there would have been a shift in between. Womens foundation garments barely changed between the early medieval period and the early 19th centuries. Doing reenactment? Get a linen shift from the approximate century/period.
@@emjenkins464 am aware, it was more a dig at what we were all wearing before we started living in our pyjamas.
This was such a jewel to find. It was like Matt mercer's respect and energy + Karolina Żebrowska 's sass and love for good research. I love this kind of content and I'm guessing I'll love this kind of community. Staying for the ride!! 🌿🎇
Oh dang, the Matt Mercer comparison is spot on!
@@brittanygilbert7843 the glorious hair!
I'd love to play a ttrpg all three of them. It would be awesome.
Married or single, covering the hair, at least with a coif or kerchief, WAS DONE. It keeps hair in place, keeps it cleaner. Modesty issues are optional. Any rational woman who cooks with open flame will cover her hair. Otherwise, do you know how fast hair burns? and what it smells like?
Full on, uncovered, long hair is seen on a bride at her wedding, or a Queen at her coronation.
I do Carolinigian, 780-800. Illumination? NOT a bliaut. It's the standard Frankish dress, a-line, with elbow/mid-arm trumpet or cone sleeves. It's covered with a mantle that covers the head and is pinned at the neck or on one shoulder. A bliaut doesn't appear until very late 11th c, but doesn't hit the form we associate with the term until the middle of the 12th c.
(Something of a quick thumbnail on Frankish women's clothes- thin Byzantine, without the bling. A-line, yoke with the stripe down the center, band on the hem and sleeves. Use a brocade with rondels for the trim if you want the classic 'circles' look. And don't forget the mantle! --Liutgard of Luxeuil, OL, An Tir
Thanks for the info and the ALL CAPS WHICH REALLY HELP.
As a guy with hairy hands who've worked in a kitchen: You get used to the smell, but I'd never work in a kitchen with hair on the loose.
Yes! When our city was in lockdown, my hair ended up at a length between my knees and ankles (because all the salons were closed) and I found myself wearing a head covering whenever I was cooking, it just made sense.
Yes this was very useful, thank you! And also yes to making a dress yourself. That would be lovely!
@@nartyteek Yeah, I think if I ever did re-enacting again I'd do boy garb! I had one (very inaccurate) male Viking outfit & I just felt more like me... & long gowns are a pain; so impractical! :D
About the gores: If you're going to seam your apron dress on both sides, you probably need gores, because otherwise you couldn't walk,
I have a shift that goes over my butt and then straight down and it's too tight around the legs to do larger steps.
But if you pleat your dress, you can probably do without gores because you would take a wide enough rectangle to accomodate for walking and then reduce the excess width around the torso with the pleating.
And accommodating pregnancy. So pleats in front and belts when needed. I seem to remember a paper on that dress by an academic who was female and about five months pregnant as she wrote it. Beautiful example of why we want lots of different sorts of people all over the place. She quickly and firmly offered extremely convincing arguments about how that dress worked.
Thank you for this video! After I went down a rabbit hole starting in Herjolfsness, I spent the last 3 or 4 months researching earlier medieval women's clothing online. Now that I had almost decided on how to sow my aprondress you show this absolutely amazing example. Soooooo - my plans just might have changed... Hayyp new year, Jimmy!
I don’t classify that as a rant, I want a better rant!! I feel robbed of a promised rant. Woe is meee!
An often overlooked practicality of headwear was to hide or prevent catching head lice.
Loved to see you include the bliaut type dress! I used those exact sources for an interpretation of dress for a Ottonian noble woman anno 1000. Spliced some Byzantine flavour into it, since this particular woman (Adela van Hamaland) reportedly was quite in awe with Theophanu and likely met her on more then one occasion... Piecing together an outfit to fit a particular person in time is such fun!
That is actually really well done. We have professional costume designers at the museum I work at but nobody ever considered the fashion impact of courtly cultural exchanhe.
@@luxborealis Thank you for that :) I actually made that outfit for a museum, and was initially worried "going Byzantine" would not resonate with visitors. But, it wasn't my job to uphold the Hollywood fantasy people are accustomed to, and the museum really liked the idea.
What museum are you at?
PS: link to a photo of that commission: facebook.com/hetateliervantoen/photos/1584167721628711
I thank you for the slide of the shoes. Novelist here, much to learn.
I love noticing whenever your nails are painted it's adorable
Thank you for this! And as for how I wear my belt with my women's kit...I don't like looking like I'm wearing a sack, and the dresses are very sack like, so the belt give a waist. Knowing that people can't tell me I'm wrong to do that is rather handy!
Not to be cringy - but periods? Abby Cox has done a video on the methods of 18th century "catching the flow" as it were and a belt could definitely be used there.
Oh, it definitely could have been used for that, but that's also just as likely to be held up by apron strings, as it was in Abby's video.
Makes sense to me to wear a belt over your clothes. Why wear one under who ever came up with that idea is an idiot.
Wouldn't the belt be to adjust the fit of your dress based on whether you were pregnant or not? Maternity clothes are a relatively recent thing, and most women would have many pregnancies back then.
That would depend on how much fabric was in the waist to begin with. In fairly sure that mine would not fit a pregnant belly, and just cinching a belt astound that much fabric would not be flattering at all. Or comfortable.
Thank you for all the information. I can say that I am super happy with the pleating on my Viking dress. They make it so much more comfy to wear and easier to lend to friends as it is easier to fit on different shaped people.
Depending on whether your Dublin cap is wool or silk, it could have been dyed with madder or lichen :)
Further reading if anyone is interested
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PJgYKboH_qbX9JAyXiyPCiCdJzJf7Uhw?usp=sharing
@@YlvaTheRed thank you!
No idea why this was recommended to me, but now I want to get myself a nice viking dress and just walk around in the forest. Thanks for the info, I feel inspired now
You'll find it remarkably warm and comfortable in winter! I'm addicted to medieval clothing, because I currently live in Minnesota and I hate being cold. Viking women's dresses are comfortable as well as flattering, and wonderfully cozy.
Why would women not wear belts? That was the most stupid thing I ever heard!
Also, about the different shape of brooches. You probably know this, but the different shapes seems to be different fashion in different areas. Like the animal heads are mostly found on Gotland etc. So if one want to really go nerdy on that there is a lot of fun things just about the oval brooches. :)
As the spinners know, belts are super-useful if you're having to carry/use particular kinds of distaff.
I've heard another reenacter say that the belts might nor have been worn by woman as they would hang their ustensils on their broaches, and the rest would go in their bags ( and most of men's stuff would also be carried around in bags, so no point overloading the belts). That being said this is jsut what I've heard before and I'm very new to reenactment, I don't think either interpretations are stupid but if there was indeed findings of belts around the waist area in several women's grave I would assume they wore them. Hope that answers your wuestion regarding the reason why women might not have worn belts c:
Personnally I'll do my research before deciding on either option, but I'd really like to wear a belt bc 1-it's pretty 2-I think I'd be more practical than having stuff danging from my bosom.
@@revededragonnette3864 First of all, belts are used for so much more than just carrying stuff. Like holding your pants up, holding in your dress at the waist (try and actually work and watch a baby in an A-shaped dress without a belt and you will notice that you soon are entangled in everything) and just making you look blingy. Second of all, the pins in the brooches was not always that sturdy. If you put to much stuff on them, there is a high risk that you will loose all your valuable things. Hanging things from a belt in a belt purse is much safer. Also, as a women with a large hand bag, I say that if I would hang all my things from my brooches I would look like a walking Christmas tree... Not a practical look.😉
The main reason I am really thinking that people that say belts was not worn by women is stupid is: If you don't aim for historical accuracy and just want to play viking because "Heey, fun! I can run around and drink mead and ale and just party at a viking market" that's perfectly fine. I strongly encourage people to go and have fun if they want to. I am, my self, not always wearing such accurate things all the time. But the problem is when people say women wear that and women did not wear this and say that it is historical accurate when they haven't checked things properly and is mostly actually making up shit and pretend to know stuff when they don't. Because that's when others, that think these people actually knows stuff, will take it for a fact and suddenly we have an whole bunch of people that truly believe that women doesn't wore belts during Iron age when in fact there is several archaeological findings that prove that they did.
@@revededragonnette3864 Amen, sister! (And that was meant in a totally inclusive way).
The “husfrue” would have worn her keys on her person as a status symbol, and a belt around her waist would be the simplest place to keep them.
The debate with yourself at the end was better than the post-credit scenes in a Marvel movie. Now I'll await your dressmaking video with bated breath ❤️
I sew & wear linen shifts and apron-dresses. I sew wool garments all the time, but I cannot tolerate any extra heat during our North American summers.
That said, I have worn tropical weight wool dress uniform trousers, and they weren’t bad. But the weave looks very modern to me.
As a woman I've actually learned a lot from your previous video's. As a weaver it took some digging and you covered several aspects of what was available in types of weave and cloth. I'm looking at my linen and have great plans - so this video couldn't have been timed better :) Still looking to source good wool...
I know you've probably heard this a ton, but I'd really love to hear you do an entire video dedicated to beads. I think you'd cover it so well, both from a historical and a reenactors perspective. That would be amazing!
This popped up in my recommended videos (I'd been looking at sewing vintage skirts) and, although I'm not planning on reenacting anything, it was very interesting - watched all the way to the end. Thanks for a fascinating look at historical clothing! Now I'm off to watch more of your videos. (Also, your hair is fantastic.)
And I can imagine them using naalbind hats in the winters up here in the North xD
YES! Make a whole Viking Woman kit and let us be with you on the journey! :D
I have been thinking of making a Viking kit but I fell down the rabbit hole on Finnish/Baltic style of the apron dress in the same era.... would they count in being Viking? xD
The "Scandinavian migration era" is what I seen it referred to which is much better.
The word I've seen used most often (in Finland) translates as the "Migration era".
Well. Since viking literally means 'person that goes raiding' I'm inclined to say it depends on whether or not they were going on raids during that time
@@Amy_the_Lizard I guess I didnt write well enough. I ment the clothing. If the clothing would be seen as the right kind of clothes in viking reenactment.
There definitely was happening trade between Finnish people and Vikings, so I'd say it counts. Also this Finnish Jewellery company called Kalevala has made reconstructions of jewellery finds.
I like the way you talk about the stuff we don't know 100%, that's a mark of a real researcher! What a delightful channel! *Subscribed*
Linen under wool! Excellent advice.
Yes! Some wool is poor quality and is to scratchy to wear near skin
Re: Viking and linen (for outer garment) - not actually Viking but I found out that Lithuanian people traditionally relied on linen as their fiber of choice for clothing (...and everything else, really), despite them living in higher latitude, and this is because Lithuanian sheep's wool fiber was coarse, thus not suitable for clothing (I forgot if they used wool for something else but it didn't seem like it). I don't know if there were certain Viking communities that did similarly to the Lithuanians (that, or perhaps the Vikings were just luckier since their sheep's wool fiber was fine enough to be used for clothing purposes 😜🐑)
I wouldn’t say that I was missing this topic, but hey, I’m glad you went there. I mean there’s lots of female oriented historic clothing, but few that cover the period that you do with the historic rigor that you apply, so it was really interesting to hear your take. I also think that making a dress would be very cool just to get another take on construction and a different style etc(yes I watched Liz’s videos on her Herjolfsness dress....‘‘twas great !!). There’s not a lot of documentary/archaeological evidence for cross dressing, Thor notwithstanding (but then gods always got to do the titillating things that ordinary humans couldn’t, didnt they) but there was a mention in a saga(sorry can’t remember which one or what country it was) where a woman sues for divorce from her husband on the grounds of cross dressing. If they had laws relating to it, it must have been a “thing” often enough to be noticed one infers. The Viking attitude towards women as their attitudes to most things, seemed to be based in pragmatism. Yes women had rights....well, when the men were off a’viking or fishing, or trading(and yes there were female traders too), “someone” had to keep the farm running, the animals fed, milked, slaughtered, butchered and the meat prepared and stored, butter and cheeses made, to sow the crops, harvest and store the grain, as well as the traditional “womanly” tasks like caring for children, cooking, weaving, sewing etc. if a little legal power made them able to do these things better, then most men were happy to allow them those powers. They generally, still considered women, lesser beings tho. Yes their woman had much more freedom than most.....but that’s not saying a lot in medieval Europe, where “most” had no freedoms at all.
Thank you for this peek into Viking women's clothing. Adore the pleated apron dress replica!
I love those last few seconds is just all of us coming up with a new project despite the 20 incomplete ones sat around
Me wanting to make something authentic:
Alright where do I get myself some northern european breed of wooly animals that existed back then?
There's some old Icelandic breeds if I remember correctly, or if you're willing to deviate into southern Europe there's always the Merino. They're a pretty old breed, but I'm not sure if they go all the way back to viking age. It's been a while since I had to memorize sheep breeds for a class, and I didn't do very well in that part of the class anyway...
I believe they were mostly smallish double-coated sheep. I've been using gute, Icelandic, Manx Loaghtan and Norwegian, but I'm told shetland is also pretty good. Finnish wool is softer, and seems to be the nålebinder's wool of choice nowadays.
www.bonesandrozes.co.uk/wool-in-the-viking-era-sheep/ includes some others, I got gute locks from a swedish Web site, world of wool sells combed top manx (lovely stuff) don't know of anywhere selling anything ready spun.
Shetland, North Ronaldsey
Whilst I appreciate the enthusiasm, I do not have the space on a tiny apartment balcony to raise sheeps.
oooh stuff to read! And yeah, the gauge of the York sock is crazy-making. Naturally I'm trying to match it.
Actually... I'm new to all this, but I look at the reenactment combs and all I can think is if they were making such lovely jewellery they must have been able to make combs that didn't look like wonky nails hammered into a spare bit of 2x4, and the quality of the textiles argues for that as well because you can't spin fine with badly prepped fibre.
Aaand today the Judith Jesch book arrived and right near the start there's a picture of a *much* better wool comb than I've seen for sale as a reproduction suitable for reenactment. It seems likely it had fine points which rusted away and if so, it would have been every bit as good as my modern combs. Really looking forward to being able to get out to museums.
I just stumbled across your channel and I'm LOVING it. I just applied for University for anthropology to study Scandinavian history and your channel makes me so excited to study!
I just started writing on my Norse/Viking fantasy novel. This will be perfectly useful. Thank you!
when you flashed to that Jim Lyngvild painting with just the enourmes"NOT LIKE THIS", it sparked joy.
Very nice presentation. I do Viking in the SCA and have a simple kit: twill woven linen underdresses, wool apron dresses over those with two oval brooches and a small number of glass beads plus a toiletry kit. Your suggestions are spot on as far as my research has shown and well presented. I don't wear a cap but do wrap my head with a linen scarf to mimic some of the small sculptures of women, you know, the tight head cover with a knob at the back to cover your hair etc... Thanks for doing this video. It's encouraging.
My first time in Viking kit, I borrowed a male friend’s wool tunic to wear under my wool apron dress! Slightly short, but it was covered by the apron and worked perfectly.
I really appreciate this video as a starting place for finding good primary sources haha. I make my own norse garb but sometimes I loose my references...
I should add both my dad and I do a lot of reading of primary texts in early modern scandinavia (usually family history reasons), as far back as records go sometimes, and even into the medieval period women's rights are surprisingly good--albeit often in more rural areas. We have a lot of family homesteads in areas close to the norway/sweden border in värmland, and there are innumerable records of women inheriting land, defending property and inheritances and all that sort of thing in court records. It's about 1/3 of the record, to 2/3 of men doing the same, but that is not insignificant and, reading between the lines and taking a wide net of records, it paints a good picture of a pretty surprisingly progressive picture. It's in swedish, but my dad's currently writing a comparitive paper about it. I might translate it into english if there is enough interest, but it's covering a very wide period (about 1350 - 1630) and tracks basically women's rights and treatment in rural areas. Just my 2c that women weren't equal citizens in the same manner as today, but it's all relative; in most areas where half the population was women, they couldn't afford to be treated as less-than and, though there were outliers and technical legal oppositions, many women had a lot of freedom and society was far more egalitarian than we think it was and than other areas of contemporaneous euope
I think you need a t-shirt with i am not a primary source printed on it. 😅
Can't believe the argument about belts is still going on, I thought we resolved that one over thirty years ago!
Love your work, btw, especially this one which covers a lot of the ground we were fighting when I was doing Dark Ages reenactment in the '80's :)
When the kids were little and we were home schooling about the Middle Ages, I made myself a costume to teach a group of children in. It was NOT wool. LOL it was a shiny green damask with contrasting cream damask. The sleeves were bell shaped and the head piece was a round tube of fabric with trim wrapped around it and made to look like a wreath in my hair. (I had someone make it for me as I am not a sewer at that level.) Anyway, it made a great Halloween costume snd a nice Middle Ages costume for the next few times we covered the topic! I’m glad I didn’t know how far away from the real thing I actually was! Ha ha
I know this is an old video, but in case noone else has pointed it out, there were linen hangerocks/apron-dresses/whatever-you-call-thems:
Hägg, Inga, 1974, "Kvinnodräkten i Birka, AUN 2" page 51, fig 37 has a table listing graves of different periods with linen and wool examples. There are 3 undated linen examples, and just one undated wool example, but for 800s there is just one grave with linen hangerocks and 5 for wool, and for 900s there are 4 graves for linen hangerocks and 14 for wool.
Hägg also mentions linen lining on wool hangerocks.
It's an interesting book if you can get hold of it, and if you can make out the Swedish text (I got my copy in the 1980s, and it is so much easier to make sense of it now that online translators are a thing!)
I love the creative inspiration and motivation to seek new knowledge that comes from each of your videos.
Purple silk cap? Oh yes, I'm very tempted to make my ancient ancestors go "what are you doing girl? Get that silly Norse fashion tosh off your head, NAO!" :D
Also, a resounding HELL YES to seeing Jimmy make an apron dress! Apron dresses for everybody!
Ahhh this was super interesting!! I love sewing things by hand and I’ve been thinking of trying to make some traditional medieval clothing lately, so it’s good to get a sense of the different components that would have made up women’s outfits ☺️
Keep it simple and it's hard to get it wrong. Great motto for so many things
Very accurate, compared with what I’ve already learned. Basic clothing throughout medieval Europe was a linen undergarment, shirt/shift/smock, woolen hose, leather shoes and a wool gown based on the Late Classical tunica. (I think the linen undergarment was introduced relatively late, but I’m not sure when). The biggest differences between male and female dress were the length of the gown, sometimes shorter for men, and possibly the undergarment also, and the requirement for married women to wear some sort of veil or head wrap, indoors and out. Outerwear was similar for both, woolen cloaks and hoods/caps. Even in the hot p Mediterranean region, virtually all clothing was made of lightweight woven wool. I wish I could find suitable brooches for Ancient Greek peplos dresses, basically one length of wool pinned at the shoulders, but can only find modern, very Celtic-looking designs.
Linen garments were used in Europe 6,000 years ago that we know of, due to finds that date that far back. I doubt that linen undergarments were unknown in early medieval times; they certainly would've been more comfortable and practical than wool undergarments. Surely there had to be people who preferred linen to homespun wool against their skin. Flax grows easily and everywhere in Europe. Travel was far more extensive than most people think. Irish gold jewelry, for example, has been found in the middle east. 4,000 year old gold Egyptian jewelry has been found in Ireland, so there's no reason to believe that skills weren't traded, too.
Yes to the dress!
I knew it was going to be a good day when I saw you had posted. :~D
"I'm BARELY a tertiary source!" Loved that!!😁
I can hardly wait for this. I purchased some yards of beautiful soft yellow wool not long ago, just so I can make myself a proper Viking kit. First however, I am obligated for a pair of Rus 'baggy' trousers for one son, and a Rus tunic for my other son. :D All will be hand sewn of course and the tunic and dress modestly trimmed with silk. We're a Scadian family here - in the Kingdom of the Outlands, Lol. Happy New Year to you all! Cheers! and best wishes for 2021.
Oh, and Master Jimmy, I wish you had a Patreon account. ;)
I want to make my project look historical ish, but I'm drawing the line at wool. 😂 I'll have a heat induced meltdown if I wear it to the Ren Faire
I always was taught that a fillet was a foundational cloth strip you wore under and the object you pinned the wimple to?
Either way, my norse garb has really always been a basic kerchief for the hair, which I modelled after the Rus traditional dress, more or less. It's most practical in getting it out of the way, and less effort than futzing around with sprang experiments 😅 Keep it simple, logical and functional is generally something that has served me pretty well!
As earling Viking clothing was unisexual in design, hell yes to the dress! Lol My your and yours have a healthy, prosperous and creative year ahead. Cheers to 2021 and many more of your videos.
Very interesting that I found another TH-cam channel about this same thing when I came across your post. It is about a smocked Viking dress
The site is Helliruna
I would love to see you make a viking dress!!! I love the nails!
im glad someone was finally able to brooch this subject
Thank you so much for going out of your way to provide us with a starting point for women's clothing, too. I appreciate how you always list sources and encourage us to do our own research. :)
Well done! I'd add nettle fabric to the fiber party, but that's a fairly new discovery :)
I know, old vid, buuuuuut as a woman, with fairly long hair (to my waist) I have to point out that caps, vails and other means of covering the hair isn't by no means for female opression perpuse only....covering the hair keeps it clean and nice even when you can't wash it every time you done some kind of physical labour.
This is an unrelated comment to telling you this is a good video, but I LOVE your jumper. If you ever need someone experienced in reading medieval swedish/danish/norwegian and anything in between, do let me know, my dad and I do that a lot ;)
How do you find ancestors? I've have only got back to my 1870's ancestry because I cant speak Swedish and the last name thing wasn't codified...
@@HosCreates mainly by using parish registers, wills and other things of that kind. If you know who was the son/daughter of whom and you can find addresses and records of christenings, weddings, occupations in census records, it becomes a bit easier. Sometimes it really is guesswork, however. If you can transcribe the swedish, you can plug it into google translate, and usually that kind of document isn't too complex and should give you some idea of what's going on. It's what I do when I can't read it/find my dad! If it's too hard that's when you dive into geneology forums
If you wanna earn some money off that, I happen to know Lionbridge is doing an early modern Norwegian transcription project right now. I apparently had too many transcript errors in my entrance test to be accepted (I am a historian of the 19th century, so my ability in older periods is limited), but you might have better luck.
Sorry for the third comment, but do you have a po box or somesuch? I do a lot of nålbinding, especially fine gauge, and I'd love to send you something cos I always do better if I'm making something for someone and I am always looking for project ideas. If you have a preference and would like me to make some norse object for you that could be of use, let me know!
Edit: Goodness, how generous! Whatever is your favourite garment to nålbind would be wonderful!
I don't have a PO Box yet as they're a little expensive, but if you have Instagram or Facebook, do send me a message (facebook.com/thewelshviking1), and I'll happily send you a secure address! I'm negotiating getting a better one now which I'll put in my Community section soon :D
You have been a springboard for many a deep dive into hours of manuscripts and I've got several projects waiting in the wings as a result. As always, I'm appreciative of your starting points. It's making me a bit giddy that you shouted me out for this particular video lol It is my pleasure and I hope it helps for whatever you need it to
As a medieval reenactor, I wear my belt on top of all my layers. For practical reasons. If I keep stuff hanging from my belt which I will need regularly, it helps to have it readily available on the outside of my clothing. Also, when I step near a fireplace to tend to the fire or to cook, the swoosh of my dress is likely to catch fire, so what do I do? I tuck the hem of my dress up in my belt while I'm close to the flame. I believe there are some medieval illustrations that show women tucking their skirts in belts for practicality too, and when you're in a dress, it just makes a whole world of intuitive sense to do so.
Love this advise! being a Women, a "Viking" History enthusiast and archeologist this is a great video. I have made a couple of fun" non evidences " based dresses. With my next project I want to make all historically accurate as possible.. I have hand stitched 19th century clothing before. I started felting recently and was thinking of making a hat. was there any wool hats found at sites? Happy New year to you (and Mari) too!
Just discovered your channel looking for Viking historical fashion and I love this video! Time to binge all your content and add you to my ever growing list of costubers!
awesome, thank you! That last link has some reconstruction notes and includes, quick check, yes it includes stitches and dart construction!
I am super excited to see the dress you are going to absolutely slay! 👗 Thank you for being here and happy new year!
Good golly I can’t stop watching your videos. Such incredible content and cheekiness and charm. Thank you for all of the work you’re doing, and much love and gratitude from Vancouver Island, Canada 🇨🇦
I'm here from Bernadette. I love everything medieval clothing. Thank you for this video
I can tell you from being a fair skinned person that i wear head coverings when at events to help keep from being burnt as sunscreen doesn't really work but spf fabric does. so it could be if they don't need to wear it for other reasons that could be. now obviously i am drawing this hypothesis from my own experience but it is a simple reason
An interesting thing I saw about the history of women's clothing was focused on maternity clothing. Multiple youtubers and articles talked about how (with the exception of the extraordinarily wealthy) ALL women's clothing was maternity clothing. For centuries, in basically all of Europe, women wore dresses that had room for bloating, hormonal weight gain, and pregnancy. The same dress that fit you at 40 weeks of pregnancy, would simply be tied tighter about you as you lost the baby weight.
Looking forward to seeing this dress and the process of making it! Happy new year to one and all.
Your channel is a research prompt.
I have learned so much by researching things you have talked about. I take notes of the things that peak my interest while watching your videos and dig deeper. Thank you!
For the winter times I do think that people did have some fur pelts or aspects for the outfits. Like fur leg and arm warmers. I don't know if people did wear fur items but I. Like to think they did.
We already know they used fur to line cloaks and make full garments
Thank you for this! This video is really useful. My first foray into historical costuming is a male and female version of Loki. I've got the basic design down for the male version, but had no idea where to start for the female version. I'll go have a look at those references you left to continue my research. Thank you again. Go make yourself that dress! :)
Blast the algorithm that has hidden your videos from me for many months now even when I'm subscribed with all the alerts on! I have missed you mate! Thank you for this video, it's timely since I'm finally putting together an ensemble to wear. I'm not going for super historical, but decent enough. And of course you are one of my favourite research helper/jump-off points. x
I was planning to ask you exactly this, so thanks for the starting point :)