My Viking Kit

Welcome back to the History Nook.

Today I'm going to tell you a bit about my Viking costume, and why it's not perfectly accurate.

So grab your favourite mug, find a soft space to curl up, and let’s wander a little deeper into the past. I spent the Christmas holidays of 2016 sewing my very first iteration of my apron dress. It was poorly done, the underdress was way too brightly coloured, but it was my first time hand sewing anything that big, and my gosh - I was so proud of myself.

9 years later, and the photo to the right shows you what it looks like now. I have made a lot of stylistic choices and a lot of changes that were purely for my comfort and I wanted to talk to you about some of those.

First of all, my grey under dress. As much as I hate to admit it, it is made from a modern material. Like a lot of people with Fibromyalgia, I do not cope well with warm weather and I get heatstroke easily. Do you know what doesn't help with heatstroke? Wearing a thick linen underdress and a wool overdress. The green apron dress is what used to be my linen underdress, dyed green, and I cut the orange panel from the wool of my apron dress.

Similarly, my boots are modern boots, mainly for comfort, and the last modern thing I usually wear, especially when wielding a sword, is my wrist support. I don't wear leg wraps either.

There are a few pieces of my kit that are replicas of archaeological finds. My glass beads for example of replicas of beads found during the Coppergate dig in York. I had the privilege to get hands on with some of the original beads, and yes - the colours are that bright and the blues are that rich. My belt pouch is a replica of one found in Iceland, and my knife which hangs from my belt (not seen in either photo) is a replica of a knife that had been buried with a woman in Britain. If I have my spindle and distaff with me, those are also replicas of original objects.

My turtle brooches are not replicas but are in a style inspired by Viking age designs. You may also spot a little bit of tartan ribbon along the side of my apron panel. Typically, your common Viking would not be able to afford blue dye, but as my Vik-sona is a yarn spinner and weaver, she probably had a wealthy client at some point and was able to use the offcuts for herself. Perks of the job.

The last thing I'd like to mention are the woven straps on my dress. Traditionally these would have been attached tot he dress using the turtle brooches. I chose to sew mine on because it makes life a bit easier for me. They are made using a technique called Tablet Weaving, and I hand spun the yarn for those straps!

Thank you for reading—I hope you enjoyed your time in the History Nook today. Until next time: stay curious, and keep warm.

🐾 A Footnote from Index: 🐾

Vikings liked cats, I like Vikings.