Viking Age Clothing Class Handouts pgs 21-26 ... - Olvik Thing

Underdresses 

Very few textile remains of women’s 

underdresses survive. Still, there is plenty of 

evidence they wore long dresses under their 

apron-dresses—the gold foil figures, the 

valkyrie figures and the Oseberg Tapestry all 

show the women wearing long dresses. The 

underdresses were most likely made of linen, 

which does not survive well in graves. To 

make a Viking underdress, a simple t-tunic 

works fine, especially for earlier period 

Vikings. Take the side waste pieces, flip them 

over, and add them to the skirt sides for a more 

full skirt. You can also try following the 

pattern directions for the location-appropriate 

men’s tunics (rounded or straight sleeves, for 

instance), adjusting the pattern to make a 

longer, fuller-skirted garment. 

The backside of a bronze tortoise brooch found 

in Birka, with some of the pleated linen underdress 

still visible (Harte and Ponting, p. 318). 

The 1000 AD Eura, Finland underdress was made of 

wool. Because of the Baltic propensity to wear a lot 

of bronze jewelry, enough of the dress survived for us 

to know the length of it (because of the coiled bronze 

wire appliquéd to the bottom of the apron), and the 

length of the sleeves (because of the coiled bronze 

bracelets). The Finnish reconstructors based this 

cloth-conservative pattern on a Danish Iron-Age 

leather tunic (Priest-Dorman, p. 60). 

Sunnifa Gunnarsdottir (Charlotte Mayhew) crmayhew@comcast.net September 2011 21

Apron-Dresses 

Apron-dresses are the quintessential Viking 

woman’s garment; the largest surviving example 

of an apron dress is the fragment from Hedeby. 

The apron-dress fragment recovered at Hedeby, 

dated to the 10 th century. The shaded area in the 

drawing represents felting on the garment, which 

likely indicates a belt was worn. The darts point 

towards a fitted style overdress. The cloth was a 

fine tabby wool that was dyed brown The seam 

was covered with a four-string braid that was 

laid down over it. The dress fragment measured 

approximately 23cm across, with the bottom 

piece measuring almost 25cm across (Hägg, 

Haithabu, p. 39 and Shelagh Lewins’ website for 

translation of Hägg’s text). 

The evolution of the Viking apron-dress from 

peplos to fitted 10 th century apron-dress found in 

Birka and Hedeby (Priest-Dorman, p. 45). 

Sunnifa Gunnarsdottir (Charlotte Mayhew) crmayhew@comcast.net September 2011 22

Reconstructed Eura, Finland, Dress 

Apron Dress from Birka 

This outfit from Eura, Finland, dates to 1000 

AD (Fitzhugh & Ward, p. 111). The peplos 

style overdress is made of a large rectangle 

that wraps around one side of the body and is 

left open on the other. This style of overdress 

pre-dates the fitted style of overdress found at 

Birka. The apron with coiled bronze appliqué 

decorations and bracelets are uniquely Baltic. 

An interpretation of the Scandinavian Hängerock 

(hanging skirt), often called an apron-dress or 

overdress in English, based on the 9 th -10 th century 

finds from Birka as described by Agnes Geijer (Owen- 

Crocker, p. 29). The overdress evolved from the 

peplos style (left), but lost the flap and gained straps. 


Brooches and Straps 

The oval brooches were worn slightly differently depending 

on the woman’s clothing. In the Eura, Finland, find, the 

brooches are worn up by the shoulder and they have no straps; 

they are pinned directly to each side of the folded-over peplos 

style dress. In the Birka finds, however, the majority of the 

overdresses had thin straps attached to the back and the front 

of the overdresses. The brooches closed the gap between the 

straps. In the grave finds with pleated linen underdresses, the 

brooches are often pinned through the underdress layer. 

Back view of brooch showing the overdress 

straps (Geijer, Birka III, p. 155). 

Detail of the sketch of Birka Grave 824 showing the way the 

brooches and the silver brocaded tablet-woven bands lay in 

situ. Though the woman appears to have been buried with a 

ship, there were few other grave goods near (Arbman, p. 296). 

Sketch of brooch configuration of Birka Grave 824, showing 

the silver brocaded tablet-woven bands attached under the 

brooches. It appears that the bands were decorating the edge 

of a piece of clothing, perhaps a cloak tied at the throat with 

more tablet-weaving? (Geijer, Birka III p. 149). 

Side view showing detail of cloth under 

and over brooches. Note how the loops 

attach to the brooch on top and bottom 

(Hägg, Kvinnodräkten i Birka, 128). 


The Layers of Cloth Found in a Viking Woman’s Grave at Birka #1 

1. tapestry 

2. silk (samitum) and fur 

3. tweed [wool] 

4. silk 

5. oval brooch 

6. lozenge twill [wool] 

7. linen 

8. remains of body 


10. fur 

11. tapestry 

12. wood (?) 

The chart made up by Inga Hägg, above, gives us great insight into just how many items of clothing 

Viking women in 10 th century Birka wore. Some layers might be missing. Linen does not survive well in 

graves. The linen and silks survive here because of proximity to the brooch; there were most likely other 

layers of that same cloth under the body that did not survive the centuries (Harte and Ponting, ed., p. 325). 


The Layers of Cloth Found in a Viking Woman’s Grave at Birka #2 

1. tapestry 


3. oval brooch 

4. silk 


6. linen 

7. remains of body 



10. wood 

11. sand 

According to Hägg’s description of the cloth remains, this grave contained a woman dressed in a linen 

underdress, a lozenge twill wool apron-dress which was decorated with silk bands on the front side only, and 

a tweed wool garment worn over the apron-dress (possibly a shawl or coat). She also had a woolen wrap 

spread over the top of her body. 

From this and the previous page, we can make a rough guess of the basic Birka women’s clothing layers: 

1. linen underdress 

2. lozenge twill wool apron-dress 

3. shawl or other outer garment of wool 

4. possibly a second outer garment of wool 

This set of clothing items matches those seen on gold foil figures, some of the valkyrie figures, and the 

Oseberg tapestry figures—which pre-date the Birka finds by 100 years or more (Harte and Ponting, p. 332). 

Sunnifa Gunnarsdottir (Charlotte Mayhew) crmayhew@comcast.net September 2011 26

Viking Age Clothing Class Handouts pgs 21-26 ... - Olvik Thing

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