Christina here. This past weekend Wench Nicola and I have been attending the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association’s annual conference. It was held in Telford this year and the day before we took part in a special meet-the-author event at the local library. There were twelve of us, all authors of historical romance, fantasy, timeslip, time travel, sagas or alternative history stories. And some of us decided to attend the event dressed in a costume befitting the historical eras we were writing about to make it more fun. For me that meant a Viking outfit of course, and I’d made part of it myself.
As a little girl, I loved to play dress-up and I still do. If anyone says they’re having a masquerade or costume party of any kind, I’m in. So whenever there is a chance to dress up in historical costume to do with my books, I get very excited. During the pandemic I decided to put together a Viking outfit on the off-chance I would ever get to do author events again and I’m very glad now that I did. I could have taken the easy way out and just bought one online, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I started to look at how I could do some of it myself. It was great research, if nothing else, as some of my heroines have to make their own clothes.
A Viking woman usually wore an underdress called a serk made of linen. (Slaves were not so lucky, they just had one dress made of wool – itchy!). I could have made one of these, but found some ready-made that didn’t cost a fortune so I bought one. It is a simple A-line shape with long sleeves, fairly narrow at the wrists, and an opening at the throat that needs to be closed with a brooch. I have just the thing – a so-called trefoil brooch I found in Norway.
On top of this, she would wear either just a smokkr – an overdress that looks a bit like two aprons sewn together – or that and a long-sleeved woollen dress underneath to add warmth in winter.
I had a look around and found a pattern book for apron dresses. Archaeologists have found several different types (presumably fashions varied throughout Scandinavia) and I really liked one that was slightly fitted so I decided to make one of those. It seemed more flattering, especially on a short person like myself. The pattern book only came with a very small version though, which meant I had to buy pattern paper and try to make a larger version. Luckily for me, my younger daughter was staying with me at the time and math is her forte. With her help, I created the correct sized pattern pieces.
It's one thing to say Vikings wore woollen dresses, but what type of wool? I asked some re-enactors what they had made their costumes out of and they recommended a specific cloth merchant who specialised in historical materials. I told him what colour I wanted and he sent me some swatches to choose from. I fell for a lovely moss-green wool and bought some of that. When it arrived, I was amazed at how thick it was, not to mention heavy! Ideal for Scandinavian winters – humid UK summers not so much.
Cutting out the pieces was scary, but once it came together and I actually ended up with something that looked like a smokkr it was quite exciting. I cheated a little bit and did some of the seams on a sewing machine, but I finished off the hems by hand. The two shoulder straps were held in place with oval brooches – tortoise brooches – so I asked for a pair of those for Christmas. That makes such a difference to the overall look as it’s a familiar sight on Viking women. Whenever archaeologists find a pair in excavated graves they know immediately they’re dealing with someone from that era.
The smokkr wasn’t quite finished though. Vikings were very fond of decorations, especially woven bands to edge their garments. As I’d done a course in bandweaving the previous year, I made some for the hem and straps. I don’t know how authentic the colours are but I like how cheerful they look! And Vikings liked gaudy colours as far as I understand.
If I was a rich Viking woman (which of course I wanted to pretend to be), I would wear lots of jewellery, especially strings of beads strung between the two tortoise brooches. Glass beads were costly for them, but these days they’re not expensive which meant I could have quite a few. I also added some amber beads, both polished and unpolished, which would have been common in the Baltic area. And a silver bracelet or two completed the look.
I could have stopped there, but most Viking women wore a leather belt with a pouch or two hanging off it. I added those – the pouch containing a fire iron and flint, plus some tiny shears – and the final touch was a pair of Viking style ankle boots. They remind me of the pixie boots I wore in the 1980s and are actually very comfortable although I think they need to be worn in more. (I found a pair online – as I said, it’s possible to buy the entire outfit if you want).
As for my hair, unfortunately I don’t have blond Scandinavian tresses, and although my hair is long enough to tie in a knot at the nape of my neck like they apparently did, I decided I’d rather have a different style. Who knows if it was authentic, but I liked it!
And voila, I was ready to meet our readers!
Nicola looked amazing dressed as a Cavalier and we had a lovely time!
Do you like dressing up and have you ever made a costume for yourself of any kind? For Halloween or a costume party perhaps? Do tell!
