Viking Costume (somewhat) historically accurate

This is a hot to on creating a (somewhat) accurate viking costume.

Step 1 Planning makes perfect

Well the first stem in any sort of thing like this is to know what you plan on doing. so here are my plans.

Before we get any farther let me clear up one common misconception.

VIKING HELMETS DID NOT HAVE HORNS
Horns were not on viking helmets, horns would have gotten in the way. imagine this, every time you bring your sword over your head you knock off your helmet, sounds like a good idea to get rid of this problem doesn't it. Horned helmets came from Opera not history.

Comments

[arpoky]

The kitty only wants to be PART of the project!
Skin him/her, use the fur as a replacement for fake fur, and eat the meat leftover!

LMFAO...
I obviously don't mean it, I'm a Cat-Lover. I would never actually do something like that to a cute furball like that.

[Peep1317]

Haha, cute kitty. But I find that they get n the way more than they keep someone company :P

[soulcalibur]

i made a cardboard/duct tape sword once. it's huge.

[corey_caffeine]

that's what she said

[bassclarinet23]

Good one.

[soulcalibur]

perv :P

[Mirime]

you have any costumes for a female viking?

[Teh_Corbzor]

Honnestly i didn't think of that when i designed these costumes, as i did not have any females to design  costume for, but if you know what you have in mind i don't think it should be to hard to adapt.

the first image is a female version of the viking costume, and it looks like you need to make the tunic fore fit if this is what you are going for.

the second image is more accurate of what a viking woman would look like. and looks like you can put the tunic over a longer tunic or dress to achieve this look.

hope that helps.

[Thundertydus]

BEFORE you burn

[theghillieman]

I made one of these for a medieval dress day at school and it looked great. but when i took my helmet off i looked like frodo

[red-king]

 if you look like frodo without your helmet it means you look like frodo anyway.

[theghillieman]

 yea i did but not as much

[red-king]

 hehehehe...

[EnigmaMax]

YAY! finally a cloak instuctable.

[WurdBendur]

Your pattern looks complicated. there are lots of viking tunic patterns around the web that are simple and easy to make and more authentic.

[Teh_Corbzor]

Well it looks more complicated than it is, because i was making 4 costumes, instead of just one, pictured are parts for three tunics.

[WurdBendur]

Yeah, it's a little confusing with all four together. I'm just trying to figure out what all the parts are. I'm not aware of any other viking patterns that use pieces like that. They look like maybe they're quartered (two front pieces and two back pieces, sewn at the shoulders and sides)? But I can't tell. I think there are some preserved tunics that have been pieced together in a similar way, but most patterns (and the one I've used) have the main part made of a single long rectangle with a neck hole just forward of the center, and the sides sewn together up to the arm pits. A good historical example is the Bocksten Tunic, which is very simple and an excellent pattern to imitate.

[Teh_Corbzor]

The pattern we used was quartered, and had a slit down the front. the pieces in the first image are the neck hole facing, our pattern was more like this one, except our sleeves were also separate pieces.

[cowscankill]

Nice, but where are the helmets :P I would love a viking helmet....One that covers the face and nose like the second helmet you have drawn.

[Teh_Corbzor]

well we haven worked on the helmets seance Halloween, but maybe I'll do an Instructable about how we were going to make them.

[cowscankill]

That would be great! If you ever make one, be sure to tell me ;)

[tracyandrook]

I like'em. Wish I had pix of my DH and me: we went as Thor and Sif. Nobody recognized me, maybe because my costume was too historically accurate. The good part is that there are many many passionate Norse re-enactors posting patterns for everything from hats to shoes. That is, aside from the yarn wig. Next year I'll try a fat lady brass-bra Valkyrie. The Allfather will be so proud. The shiny-ness is partly because of the non-period photo apparatus (flash). Linens ARE expensive, are you kidding? But Osnaburg, weaver's cloth, and chambray are cheap, just ask for them. For cheap non-shiny outer layers, try solid cotton flannel. After Halloween you'll have comfy pajamas, too.

[TheCaptain]

Oh man, you just beat me to this! I was in the prosses of making a similar instructable about a viking costume. Congrats on a great instructable!

[Number09]

You should try rolling around in the dirt or dragging your costumes in around in the dirt.

[morfmir]

why? The vikings were very clean. They washed at least ones a week. Saturday in old danish are called washing day. /Thomas

[Number09]

I was thinking more of dirt from battle and pillaging.

[morfmir]

nice effort you put into making it as historically correct as possible. It is good for a change not to see vikings with horned helmets. That alone gives you a 5 star from me :-) But I think that you should have made some headwear also. That adds so much more to the overall impression. I am a professional viking working a lejre-center.dk I add a picture of me ind my working cloth. The outer part are handmade from wool underneath I wear a linen shirt, and on the feet I have handmade leather shoes. My costume cost around 50.000.- dkk or 10.000.-$ /Thomas

[Teh_Corbzor]

We were going to make helmets, but ran out of time, we can always make some later.

[finfan7]

These are very good costumes especially the guy on the left of the last picture. The one thing that makes me twitch though is the clothes are shiny. If you make anymore old style clothes try using old style fabrics. Linens and cotton broadcloth aren't terribly expensive and they add quite a lot to the costume.

[bumpus]

KITTEH!! Mine usually get in the way... Great costumes!

[Teh_Corbzor]

Thanks, they were a big hit at the party we went to.