'Pre-12th Century Clothing

Instructio ns for making a tunic and a Celtic/Rom an peplos, along with ideas for accessorie s.

by Complex Weavers' Medieval Textiles

Documentation from a project to recreate, as authentically as possible, an outfit such as might have been worn by a middle-class (free) farmsteader or urban dweller from early 11th century Denmark, based largely on archeological evidence.

Documentat ion for an Anglo-Saxo n dress, describing all steps of the process, including spinning and dyeing the yarn, and weaving the cloth.

Notes on clothing for men and women, as well as terminolog y for garments.

A typology and brief discussion of some stitches that have been discovered on extant textiles from the period between the seventh and eleventh centuries in Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and related cultures.

This cloak is so easy to make it feels like you're cheating. It matches the cloaks worn in a number of illustrati ons in Anglo Saxon manuscript s, and is an easy and reasonably accurate choice for a Saxon, Viking, or other Dark Ages character.

Clothing of pre-Christian Celts in Ireland, Britain, and western Europe.

An overview of 11th century clothing, including fabrics and colors.

Anglo-Saxo n Costume in the Pagan Era (410-650 AD), including examples of men's and women' s costume. Examines an archaeolog ical approach to reconstruc ting the costume of this period, using reports of bog and grave finds as well as actual dress ornaments from the period.

Discussion of men's and women' s clothing and accessorie s in early medieval Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.

Some clothing patterns from the book Textilfund e der eisenzeit in Norddeutsc hland. Includes patterns for the Thorsjberg , and Damendorf trousers.

Selected illustrations from a 19th century book on historic fashions.

Reconstruc ting the clothing of a man-at-arm s from the Bayeux Tapestry.

The developmen t of clothing of Anglo-Saxo n men and women.

Merovingian dress represents a transition from the classical dress of Rome and the barbarian dress of the early Franks and Lombards to the more sophisticated Byzantine-influenced dress of the Carolingians.

Descriptions and patterns for Anglo-Saxon and Viking clothing.

Because my developing persona is a Celt, I decided to make a brat, a cloak like the Irish would have made around the 5th century AD.

Provides guidelines for materials, decoration , men's & women' s clothing, headwear, legwear, and footwear for Viking and Anglo-Saxo n England.

General description of clothing from the 7th-12th centuries.

A translatio n from a Norwegian book on the find.

A cursory examination, for people interested in historical recreation and replication, of the extant archaeological and museum materials relating to clothing in the Middle Ages.

Most of you are probably familiar with the ubiquitous . T-tunic, the tunic of Rome, Greece and a lot of the barbaric tribes, as well as the Christian Copts. Sometime around the fourth or fifth century A.D. the tunic with fuller skirts began to be seen in Europe.

The chiton and related garments are some of the simplest and yet most elegant forms of clothing. They are formed from rectangles of fabric with little or no shaping and they make use of the entire piece of fabric without cutting and fitting. They rely instead on tying, pinning and draping to form varied types of costume. They have the added advantage of "one-size-fits-all," allowing the same clothing to make due during changes in weight and figure up to and including pregnancy. Plus the lack of shaping allows for easy cleaning and maintenance of the clothing.

The base material of the 9th/10th century textile was a very fine plain-weav e linen. Over about a third of the surviving fabric, silk and linen threads have been used to decorate the textile with birds and other creatures within a framework of vines, and with borders containing repeating patterns or lions. The textile appears to be part of a garment, perhaps a tunic or dress - it has a hem and a belt loop - but unfortunat ely too little survives to indicate its detailed shape.

A searchable catalog of surviving garments from Europe and the Mediterranean from the dawn of time up through approximately 1500.

The Thorsberg trousers are dated between the 1st and 4th century AD. The original are diamond patterned brown twill wool.

Article mainly on the Thorsbjerg Trousers.

Summary about the under tunic and hood from the Skjoldehamn find in English. Describes a late 10th-early 11th find from arctic Norway that is now believed to have been a Saami woman.

My goal was to make a practical garment from the sheep out. That meant spinning, dyeing, weaving, finishing, sewing, and embellishi ng the garment. It also meant researchin g constructi on and methodolog y - what was done, and how it was done.