Contemporary sources illustrating women's clothing were very stylized and it is difficult to
tell whether a line carved in a grave marker or a gaming piece is intended to indicate a fold,
a strand of hair or a necklace.
Unfortunately, though numerous graves have been discovered, the archeologists were generally more concerned with the jewelry and weapons than with the textiles in the graves. Of the 1100 graves at Birka, Stolpe marked the position of only 5 fabric fragments.
Garments have been reconstructed based on the sources available, but there is no one style that has been identified as a "typical Viking dress". The following description is based on the most well-documented information I have been able to find, but should be considered only a "best guess", rather than "authoritative".*
Underdress- Two styles of underdress were common.
Plain underdress- Common throughout the 9th Century. Linen with center neck opening. Dress was ankle length or slightly longer cut similar to a flared man's tunic. Fullness in the skirt would have been formed by adding inset wedge-shaped pieces between straight pieces. It would have had bead fastener at neck or would have been fastened with a small round brooch. Could have had long sleeves, elbow-length sleeves, or even be sleeveless.
Gathered or pleated underdress- Popular in the 10th Century. Linen tube gathered or pleated with many small pleats. Sleeves were gathered or pleated tubes sewed into slits in the body portion of the dress. The neck closed with a drawstring.
Overdress- commonly called the apron dress. Could have been a tube with or without straps attached at the shoulders or could have been one or two sections that wrapped 3/4 of the way around the body.
If a two-section apron was worn, the sections would have overlapped at front and back (For many years, it was thought that the aprons were straight pieces that hung in front and back, but more recent grave finds and further research including practical tests by Society for Creative Anachronism and Drengr [a Viking recreationist group] members have proved that the straight panel aprons would have given no warmth and would have been totally impractical even if belted.)
The finds from Birka indicate that the apron was unadorned, while others graves have produced dresses which appeared to be trimmed with braid along the edges and across the top.
The overdress would have been slightly shorter than the underdress, allowing the underdress to show at the bottom. Some overdresses were knee-length, while the Danish ones were almost as long as the underdress.
Mantle- similar to a modern shawl. Would have been a large square of woolen or silk fabric, occasionally lined with fur, which would have been worn wrapped around the shoulders with the long end in back or folded into a triangle and wrapped around the shoulders with the apex of the triangle at the center back. Either style would have been pinned at the center front with a circular, Y-shaped or "caterpillar" brooch.
Cap- A woman's cap found in a Viking grave in Dublin was formed of a linen rectangle folded
in half across the top of the head and seamed up the back. It was shaped at the front and
apparently tied under the chin.
Pagan women could choose to cover their heads or not; Christian women would have been
expected to cover their heads at all times.
Wimple or scarf- A large linen or silk square. (From the sources listed above, it is impossible to tell whether the women were wearing a scarf on their heads or whether the carvings were meant to represent their hair.) If a scarf was worn, it would have either been tied at the back of the head with the ends hanging free or wrapped around face and wrapped around the neck. Later Anglo Saxon women would have worn it wimple-style with a band of tablet woven braid securing it in place.
Shoes- similar to men's ankle-high boots.
Belt- None of the women buried at Birka wore a belt. The lack of a belt would indicate a woman of wealth, since it would imply that one had slaves to do the common labor. The woman buried at Kildonan, Isle of Eigg, in Scotland wore an expensively decorated leather belt.
The sagas report that the mistress of the house would hold the household keys, but whether this was a literal statement or merely figurative is unclear. Grave finds have included silver belt tips, but historians are unsure whether an upper class woman would have commonly worn a belt. If belts were worn they were probably card-woven braid with metal tips.
Accessories
Brooches- This is the one accessory that all upper-class Viking women possessed. The brooches fastened either through the edges of the overdress fabric or through straps at the top of the overdress. The brooches could be square, dragon headed, long pins or "tortoise" style and would have been ornamented with engraved designs, jewels or enamelled insets.
Necklace(s)- Would have been worn around the neck and/or strung between the brooches at the front of the dress. Necklaces were made of glass, metal and or semi-precious stones strung at random. Linked chains might also be hung between the brooches or go from the brooch at the neck of the underdress to one shoulder brooch. On most Viking necklaces there was apparently no effort to balance the colors or types of beads used. Colored glass from the Mediterranean or orient were popular.
Amber necklaces with carved or roughly polished nuggets were also worn. Amber was prized as a protective amulet and was know as "Freya's tears".
Sewing and homemaking implements- a needle case, scissors, a whetstone and/ or
keys would have been suspended by linked chains from one of the brooches.
Here's a drawing of one of the Viking dresses I made
Here's a photo of me walking in a procession in my Viking garb.
The lady to the left is also dressed as a Viking
