10th Century Viking Kaftan
Description
Green woollen kaftan aka birka coat with brown linen lining, red woollen decorations and bronze buttons. Brown leather skull cap edged with fur and brown woollen Damendorf pants. All handsewn by my husband.
Inspiration
Possible diagram of the birka coat.
Source: A Viking Tunic Construction, Carolyn Priest-Dorman
Original bronze buttons of the birka coat.
Patterns used
No commercial patterns used.
More information
This Birka coat aka kaftan started it's life as a birka tunic and was converted into a kaftan later on. It was made at the start of us doing viking re-enactment. Now, with more knowledge and experience, we would make other choices constructing it. For a start we would probably choose to make a hedeby or a wrap-around style kaftan. As we have now chosen to portrait Danish vikings. All our costumes are worn untill they are worn out. So this coat will probably be around for quite some time. But this will give us plenty of time to research it's successor.
Details
