Weaving Techniques



Recreated Viking Loom



The adoption of textile weaving techniques in Scandinavia only occurred in the Bronze Age, relatively late in the scheme of human development (Bender Jørgensen, 116). Nevertheless, as is evident in the remains from Migration and Viking Age burials, the art caught hold rapidly and took many elaborate forms



Decorative textile embroider of the Viking Age were composed not of embroidery but of wool-on-linen tapestry weaves. The same is true for household furnishings such as pillowcases, cushion covers, and tablecloths; all the evidence points to a strong tradition of decorative polychrome mixed-fiber weaving rather than one of needle-worked surface ornamentation.



Embroidery wasn't really adopted by the Vikings until the first half of the ninth century. At that point the pervasive influence of the foreign cultures with which the Vikings intermingled so freely began to assert itself in both technological and art-historical ways. In textile and clothing ornamentation, the Vikings began half-heartedly to imitate their neighbors at that time. Two distinctive embroidery styles emerged, a style influenced by the lands to the west (represented mostly by finds at Bjerringhøj and Jorvík) and a style influenced by the lands to the east (represented by finds at Birka and Valsgärde).



Loom weights


Also in the ninth century, the eastern-influenced style of embroidery was on the rise. This style, represented at Birka in Sweden, was more likely Byzantine, or Slavic in origin. Like other forms of eastern Viking ornament, it depended heavily on silver wire or thread for its decorative effect. In fact, eastern Viking embroidery (more properly, "textile surface decoration") involved only one or two techniques which are likely to have been worked with a needle, i.e., stemstitch, surface couching, and possibly some forms of ösenstich (mesh stitch), of which several varieties have been identified.

Sources

Bender Jørgensen, Lise. 1992. North European Textiles before 1000 A.D. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press.

Contains detailed information on several thousand textile finds encompassing

every major north European culture outside Scandinavia. Details of spinning and

weaving.

Graham-Campbell, James, and Kidd, Dafydd. 1980. The Vikings. London: Tabard Press and The Trustees of the British Museum.

A good color photo of the Lund "embroidery," which is actually appliqué work

and not embroidery at all. Still, it's a good example of a Viking-style trimming

technique.

Roesdahl, Else. 1982. Viking Age Denmark, trans. Susan Margeson and Kirsten Williams. London: British Museum Publications, Ltd.

A good general history book that also happens to have good reproductions of

the line drawings made at the time the Bjerringhøj embroideries were excavated. 

For getting an unimpeded look at the pure designs, check this book first.

Wilson, David, and Ole Klindt-Jensen. Viking Art, second edition. The Nordic Series, 6. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980.

A detailed examination of the periods and styles of Viking art, taking into account

the most common media for its expression. Many valuable black and white

plates.