As I wrote yesterday the so called third brooch is sometimes found below the tortoise brooches and should then not belong to a shawl but to a more fitted garment, presumably something with sleeves så that the brooch stays in place when you move. From Birka there are several more indications that it could belong to a fitted garment, consisting of loops around the needle of the brooch and fabric laying diagonally on top of the tortoise brooches. I at least one case there is also a seam on top of the brooch. Some of these remains also have fragments of cords or narrow silk strips as edges or horisontally across the garment.

From the Vendel period, the period before the Viking age there are further evidence for a fitted jacket or coat in the form of gold-foil figures, ‘guldgubbar’, where this coat is clearly seen. It is open at the front and may reach to the knees, maybe slightly longer. This fits well with that the fragments of what can be interpreted as a jacket/coat in Birka primarily come from the early Viking age, the 800s.

We don’t know if the jacket/coat consisted of squarish pieces or if it had fitted sleeves, but we should be able to assume that at least the early varieties were made of straight pieces. You can see both possible versions on the drawing. The short seam at the neckliine fits well with the seam found on top of a tortoise brooch in one of the Birka graves. It makes the neckline lay flat against the body. The gores are a possible interpretation for the Viking age.

For more information about the coat in the photo see: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLPo97GJD7u/h%C3%A4r.

You can buy pattern for the Birka coat here: Tunics and Dresses.