Making Germanic Thorsberg Trousers by Hand | Anglo-Saxon Clothing and Early Medieval Sewing

Early Anglo-Saxon people would have made their own clothes, for themselves and their immediate family. Trousers were the custom among male warriors of the Germanic tribes, from the Iron Age into the Early Medieval period. Considered ‘barbaric’ by the Romans at first contact with the Germanic tribes, trousers were adopted by the late Roman warrior and equestrian class. The evidence for Anglo-Saxon trousers comes wholly in the form of art work and other pictorial depictions, in manuscripts and carvings and so on. No whole trousers have been found in burial contexts, as British soil types do not generally allow for preservation. Only small textile fragments have been found, which at least allows for identification of fabric type and weave. Wool twill weaves, and sometimes linen, are often for leg coverings. Representations of Anglo-Saxon men in trousers depict close fitting to very tight trousers, tucked in to leather shoes or bound to the calf with textile leg wrappings. The closest archaeological