Constructing a Tunic

[Tarbicus]

No problems, Gioi.

[hoplite14gr]

Cotton is mentioned in Pausanias and Egyptians knew it. Seem to have travelled as acomodity in the Mediteranean.
Gioi, if you make a royal tunic for Philip then cotton thread will be OK I guess.
I will renact an upper class Phokean so I will use coton tread too.
Kind regards

[jsantell]

I'm sewing my new wool tunic up (a nice wide one) and was wondering about the tunic belt. I have a 35 inch waist, how much longer should it be, how wide should I make it and do you finish the ends also or leave them unfinished, fuzzy? Lots of questions I know.

[Crispvs]

I would suggest a simple answer: long enough to tie reasonably tightly around your waist when wearing your tunica. You could use a variety of things for the waist tie. For a number of years I simple used a woollen belt made from a strip I had cut from the bottom of my tunic (which was almost floor length at the time). Since then I have used a rather nice piece of tablet woven braid. Some other people I know simply use a leather thong. I would say: whatever works for you. When you are wearing armour it is unlikely it will be seen and when you are not in armour it would have to have very long ends to still be visible from under the overhanging material of your tunica when properly hitched up.

Crispvs

[jsantell]

I am still sewing my tunic. I now have about 6 hours into it. Keep in mind that the only thing I have ever sewed in my life is a button. First, I started to sew the wrong sides together ,forgeting to sew it inside out. That wasted an hour. Then I backstitched the whole thing, another 3 hours and the rest of the time has been spent hemming. Just a note. Wool will unravel quite easily so it needs to be turned over to hem regardless of what some sites say about sewing hems on wool! I had to rip out 2 very long side seems to redo them with turned over edges. Now it apears that someone has spilled something on my tunic and left a stain right at the neck. I'm going to have to wash it when finished to try to get the stain out because I'm not done hemming and I don't want to unravel the edges further until I do. AHHHH!

[Carlton Bach]

I am still sewing my tunic. I now have about 6 hours into it. Keep in mind that the only thing I have ever sewed in my life is a button. First, I started to sew the wrong sides together ,forgeting to sew it inside out. That wasted an hour. Then I backstitched the whole thing, another 3 hours and the rest of the time has been spent hemming. Just a note. Wool will unravel quite easily so it needs to be turned over to hem regardless of what some sites say about sewing hems on wool! I had to rip out 2 very long side seems to redo them with turned over edges. Now it apears that someone has spilled something on my tunic and left a stain right at the neck. I'm going to have to wash it when finished to try to get the stain out because I'm not done hemming and I don't want to unravel the edges further until I do. AHHHH!

Welcome to the wonderful world of handsewing. A few things that can make your life easier:

- use soft threads. Not only is sewing wool with wool authentic, sewing with hard flax or cotton thread can pull apart the fabric.

- wash the fabric before you sew. Wool always shrinks and felts, but once it has done that, it will both be more cohesive (harder to unravel, sometimes solid enough to cut into decorative patterns unhemmed) and not shrink so badly afterwards (so you don't hae to worry about poutting your tunic in the laundry and getting one for a 6-year-old back). I usually was all wool at 40°C, regular cycle, before sewing. For cloaks and capes, I make it 60°C. Then, it may also not be necessary to hem everything.

- Twill weaves are harder to unravel or pull askew than regular tabbyweave.

- And if you're not doing it already, use blunt-pointed embroidery neeldes. They are perfectly adequate for most fabrics re-enactors use, and the blood is hard to wash out if you use pointy needles.

[jsantell]

Here is my first handsewn wide tunic. It is 57 inches long by 60 wide. Red wool twill. Backstitched with flatfelled seams. This is the first thing I have ever sewn and it took me 9 hours. A question though, am I wearing it correctly? It feels like I'm wearing a small tent and doesn't look very neat. Does anyone have any wearing tips they can pass along to me? Next project, my subarmalis.
http://home.armourarchive.org/members/j ... /tunic.jpg

[Carlton Bach]

It looks all right to me. You're wearing it belted high, as for physical labour, and this bunching and folding is correct - seen on various depictions from the time. There seems to have been a more 'formal' way to werar a military tunic (creating those typical round folds seen on Rhineland gravestones), but it's not quite clear how. For 'business casual', pull it out a little longer and make vertical folds in the belt.

[Tarbicus]

Looks good to me, Juan. Compare to this: Relief from Puteoli on Livius.org

[Crispvs]

It looks good to me too. If you compare the way it hangs with right hand figure on this relief from Mainz you will notice it looks very similar.


Courtesy of Romanarmy.com imagebase

With regard to it feeling like a tent, all I can say is 'Welcome to the world of Roman clothing'.

Crispvs