Tiberius: FreeSewing's Tiberius Tunica
About Tiberius
Tiberius is a historical Roman tunic
- 🤯🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵( difficulty = 1/5 )
- 🏷️topshistorical( 2 tags )
- 🪡( 0 techniques )
- 📐Rika Tamaike( designer )
- 🧑💻Rika Tamaike( developer )
- 💡Sewing Instructions for Tiberius
- ✂️Generate a bespoke sewing pattern for Tiberius
- ❤️#FreeSewingTiberius( Hashtag for social media )
- Linedrawing
- Measurements
- Design Options
- Design Parts
- Fit
- Armhole drop
Controls the depth of the armhole - Head ratio
Controls the size of the head opening
- Armhole drop
- Style
- Length
Controls the length of the garment - Length bonus
Allows variation of the length of the garment - Width
Controls the width of the garment - Width bonus
Allows variation of the width of the garment - clavi
- Clavi
Whether or not to include guides for clavi - Clavus location
Controls the location of the clavi - Clavus width
Controls the width of the clavi
- Clavi
- Length
- Advanced
- Force width
Apply width settings regardless of constraints
- Force width
| ID | Description |
|---|---|
tiberius.tunica | Tunica |
Designer Notes
Tiberius was the first of the bunch, and also the simplest: a simple, nice tunica, inspired by the ones worn by Romans in the late republic, early empire (I can tell you that I read quite a lot of references and looked at pictures of statues and reliefs to figure out the "how long should it be?" question). This was a garment I wanted to make as part of a costume for my TTRPG (table-top roleplaying game) character, who is kind of a fantasy Roman.
While writing down my measurements to make the tunica, I realised that this was such a simple parametric design that it could be a way for me to dip my toes into the coding part of Freesewing. And so I did. Even though it's "only" a rectangle, I tried to put some things into it behind the scenes (seams?), some failchecks to ensure that it results in a wearable garment. Since it's only a rectangle, there is not much wriggle room (pun intended) for fit, making it nice and easy but also challenging when you want to achieve a certain look (the length of the apparent "sleeves", for example).
One slightly hidden feature is the possibility to add positional markers for clavi, strips of colour on the tunica to denote rank and/or class. Quite fascinating,
The name is taken from James T. Kirk, by the way, who luckily had parents who seemingly liked some debatable Roman emperors.
Rika
Lunetius, Tiberius and Walburga really come as a set. Not only were they born at the same time, they are designed to work together to form a full outfit. Not that this means that they can't be made separately 😉
The further we go back in time, the less extant garments we have to base research on. Often there may be scraps of fabric left behind by stroke of luck but most of our information starts to come from (in archaeology) secondary sources like written texts from contemporaries.
This is especially true for the Roman and Mediaeval eras, not to mention that a lot of the available research is behind a paywall.
We can’t be 100 percent historically accurate, because we’re living in a different time, and everything we use to sew is different now from before. Even fabric is woven in a different way.
How ‘accurate’ you want to be is up to you, there is no wrong way to do this and research is not required -- though it can be fun!
What You Need
To make Tiberius, you will need the following:
- Basic sewing supplies
- About 2 meters (2.2 yards) of a suitable fabric (see Fabric options)
- (a belt, for wearing it)
Fabric Options
Tiberius can be made out of almost any woven fabric. Historically "accurate" would be linen, wool, and, to an extent, cotton. If you care about authenticity, research this a bit. In any case, natural fibers without any stretch are the way to go.
Depending on the social status you want to portray, choose coarser or finer fabrics. Different colours are also possible.
Cutting Instructions
Tiberius consists of only one part, the tunica, that will act as a pattern for both front and back pieces.
- cut 2 tunicae, on the fold
You have two options here: Either you cut your tunica in two pieces as described above, or you cut it in only one piece. Historically speaking, the time period or location you're aiming for can make a difference (ancient Rome vs. ancient Greece, for example). If you care about authenticity, I suggest researching this a bit.