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Tiberius: FreeSewing's Tiberius Tunica

New Tiberius pattern
No line drawing (yet)

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

What You Need​

To make Tiberius, you will need the following:

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​

tip
Use the power of the paperless option - do not print this pattern​

Tiberius is just a big rectangle, so printing the pattern out is a bit of a waste. Save a tree, toggle the paperless option, and copy the dimensions to your fabric, while respecting the grainline.

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
Notes

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.