Apple green ancient Roman tunic and palla

As you could read in my previous post, I sewn a new ancient Roman outfit for an historical event in Rome. To be honest I didn't need a new outfit since my last tunic was just from 2015 but the group asked me to bring a second pair of clothes in case of bad weather. 

So I went to my local fabric store to look for nice fabrics to use; the emerald cotton I liked was too expensive and I didn't want to spend lot of money for a dress I already own (so silk and linen were absolutely out of budget) but I had to be historically accurate at the same time. Luckily cotton was widespread during the Roman empire (good for my pockets) so I bought this nice light green and apple green fabrics. The lighter one was chosen for the tunic and the brighter one for the palla. 

The dress had the same construction of the previous outfit (so nothing new under the sun) and I recorded a speeded video to show you the various steps of the sewing process; since I had to keep it accurate I did every hem and outer details exclusively by hand. The tunic has been fastened with two bronze buttons and fastened at the waist with a leather belt (not displayed in the following photos).

I hand sewn the eyelets of the headband as well. The palla has been made out of 3 metres of cotton, all hemmed by hand (what a work!) but in the end I managed to finish the whole outfit in less than a week. 

Since the palla was really long I could wear it in two ways: wrapped around the body or worn as shawl draping it around shoulders and on the head. 

The only problem I got when wearing it as veil was the weight; the veil pulled the headband away so I had to keep it light and not tight as shown in the picture. The tunic is really comfortable and fresh, in the photos I worn a white extra layer since the weather was kinda cold. 

I took two videos for my Instagram profile showing the costume in action: 

Another video with the ancient Roman outfit :) Here you can see how the palla falls  when worn wrapped around the body.  #reenactment #costume #costumer #history #historical #natalediroma #handmade #rievocazionestorica #ancientworld #ancientroman #ancienthistory #circusmaximus #seamstress #cosplay #historicalcostuming #historicalcostume #sewingvideo #natalediroma2016 #spqr #historicalfashion

Un video pubblicato da Il Fiore Nero Costumery (@ilfiorenero_handmade) in data: 1 Mag 2016 alle ore 09:29 PDT

First video from #natalediroma :) We took it during a break from our reenactment, sorry for the people on the background. The weather was really cold so I wore a longsleeved cotton tunic as extra layer. The palla worked really well as shawl :) #natalediroma2016 #reenactment #live #livevideo #rome #ancientrome #history #historical #historicalcostume #costumer #handmade #showcase #circusmaximus #ilfiorenero

Un video pubblicato da Il Fiore Nero Costumery (@ilfiorenero_handmade) in data: 30 Apr 2016 alle ore 03:40 PDT

I simply love how the palla falls around the body and how it looks on my skin! 

A made to order version of this costume is listed on my Etsy shop: give it a visit!