Roman dress "Gaia"

Hello guys, the end of the month is near and I'm passing these cold winter days sewing a new roman dress.

I found at the local market a beautiful remnant of deep green fabric in synthetic fibres (I think it's polyester) large enough for a dress, and so I bought it with another camouflage fabric. To be honest I wasn't thinking to another roman dress but when I saw the fabric I couldn't resist!

The fabric

To sew this dress you'll need: 

- Fabric 

- Thread 

- Scissor

- A sewing machine, but you can avoid it if you want a more historical look. 

The fabric is soft as silk and the green is simply luscious! I didn't use a pattern so I put the fabric on the floor and I drew by hand the figure of shoulders with a chalk, after measuring my own shoulders. I have a one shoulder tunic already but for this one I wanted something different: I took my inspiration from the Spartacus TV series and I found in the character of  Gaia a nice reference: her dress has a deep V neckline and it's made of light green silk with golden embroidery, and the shape of the cloth seems quite historical.

Gaia

My dress will look like this on the shoulders but the neckline will be less evident and I'll wear a blue tunic as underwear since my fabric is quite see-through. 

The construction of the dress is really simple, so if you're a beginner seamstress like me you won't find it hard. So, after drawing the straps with the chalk I started sewing the hems by hand, finishing them with the sewing machine later for a better look. Then I sewed both sides together and put it on: I'm used to sew clothes a little bit bigger than my real size so I'll have to adjust the dress on my hips in a second moment. 

Particular of the seam

To decorate the shoulders I applied by hand two silver buttons with Medusa's effigy (I'm in love with them!)

The buttons. 

Keep in mind: don't throw away scraps! You can always use them as ribbons or as decorations for your hair if they're big enough :) I'll use mine for the typical roman hairstyle I use during historical fairs. 

I noticed the dresses displayed in Spartacus have many layers of different fabrics but I find this style more fantasy than roman, even if women from upper classes wore dresses made of rich materials and with vivid colours. I hand stitched a hair comb to keep the veil on my head (don't forget this step if you don't want to lose it when you move, my suggestion is to make a braid and then put the hair comb there - a fake braid is good too). 

Total amount: less than 10€, if you're lucky it's a very low budget project!  

Photo by Franco Russo

Roman Chiton tutorial pt.2

Hello ladies, I finished to sew my Roman chiton finally so I can close my tutorial :) I'm here to show you how I sewed the stola, which will be less historical if compared to the Chiton. I had a very little piece of fabric to set it, so I had to use my own imagination.

You can find the first part of the tutorial clicking here.

First of all, I had to dye the fabric using a chemical colour. I wanted to use a natural method to dye it, but it would have been too expensive. I used a very famous italian brand called "Coloreria Italiana", you just have to put it in your washing machine with one kg of salt and wash the fabric at 40° two times. The colour you'll obtain will depend from the natural fabric tone, so I had a very brilliant red since the fabric was pink.

The buttons

I laid the fabric on my right shoulder and then I let it fall all around my body, more or less until my left hip and I did the same on the back; I combined the two sides of the fabric with two small automatic buttons in black, sewing them with a pink thread: they're very simple to be sewed onto the fabric, but you have to fold it a little to make them "hold on" properly.

After that, I sewed two golden buttons with a beautiful lion head, they're not historical but they look great on the fabric!

I still have to take some pics with the dress, I just put it on for some test shots ;) I decorated my hair with a  braid and a beautiful red ribbon, nine was very wide but you can use the measure you prefer. I choose some golden jewellery for a more "ancient look", I think it looks great with red! Oh, I forgot the leather belt under my chest ! 

Ta-daaaaah! That's the dress on! :)

Eccomi di ritorno con la seconda parte del tutorial del mio abito romano :) Vorrei mostrarvi in questa sede come preparare la stola, sebbene la mia sia molto meno storica se paragonata all'abito. Avevo a disposizione una quantità di tessuto molto limitata per realizzarla, quindi mi sono dovuta arrangiare e son dovuta ricorrere molto alla mia immaginazione per creare qualcosa di credibile. 

Prima di tutto, ho dovuto tingere la stoffa con un colorante chimico. Volevo farlo in modo naturale usando l'infuso di Karkadé, ma sarebbe risultato il tutto troppo caro. Son quindi ricorsa alla Coloreria Italiana effettuando il lavaggio in lavatrice: è tutto molto semplice, aprire le confezioni e le posate sul fondo del cestello, appoggiate il tessuto bagnato (mi raccomando) e sopra vi buttate un 1 kg di sale grosso da cucina. Dopodiché  fate partire un ciclo di lavaggio a 40° e dopo averlo terminato, senza togliere il capo dalla lavatrice, ne fate partire un successivo alla stessa temperatura per fissare il colore e ripulire la lavatrice. Potete stare tranquilli: subito dopo l'abito ho lavato dei copri sedia arancioni e non c'era la minima traccia di rosso ;) Il risultato della tintura dipenderà dal colore di base dell'abito, il mio essendo rosa mi ha permesso di ottenere un bel rosso brillante.

Ho sistemato la stola sulla spalla destra e da lì ho avvolto tutto il resto del torace fino all'anca sinistra, facendo lo stesso dietro la schiena e cercando di ottenere un bel drappeggio. Ho fermato i due lembi con dei bottoncini automatici a scomparsa, facilissimi da applicare con del filo rosa e che assicurano un bel risultato (ricordatevi di cucirli su due lembi di stoffa, hanno bisogno di spessore su cui "aggrapparsi"). Per decorare il tutto, ho applicato due bottoni dorati raffiguranti l'effige di un leone: non sono affatto storici, ma sono molto scenici e mi piacevano :) 

Non ho ancora avuto modo, causa meteo, di indossare l'abito per immortalarlo nella sua completezza, ma potete vedere alcuni scatti di prova effettuati dopo le cuciture finali. Per l'acconciatura ho realizzato una treccia fermandola sulla nuca con una pinza (meglio se delle forcine), ornando il tutto con un nastro rosso;  il mio era molto spesso ma potete usare tutte le misure che volete. Come gioielli ho optato per della bigiotteria dorata, credo che sia il colore che s'intona meglio con il resto dell'abito. Ah, mi stavo dimenticando la cintura di pelle da sistemare sotto al seno. 

Ora via libera ai commenti, che ne pensate?