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| Fantasy Dress Styles from the Mini Series Spartacus | I've been wearing 2 layers of long sleeve linen most hot days at events. This year I'm going to do as the romans did. I've been inspired by the HBO show ROME and the new Starz production: Spartacus: Blood & Sand |
| What the movies envision |  |
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This is what hollywood came up with in 1964 Not even close to reality. |
Real Roman Women
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Tunica with the open sleeves popular in the early 1st cent BCE and 1st Cent CE |
Parts of the Dress for the 1st & 2nd Centuries |
1. Under tunic or TUNICA 2. Overdress or STOLA 3. Cloak or PALLA |
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| 2-5-11 | Now to research and make these items. I have a list of Books listed at the end of this web page that were so very useful in the design and understanding of ancient Roman Women's Dress. Romans loved lots of color, but White, Purple (all shades) were preferred and Gray and Black were reserved for morning. |
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| For some odd reason, I'm not getting much in the way of 'How To's from the web. I'll just have to wing it on my own | ||||
| 1: Tunica | A short tunic made from my gauze linen. short sleeves with the button closures. Slaves and serving women wore just the Tunica and if it had short sleeves sewn up like the men it was usually shorter in length. Women of stature wore them longer. But, by the 3rd Century AD this style was taken up by the Royalty giving it status, and the open sleeved tunica was now 'old fashioned'. |
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| 2: Stola | Sort of like a summer dress with straps or pined on with fibulae This garment was probably made from wool to give the brightest colors. Remember back then dye colors were not as intense as today and linen takes to dye poorly unless over dyed. Colors mentioned in the existing texts are: blue, purple (amethyst), saffron, green, white, chestnut, almond, wax-yellow (Art of Love) with violet and yellow associated with women. Yellow was the bridal color in Roman Times. |
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| 3: Palla | I may purchase a Sari 6yrds x 1.6yds from India Could not find anything at Estrella War Merchants, so I'll be using ebay.
3-24-11: I'm checking ebay for Sari Materials. Lots of silks to choose from, based in India and they are used. Color choice is hard and there are many many designs....1,500 to choose from yesterday. Also, these old ones are only $20.00 each. I think I'll get some trim for the Stola while I'm at it. |
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| Hair | Styles show the hair worn away from the face hair twisted or braided up into a high bun. Sometimes some of the hair was allowed to fall down the back. Bands of fabric or strips of metal hold the hair back. |
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Fabric for the Tunica and Stola washed and dried in Hot temps (4-13-11) |
 I have fibulae for the Stola. |
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jewelry: necklace pearls and jade the colors match.
Need: earrings snake bracelet |
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| Fabric for the Pella |
tomorrow the other side....another 213 I expect. My palla is 22" wide and currently 6 yards long. I may shorten it some..must make that decision before I add beads to the end. |
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| Sandals I bought. They are very comfortable. |   |
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| 5-31-11 finished some trim to go around the neckline of the tunica |  |
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| 6-12-11 | So tired, but I want to get started on my Roman. Goal is to finish it for June Crown this weekend. Leaving on Friday, so only 5 days. The Tunica: I surged the ends of the 2 pieces of fabric. Sewed about 5" after the open sleeve slits for the shoulder and left a large amount for the neckline to swag. I think I'll pleat the back neckline for a smother fit. tried one large pleat in the back but it didn't look good on me, so I made lots of small pleats across the back and that was much better. Marked the under arm and I'll sew from the bottom of the hem to that spot and sew the under part of the sleeve. I'll tack the upper sleeve so it will remain open like the photo above. |
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mark out the cut line for the sleeves and side seam (all one and surged) OK the underarm is a bit tight. So, I'll be making the other side wider and hope it evens out the drape. Remember that only the top will show in this gown. Well, it's not real pretty, but it will work. Will surge the hem and I'll be done. |
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6-13-11 Monday |
Pattern pieces are cut. I'm lining the top with white linen for extra strength. It's almost 6pm so I'm going to call it a day. Here is a preview of the Stola
I made the midriff section 1/2 of what is shown above.
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Skirt Tuesday |
The piece of linen I had left is 57" X 82" If I cut the piece in half I'd have 41" in length and 114" round for a really full skirt. However 41" was not long enough to hit the ground (that would be OK, but for the fact that the back seems to want to ride up and It's about 3" shorter in the back. So I made the pieces 57" long: 1 piece is 41" wide (front), 2 pieces are 20.5" wide each (back) there will be one center seam all the way up the back. Finished length is 43" from midriff to floor. |
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Wednesday |
Got the trim done around the bottom of the hem.
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| 11-21-11 | I need to make another Roman for the Summer. It will be a different design more loose with a best to give it some shape | |||
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Tunica |
A white cotton  |
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| Stola | Dutch Blue Linen 3.5 oz (very light weight)  |
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| Palla | I'll make a larger one this time to drape over the Stola | |||
| This Tunica would be a 3rd Century style | I do like the color combo above, but since it is so close to Roman Matron #1, Here is another color combo. | |||
Stola is an embroidered cotton and the Palla linen
not sure what to wear underneath if anything |
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| I made some Tablet Weaving (it's an anglo saxon design) I'll add it to the main dress. | ||||
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The Ides of March 3/15/12 I've sewn the tunica together, it's a tube of blue machine embroidered gauze into a tube the length I needed. The arms are 10" deep from the shoulder, which of course are not sewn. I then took my mouse pad and cut out the center of the shoulders for the neckline and pinned the cut out fabric back onto it to create a facing. The fabric is so light it needs the extra to keep the neckline from stretching out. I gathered fabric more in the back than in the front.
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Bronze Fibula To hold the Palla in place. |
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| 3-19-12 |  |
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| #3 Roman Matron Gown | I need to do one more for a long hot weekend, back to the 1st Century AD | |||
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It's the Palla that looks so very interesting on this gown. |
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The Tunica is a cream gauze. I sewed up the sides leaving the top free for the last 15 inches. I'm using french seams on these long side seams. I'll sew the top edges to finish them. Now to adjust the neckline, so it is more gathered in the back than in the front.
to 10" depth for the armhole area. |
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1st Century Muse located in Istanbul Turkey Roman |
Fabric is gathered into a band
Stola 3yards of 60" wide linen, turquoise (greek blue) .5 yard of brown linen cut to the stripe 166" of linen inkle trim
4-11-12 finished the top band Just 2 things left: center back seam and hem: Done 4-21-12
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A dark brown band of linen around the base of the gown with another stripe inside. I was going to put some embroidery but since the dress will be gathered at the neckline, I don't think it will be seen very well.
A belt worn just under the bust is the typical way to wear this dress, but I think I may just let that go. 4-7-12 |
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| UNDERGARMENTS |  |
Women of Rome did have underwear though to look at the statues they did not. There were breast bindings and bikini bottoms available and there is a floor mosaic which shows women athletes dressed in them and there is a pair of the leather bottoms which were found in Roman London | ||
| Palla | Because a proper Roman woman would not be caught outside without one...And I have lots of Linen!
I'm going to add the embroidery of the dogs to the Palla I have eight dogs to add so I think it will be very spiffy looking.
I'm going to add a large border all the way around as I've seen that on the frescos.
4 full yards of Ginger IS003 4.3oz linen/cotton blend 4-9-12 |
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| NOVELS | Pompeii by Robert Harris Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn |
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| BOOKS | Roman Dress Accessories by Ellen Swift Costumes of the Greeks and Romans by Thomas Hope Roman Clothing and Fashion by Alexandra Croom Dress and the Roman Woman, Self-presentation and Society by Kelly Olson |
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The Stola is the equilivant of the Toga for men during this time. It was short lived (only about 200 yrs) but it symbolizes the Respectable Roman Woman. Known for it's straps at the top and the "instita" or flounce. Since there are no know flounces on the existing statures or frescos, it is supposed that this means the band of color at the bottom of the hem line. The Stola was supposed to cover the feet in length.
Added 213 beads to one side of the Palla. 4-18-11
First Try
These were the inspiration for my straps.
a cream button tunica and the teal linen will be the stola
The arm holes are too deep and I'll have to adjust 
I was making the stripe for the bottom on the dress but when I put it on the dummy...I really like it this way..however I went over every fresco I've collected and all the statues from the 1st century and I cannot find anything that looks like this. So it's a fantasy design....I'll pin the top of the stripe and put it at the bottom as is proper.