How I make rosettes for a Roman gap-sleeved tunica.

The how-to video can also be found here. Written instructions can be found below.

Examples with different weight fabrics:

  • Medium Weight Linen
  • Light Weight Linen
  • Linen Gauze
  • Light Weight Wool

Instructions

From the underside of the fabric (the inside of the tunica), below where the fabric will be gathered, thread your needle through.

Bunch up about a half an inch of fabric (more for thinner fabric, less for thicker fabric), this is best started at the corners. 

Wrap the thread around 2 times and go through the base in a different place. Do this about 3 – 5 times going in at different spots.

When you’ve finished, bring your needle down through to the underside, make a few little stitches on the underside and make a knot. Repeat at the other corner.

Pick one of the shoulder points and repeat this process.

Because you are gathering fabric, bring together the corners to make sure that your second shoulder point lines up with the first shoulder rosette.

Connect the half way point between the corner rosette and the shoulder rosette. You can leave it there if you want three connections or you can measure it to have more. 

3-4 on each side seems sufficient unless you are working with a lot of fabric. 

Make rosettes in each place making sure that they match up on each side of the tunica.