Late Roman tunic (Clavi)

[Crispvs]

Graham,

"Perhaps when you add the designs near the cuffs you could close the cuffs themselves around the wrist even tighter if possible."

As Peronis says, the sleeves are pretty much skin tight as it is and it can be quite tricky to get my hand through. Certainly there is an art to putting my arm into the sleeve at the right angle so as to stop the tunic becoming uncomfortably twisted at the shoulder. Once my arm is in the sleeve it is virtually impossible to rotate the sleeve around it (and I am closer in stature to a pipe cleaner man than Arnold Swartzeneger). I have to pull my arm out and try again to get the angle right. As to closing up the cuffs, I cannot think of any way to do this other than a lace which could be tightened slightly once the tunic was on. If the garment was knitted this would not be a problem, but the tunics I copied this one from were definitely woven. Not being a weaver I do not know if it is possible to weave a fabric which can be repeatedly stretched without tearing or becoming permanently distorted.

I am not sure how a larger or more muscular man would be able to wear this tunic. The dimensions of the tunic however, including those of the sleeves, are copied from those of the actual garments, which I calculated from the height and width measurements given by Christie's in their catalogue. I did contemplate enlarging the sleeves when I saw what size they would turn out to be but in the end I made it according to the originals to find out whether I could make it work.

As a perhaps relevant aside, once the tunic has been put on, the sleeves are remarkably comfortable, despite being skin tight and fairly inflexible.

Crispvs