Costume Ideas for Roman General or Soldier Uniform - Part 3

(This is the continuation from Part 2)

Tunic and Cloak Attachment in the Roman Soldier Uniform

For Roman Soldier uniform costume, I didn't want to permanently attach the cape or cloak to the tunic shirt. I wanted an option for my son to put it on or remove the cloak from the tunic shirt as needed.

To do this, I had to find a way to attach the cloak without damaging the tunic shirt. Here are the steps I followed:

  1. Tie the knotted corner of the cloak with a thin piece of insulated wire. A piece of twist-tie or twistees would suffice. Be sure to hide the wire so the fibula or brooch (big white button) covers it.


  2. Sew black buttons at the collar of the tunic shirt. Be sure to sew the buttons to the collar and then the collar to the shirt itself. The black buttons need to be sewn to the collar and the shirt. This reinforces the placement of the black buttons. Otherwise, the cloak will pull out the shirt's collar backwards. You can see one black button in the photo above.




  3. Tie the thin wires to the black buttons on the collar/shirt. Tie them in such a way that the cloak's corners and brooches cover the black buttons on the collar. If you fasten correctly, the fibula and the cloak will appear as shown below. Notice how the fibula and the corners of the cloak segue quite nicely from the V-shaped design of the decorative embroidery on the chest.


  4. Here's the tunic shirt with the attached cloak behind it. Notice the cloak exceeds the length of the tunic shirt. The tunic shirt just reaches beyond waist while the cloak reaches the hips.







Head Band Accessory for the Warrior Character

This accessory is just an item I saw on the character's depiction as discussed in Part 1. For this, DH bought a decorative fabric border or edge. It cost only Php 15 per meter and was bought at a fabric and crafts store. It is the kind of fabric that is used for decorating garments. It has black and gold colors to signify nobility.


The cut piece is simply tied at the forehead like a head band with the excess material hanging like tails at the back of the head. DH bought 3 meters of this material and so there was enough material to decorate the Roman soldier's belt as well.


Sword, Scabbard and Belt of the Roman Soldier Uniform

My son has had this toy plastic sword since he was seven. He has since used it as costume props in school. For his height, the sword's length is just right and could resemble the gladius. The Gladius is the general Latin word for "sword". In the Roman Republic, the term 'Gladius Hispaniensis' (Spanish Sword) referred (and refers today) specifically to the short sword.

The toy plastic sword has a simple black velcro-fastened belt that slips into a slot in the sword's scabbard. Since there was material left from the decorative gold border fabric, I used a hot glue gun to glue the gold border fabric along the length of the black belt. The belt, as result, looks much better as shown below.


(See Part 4 for the continuation of this article)



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