Make an Ancient Roman tunic and toga or Ancient Egyptian outfit

Need an easy outfit and quickly for your Ancient Roman or Ancient Egyptian project?

You can make a simple tunic for both. Can you see the tunic in the photo below? It's like the t-shirt shape underneath the toga and goes down to your knees.

(The toga is for your Ancient Roman outfit. It's a separate, long bit of white material that's wrapped round the body as you can see in the photo).

You will need:
An old single white sheet (that your parents don't mind being cut up!) / sewing scissors / a grown-up's help for the toga and tunic bit.


All photos Rachel Hayward

For the tunic (boy or girl)
This tunic is fine for an Ancient Roman or Egyptian outfit.

Get a grown-up to measure you for the length of your outfit to just below your knee.

For our 9 year old models, we cut a metre in length and 70cm for the width.

Fold the material lengthwise in half and cut a quarter shape out of the folded corner for your neck hole as shown in the photo (see left).

You've now got the basic tunic outfit if you're going to be an Ancient Egyptian.

Tie the tunic at your waist with a belt.

For the Ancient Roman toga
A toga is basically a long rectangular shape of white cotton material. It folds over the tunic.

We made ours the length of the single bedsheet and then cut a strip 80cm in width.

How to wear your toga
Get dressed like a Roman! First put the tunic on and tie it at the waist with a belt. Then put the toga round your neck. Grab the end of the right side in your right hand as shown in the photo (left).

Pull the right side under your right arm and over your left shoulder.

You can tuck the right side into your belt as shown in the photo (left).

Have you got time to add some accessories to your outfit?

We've got Ancient Roman ideas first and scroll down for Ancient Egyptian jewellery.

Ancient Roman accessories
Make an Ancient Roman snake bracelet.

Here's a snake bracelet design from the Petrie Museum online collection.

You can find more Ancient Roman jewellery on the British Museum's website in its Young explorers section.

One idea is to print off the larger image of the Jet pendant and turn that into a necklace.

Make a scroll
We made the scroll out of a paper towel tube and wrapped it in brown paper. We then cut two circles out of card and used string inside the tube to attach one circle to another at each end of the tube. See photo.

Ancient Egyptian jewellery
Click on the link to find out how to make an Ancient Egyptian scarab necklace.

Make an Ancient Egyptian collar of beads too.

Good luck with your outfit and don't forget to send us a photo!

Why not visit one of the museums we've mentioned and see their Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Roman collections?

The British Museum
The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.