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How to make a Roman Tunic for a high ranking officer
The material should be wool or linen; either red, white, or off white

Below is my first attempt at making a tunic, based on a much later find than my reconstruction time period. I'm going to make another, more traditional Tribune's tunica, in white, with two vertical Clavii (stripes) 

Firstly the inspiration:
I could have simply folded over a blanket, cut a neck hole, and called it a day however;
because I am looking to recreate an Officer's Impression, I required something a little more
elaborate.

I based my  tunic on the follow original museum finds:
http://www.gryph.com/byzantine/tunica2.htm
http://www.gryph.com/byzantine/segmenta.htm
Although I made a short sleeve version and added trim at the bottom

As well as how the experts on HBO's Rome dressed their characters and original mosaics
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/clothing_sources.html  
 

Step 1
I used a silk and linen table cloth as the base, folded it in half, and then placed an old loose fitting T-shirt
on top; tracing around the T-Shirt. (In the photos, I had placed the trim
in the approximant position that I wanted... just to help me plan out the pattern.)

Step 2
With the linen material folder over, I simply traced around the T-shirt and
it was time to get the scissors

Step 3
Cut out the pattern around the body and arms.
I chose to make the neck opening a little longer in front and left it higher the back.

Step 4
I placed the trim on the outer edge of the sleeve, I used pins to keep in straight, and sewed
(I'm not 100% sure what the material the trim is made from so...
please don't call the Authenticity Police on me!) 

Step 5
After sewing the trim on both sleeves, I sewed the trim around the neck opening

Step 6
I chose to run extra trim vertically down the front a back of the tunic.
It took a lot of pins and quite a few attempts to insure the trim was straight

Step 7
After the second trim was sewn, I ran a straight edge along the bottom and cut

Step 8
I sewed the trim along the bottom

Step 9
Lastly, I just turned the tunic inside out and sewed along the edge

Smaller image for www.romanarmy.com