---
title: "Lunetius: FreeSewing's Lunetius Lacerna"
sidebar_label: Lunetius Lacerna
---
<DesignInfo design="lunetius" />
## Designer Notes {#notes}
:::note
Lunetius, Tiberius and Walburga really come as a set. Not only were they born
at the same time, they are designed to work together to form a full outfit. Not
that this means that they can't be made separately ;)
:::
Lunetius the lacerna is the pattern that went through the most name-changes and
iterations behind the scenes. Why? Because I found conflicting information in
secondary literature about how this type of cloak was called and who wore it
when.
To start at the beginning, I wanted a cloak that goes with the rest of my
costume for my TTRPG character, a kind-of fantasy Roman. I knew it had to be
red, but apart from that I wasn't really sure what I wanted. So I started
reading up on cloaks in the Roman military. While this may sound like an easy
task, there was no real standardised "uniform" for Roman soldiers, contrary to
common belief. It also really depends on the timeframe you're looking at,
"Roman" can mean anything from the days of kings to the late republic to the
late empire, a timespan of a few hundred years. Things change. After narrowing
the type of cloak I wanted down to a _sagum_ or a _lacerna_, I went back and
forth between them, because I could not find reliable information on them.
First, the _sagum_ seemed like the safer choice, because many historical
reenactment sites referred to it, but digging a little deeper revealed that
most of them linked to the same source (if they linked to a source at all),
that appeared a bit questionable. That was when I abandoned the internet search
and went to the university library, borrowing a stack of academic books on the
subject. Those were very interesting reads! After finding more references for a
_lacerna_ in them then for a _sagum_, I went for the _lacerna_. Then I only had
to agonise a bit over the exact shape of curve I wanted while looking at stone
reliefs.
Coding the pattern was the easiest part of the whole process.
Oh, and why the name `lunetius`? Well, that actually is the name of the
character I made this whole outfit for. And yes, he has a special relationship
with the moon.
Rika
:::tip
See also [the Tiberius Designer Notes](/docs/designs/tiberius#notes) and the
[Walburga Designer Notes](/docs/designs/walburga#notes).
:::
## What You Need {#needs}
## Fabric Options {#fabric}
## Cutting Instructions {#cutting}
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