Yar har! My own bit of space to ramble tunic-y thoughts without PM's annoying constraints.
DONE!
So, this is it. I hope you like.
I didn't iron it, since international shipping will undo any progress I make in that regard. It has yellow lacing at the neck currently, but you can re-lace it with another color should you choose. There are slits along the sides. The tunic can be worn with a t-shirt (preferably black) under it if you wish, or as-is. It looks best when worn with a belt, especially if you have a scabbard/knife/money pouch hanging from the belt. Fully machine-washable, and dryer-dryable. No warrantees, rebates, or money-back guarantees. Batteries not included. Offer void where prohibited by law.
The tunic, under construction:
(Sorry - my daughter wanted to be in the picture, too.)
Anyways, the picture above is what the project looks like at present. The sides haven't been sewn up yet, but it's very nearly done. Just need to decide where we want the trim to be. (As a side note, the color correction is pretty close to real life in this picture - the material is a very deep red. The other photos show it brighter than it really is).
So, here's one option for trim - just along the wrist:
And the following picture show the trim on wrist and neck. Of the three, this is the one I would suggest:
As a note, trim around the neck would follow the same angles as the black material, not a curved shape as the picture implies. And again, the trim is a golden yellow, but not actually metallic. Weird that it shows up so reflective in the pictures.
Comments? Email me: raven@shades-of-night.com
More pics:
The red and black combo without yellow/gold trim. Alas, the deep green I picked looks, er, christmassy, next to the red. It's kinda tricky to pick something that goes well with a strong color like red.
Here's the black/deep red combination you asked about via PM. I used a black trim even though it will barely show up against the other black. Looks pretty good!
The colors in the previous photo look a little different than the actual thing - the black looks almost blue. Which got me to thinking.... I've got some very very dark blue around, sort of a slate blue, and I bet it would look good in the same combination...
And of course, the colors in that photo make the blue look more colorful, almost navy, instead of nearly black. The deep red trim in this photo is the same cloth as in the previous photo, by the way. Both the slate blue and the deep red are light-weight materials which I think would do very well for a costume meant to be worn primarily indoors.
If you like the effect of the dark material accented by deep red, than I'd go with that last set, with the slate blue. It really does looks very sharp, and I think the photo doesn't do it justice. In a dimly lit room, it will look black & red. In brighter light, it will be more obviosuly blue, but still a very dark blue.
Lemme know.
So here's my thoughts so far:
I've got some nice materials kicking around which would make excellent tunics. I also like to use a secondary color to do accents around the sleves and collar. Usually I run a small strip of trim between the two colors to help cover the seam, and well... 'cuz it looks sharp.
Here's an idea for the tunic, using a nice lightweight navy blue, with red as an accent color. I've laid a strip of black trim between the two. If you imagine you are looking at a sleeve on a tunic, and the accent color is where the cuff/wrist of the sleeve is, you have a pretty good idea of what it will look like eventually:
Here's another option, with back as the main tunic color and blue as the accent. There's a strip of grey/silver trim running between the two. (I know you said you don't like metallics, but it was the only thing I had on hand at the time, and I think it looks sharp. If you don't like it, it is easily replaceable by any number of other less-flashy trims.) This would also work just as well with the Blue being the main color on the tunic, and Black as the accent color. Possibly better with the blue as the main tunic color, because that blue material is very comfortable for indoor wear. Some of the heavier weights (or even medium weight cloth, like the black I have) get very hot if you're wearing them in crowded or warm locations, like the dungeon at TD.
And here's the wine red which I'd mentioned, using black as an accent color, and a strip of bright yellow trim. It makes a great combination, but definitely on the flashier side.
Tell me what you think. If anything strikes your fancy, I'm ready to go with it. If you'd prefer to play with some other color ideas, I'm cool with that too. (I'm not the sort who gets offended if people don't like my ideas.)
PM me back, or toss email to raven@shades-of-night.com
Later!