Sewing a Stola

The stola is the status garment worn over the tunica by married women who are free-born citizens. There are several styles of stola which modern costumers categorize according to how they appear to be held together at the shoulders. There are some characteristics that all stolas have in common though: First, they are all sleeveless and allow the sleeves of the tunica worn beneath to be seen. Second, they are sewn closed on the sides up to the underarm area. Although a few literary references mention that the stola, as a symbol of a matron's modesty, should cover the feet. In period artwork, however, stolas appear to be anywhere from mid-calf to floor length.

Without having persona access to the sculptures and the ability to take my own photos, it's difficult to enlarge the photos I have accumulated well enough to allow close examination of the shoulder treatment. Most of the images became overly pixilated when I tried to enlarge the shoulder area, but some images of stolas are below.

Some stolas appear to have shoulders that are treated identically to the shoulders of the gap-sleeved tunica frequently worn beneath, except that they have only a single (or possibly two) "buttons" or fastenings. Others appear to be treated similarly, but instead of being fastened the fabric appears to be gathered (to a greater or lesser extent) and then the front and back are sewn together. More structured versions of this style appear to have more fabric gathered into the strap and a band applied across the gathered fabric to control it. Another version appears to hang the fabric from a thin fabric, or possibly cord, strap. The last version, often referred to by modern costumers as the "banded stola" has the fabric of the stola gathered evenly across the front and back of the garment and held in place by a band of fabric that extends to form straps over the shoulders. Without more research, and a larger sample of accurately dated period artwork, it's only possible to speculate at this time, but it's possible that these styles represent a chronological development of this garment. Even so, multiple versions appear to have been worn concurrently, so at this time I suggest making the version that appeals to you or making several stolas in different styles. Most versions of the stola will be made, more or less, like the tunicas worn beneath it. The exception is the banded stola.

Sewing Instructions for the Banded Stola:

1. Before you start sewing you will cut a 1 1/2" wide strip off the length of your stola fabric to use for the band and straps, or get some extra wide double-fold bias tape. If your fabric is 45" wide, you might need to cut two strips.
2. Sew up the sides like you would for a tunica; you even leave the sides open from the top edge like you do for the tunica. Make sure you hem the open parts at the sides of the garment, and you can finish the hem at the bottom, but don't do anything to the top edge yet.
3. Measure the width from one bra strap to the other on your upper chest and write this measurement down. This is how wide you want the finished band on the front to be.The back should be the same width, or slightly narrower.
4. Run a gathering stitch along the top edge of the front and back of the stola and gather the top edges up until they are the width you determined in step 2. Tie the threads or secure them in some way so the gathered parts can't "un-gather".
5. Your straps will be one continuous piece that runs all the way around the neckline and shoulders, so measure over your shoulder from about level with the top of your armpit in front to about the same level in back. This is how long your straps need to be. Your whole band needs to be shoulders x 2 + front width + back width + 1-2". Add that up and cut your band to that length. If you need to, sew two strips of fabric together and then cut the band.
6. Find the center of band (make sure there isn't a seam there!) and pin one edge of it to the INSIDE top edge of the center front panel. Pin the same edge to the entire inside front edge of the front panel, then measure out the length for the shoulders on either side of the front panel
7. Starting with the front panel, fold the band up and over the top edge of the front panel while turning the cut edge of the band under once. You should see a nice folded edge on the front with the earlier stitching, gathering threads, and cut edges all nicely hidden inside the band. Pin the folded edge of the band and continue this process across the width of the front panel and the back panel. For the shoulder straps, start at the point where the straps join the front and back panels - see how the cut edges want to fold to the inside? Fold them in and pin the strap closed along the length of both straps and mark the end of the shoulder strap part. Starting at the ends of the shoulder straps, pin the SAME edge (as you pinned to the front) to the inside top edge of the back panel. The ends of the band should overlap a bit in about the middle of the back panel. Fold the BOTTOM section of the overlap over once (back onto itself) and lay the top section on top of the folded end. This will make the join nice and neat when you are finished. Sew the band to the panels in front and back. Remove the pins.
8. If you are sewing by machine, run a line of stitching about 1/8" above the folded edge of the strap. Go slowly and try to be as neat as possible. If you are sewing by hand, carefully sew down the folded edge with small, neat stitches.
9. At this point, you're finished unless you want to add some trim! You can add a very narrow trim all the way around, on the band/straps or you can add a slightly wider trim to just the front panel where band attaches. There isn't much evidence for really wide trims being used though, so try to stick with something fairly narrow.

Note - If you are using bias tape instead of making the binding/straps out of fabric, you follow basically the same steps but may be able to just pin to over the front and back panels and sew into place in a single step.