A Coptic tunic was woven in one piece and its ornament was woven with it. The clavi running shoulder to hem, the shoulder roundels, the neck and sleeve bands — all tapestry-woven in wool on the same warp as the linen ground. There is no seam between decoration and garment because there is no join.

The linen stays undyed: a warm yellowish flax. The wool is a dark blue-purple, murex where a household could afford it and madder over woad where it could not, with madder red, woad indigo, weld yellow and an overdyed green entering in small quantities. The drawing is blocky because warp and weft decide it.