My finished cloak!
Making the cloak is very, very easy. Mine took about an hour and a twenty minutes, and had I been happy with the ties, would've taken an hour and two minutes. Yes, I did time it :)
For information on patterning, do visit the above website. I did a pattern in muslin first, not so much because you need to, but because wool is $20 a yard, and I didn't want to make a mistake. I bought 1 1/4 yards.
Here we have the pattern pieces--one cloak, two collars. The cloak body is essentially a stretched half circle. Please note that I'm the "very short and skinny" person mentioned in the article and I didn't have to piece it. I did though shorten it one inch on each side from my pattern. I wasn't about to piece one inch by about 4 inch pieces. It was much easier to make it slightly less full. I don't think such a small piece would even hang correctly in such a thick fabric. I have seen originals with much smaller pieces pieced, but losing a part of a sleeve is much different than a cloak!
Gather the neckline and pin the collar into place, right side of the cloak to wrong side of the collar (not that it really matters with many wools!), with the collar pointing down. Sew with a backstitch.
Pin the second half of the collar into place, wrong side of the cloak to wrong side of the collar, with the collar pointing up. Sew into place with a whipstitch. (I used backstitch. In typical me fashion, I read the article, read Costume Close-Up, and then did my own thing stitch wise because I forgot what I read and didn't recheck the stitch until I was done.) This will fold over, and the gathered neckline of the cloak will be sandwiched between the two layers of collar.
Sew the ties in (I used black wool twill tape), and you have a cloak! So easy, and it really was nice and warm to wear. Of course, it was about 40 degrees when I wore it, which I normally don't consider warm enough for outer wear, even in the real world, but it was still much warmer with it on than with it off :)
It's very cute! I want to make one now.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice, I think I may try this as I almost bought a pattern for a short cloak. Thank you for sharing about it!
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the wool? I want to make one.
ReplyDeleteThe wool is from http://www.wmboothdraper.com
DeleteAnother good source is http://www.burnleyandtrowbridge.com
Have fun making the cloak!
Drive by public service announcement, this article can be found at
ReplyDeletehttp://people.csail.mit.edu/sfelshin/revwar/thehiveonline.org/short-cloaks.htm
Thank you! I'll edit this when I get a chance. That was such a great article--I'm glad it's not gone!
DeleteThe above link now goes to an intermediate link that includes this original direct link to the article.
Deletehttp://people.csail.mit.edu/sfelshin/revwar/short-cloaks/index.html
Hi, I know this is a very old post so I'm very sorry for asking this question so late. How did you sew the ties in? I'm a novice at sewing. Thank you very much in advance.
ReplyDeleteI am not the author of this article, but the ties are probably hand-sewn to the cloak. Personally, I would turn under the end to prevent fraying, and then stitch it to the cloak below the collar about an inch from the front edge. Before sewing, pin the ties down and try it on to determine that the placement is good. The article linked in the comments discusses the placement and attachment of the ties.
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