18th C Short Cloak

For many months I have had this nice wool melton in the stash that I had been saving for a cloak. What better time to make one than in the heart of the winter holiday season? I did a lot of the sewing while hanging out with my family over Christmas. But I only just put the ties on this morning, as it took me a while to get some wool tape. I ended up using a contrasting color for the tie strings, because the unique teal color of my fabric was unlikely to exactly match most wool tapes. And I wanted to use wool tape instead of silk ribbon, which is much more slippery and can slowly become untied.

I constructed this based on instructions and images from two great sources: this article by Sue Felshin on The Hive Online and this tutorial put together by Katherine C-G on her blog. These two pages have just about all the information you need to know about making your own cloak. The art is all in the cutting--the sewing itself is simple, although you will likely have to do it by hand, since wool melton is so thick.

Here is the front of the finished cloak.


And the back.


In order to check sizing and how the collar would fall, I made a mockup out of muslin before working in my wool.


Cutting things out--the body of the garment is almost a half circle, with some piecing.