Sewing Two Overland Cloaks For A Wedding
Hello friends,
In June this year our nephew is getting married, and him and his wonderful fiance are having a Medieval/Renaissance Faire themed wedding. Since they encouraged everyone to dress up in Medieval/Renaissance Faire inspired outfits for the event, it was time for me to pull out my sewing machine and get to work.
Now was the chance for me to finally make a medieval winter cloak of my dreams, which I've wished to own for a very long time. After a lot of searching on the internet, and asking some knowledgeable friends online, my friend Karyn suggested the Overland Cloak by Twig + Tale pattern, which is a "luxurious hooded cloak designed for hiking and adventure, with a generous dash of dreaminess". When I bought the Overland Cloak pattern, and showed it to my husband, he got very excited and wanted a cloak of his own, and so it was now up to me to now make two cloaks for the upcoming wedding...
As this wedding is happening in the middle winter, in a community hall, which more than likely is going to be a little chilly, I thought it best to make cloaks with some heft, so we could would stay warm and toasty on the wedding day and into the evening festivities.
First up was finding the fabric needed for the project. I needed 5 metres of outer fabric for each cloak, and the same for lining. From Spotlight we picked up two satin linings in midnight blue and gold. For the outer cloak fabric, the pattern suggested fabrics including wool coating, linen, cashmere and twill. I went hunting in our local secondhand stores to see if I could find any fabric treasures, and came across a steal, 10 metres of vintage gold velvet fabric for $80. This fabric came home with me to be used for my cloak.
For hubby's cloak, I couldn't find any more appropriate secondhand fabric which would work for him, so I ordered some black 100% pure wool coating from the The Fabric Shop in Auckland. When the fabric arrived I was so pleased with it, it wasn't too thick, but it was warm and very good quality. The only bad thing about the fabric is that it was so warm and cosy that Rosie cat became enamored with it and wanted to snuggle with it, and so the fabric quickly became covered with her cat fur...
With all that done it was time to cut out the fabric and then start sewing. I sewed my cloak first, and to be honest the vintage gold velvet was horrible to sew. Even with a Brother Walking Foot the velvet fabric shifted and bunched while sewing, and it took me a long time to make this cloak because it was so difficult, and I was getting very frustrated with it. I eventually finished it, but the cloak has lots of small flaws which are thankfully mostly hidden inside the linings.
On the other hand, hubby's cloak was a dream to sew, and the outer pure wool coating fabric was boiled and felted, which meant I could skip the overlocking steps since the fabric didn't fray at all. I managed to finish hubby's cloak in about a week with Rosie cat's help.
Hubby's cloak look's amazing on him in his favorite colours of black and midnight blue. It sits really great on his shoulders (size 5 pattern), and is the perfect length for all your Medieval/Ren Faire, and Lord of The Rings needs. He chose silver buttons which we got from Spotlight. As you can see from all the photos hubby's cloak is covered in Rosie Cat fur, because she just won't leave it alone.
My cloak looks amazing in shades of gold velvet and satin, along with gold buttons which I also chose from Spotlight. My cloak was sewn in a size 4, which was based on my shoulder width. Due to the incredible difficulty in sewing the cloak, I was unable to insert buttonholes into the velvet fabric, because the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine kept slipping while trying to make the buttonhole. Instead I had to sew on snap fasteners under the top section, and then just sew buttons on top to look like they had buttonholes.
Hubby and I both chose the oversized hood for the Overland Cloak, but they ended up being huge on us, so much so that it completely covered my face if I wore it. I think next time I make an Overland Cloak, I'll choose the smaller rounded hood available.
All in all I'm very pleased with both of the Overland Cloaks that I've made for the wedding. And I certainly now have the Medieval cloak of my dreams. But I am already planning on making another cloak, this time in pure wool coating in shades of purple like hubby's one, with silver buttons, and a smaller rounded hood. And I already have all the fabric and buttons that I need, I just need to find the time and energy to make it...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky, and now also Facebook.
Social Media
Archives