Pinterest & revamping a cloak
Sep. 15th, 2012 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzFirst off, I've joined Pinterest. Let me just say I heard many great things about its addictiveness and I just want to keep track of images I find on the web that can be an inspiration for me and projects in the future.
Sounds corny, but I've often stumbled upon pictures that I thought to myself "wow, that's a really great outfit" and then I could never find them back. Hopefully with Pinterest this won't be the case.
Case in Point: I found a picture of Princess Máxima in a Jan Taminiau suit made out of NL Post bags. Completely awesome, and probably never to be found on the web again if I don't pin it.
Which means that you can follow me on Pinterest and you'll probably find a "Pin This" button on future posts too. If I can figure out how this works.
Ahem. Announcement over. Revamping a cloak!
A few years back I made myself a full-circle cloak out of wool and lined it with a cotton damask. It was a beautiful cloak with no less than eight pockets on the lining, and I wore it for my characters Nieske an Marianne, having events for Maerquin in April and November when the nights can be (very) cold.
The trouble with the cloak was that it was too heavy. I only noticed it the last few events I wore it. Six meters of wool and six meters of thick cotton damaks do weigh in, and as a result from wearing the cloak I'd slouch.
Yesterday evening I suddenly realised that for the Maerquin barnight (tonight!) I would need a warm cloak. Traveling by train also cuts down the amount of luggage you can drag along, so a smaller cloak was desired not only because of the weight but for packing reasons too.
This cloak has an embroidered trim at the hem, of several cute stitches from my sewing machine wedged togeher, so altering the cloak wouldn't be easy.
The cloak was made with one half circle and two quarter circles to either side, to avoid a seam running down the center back. I wanted to half the weight, so I cut off the hood of the cloak and ripped both seams open to the embroidery. I tried to cut the embroidery and hem as straight as I could, following the lines between the panels.
I now had one half-circle and two quarter-circles. Of course it's easier to make a half-circle cloak out of one half-circle, so I put the quarter circles away (after ripping off one of the eight pockets from the lining, because I really do want a pocket in my cloak at all times!) and continued with the half-circle.
I measured the neckline and made it a bit larger, and then measured the hood to see how much smaller I could make it. There was a period where I cut cloak hoods as big as they could go, because that would be cool, but I realised they just fall off all the time. I trimmed the hood down and finished the bottom edge with a zig-zag since I wasn't in the mood to change the thread on my serger. This was a last-minute alteration project, after all.
The sides of the half circle were folding inwards, because there had been seams there. This made for an easy finishing: the edges were already turned under! I just could topstitch everything and get a lined cloak out of very little effort. The only problem was the bottom hem, with the embroidery, where I couldn't turn the edges under and I'd have a cut edge.
First, I sewed the pocket to the lining fabric, and then I pinned the sides. At the bottom near the embroidery, I used a satin stitch (tightly-spaced zig-zag stitch) to finish off the edges so that they couldn't fray anymore. The rest of the vertical sides were topstitched and I zig-zagged the neckhole so the fabric couldn't droop.
Final touch was putting the hood back on and topstitching the seam down and creating a loop with a pretty button.
Half the cloak for twice the comfort! This was only an hour's work or so. I can fix the other half at a later time for a twin to this cloak with a center-back seam.
The cloak now doesn't fully close in the front anymore, but I'm used to that and if all else fails I can toss one end over the other shoulder, for a draped front that keeps me warm. And I won't need to wear a green cloak with my purple dress, which can be fashionable but not for this character.
Sounds corny, but I've often stumbled upon pictures that I thought to myself "wow, that's a really great outfit" and then I could never find them back. Hopefully with Pinterest this won't be the case.
Case in Point: I found a picture of Princess Máxima in a Jan Taminiau suit made out of NL Post bags. Completely awesome, and probably never to be found on the web again if I don't pin it.
Which means that you can follow me on Pinterest and you'll probably find a "Pin This" button on future posts too. If I can figure out how this works.
Ahem. Announcement over. Revamping a cloak!
A few years back I made myself a full-circle cloak out of wool and lined it with a cotton damask. It was a beautiful cloak with no less than eight pockets on the lining, and I wore it for my characters Nieske an Marianne, having events for Maerquin in April and November when the nights can be (very) cold.
The trouble with the cloak was that it was too heavy. I only noticed it the last few events I wore it. Six meters of wool and six meters of thick cotton damaks do weigh in, and as a result from wearing the cloak I'd slouch.
Yesterday evening I suddenly realised that for the Maerquin barnight (tonight!) I would need a warm cloak. Traveling by train also cuts down the amount of luggage you can drag along, so a smaller cloak was desired not only because of the weight but for packing reasons too.
This cloak has an embroidered trim at the hem, of several cute stitches from my sewing machine wedged togeher, so altering the cloak wouldn't be easy.
The cloak was made with one half circle and two quarter circles to either side, to avoid a seam running down the center back. I wanted to half the weight, so I cut off the hood of the cloak and ripped both seams open to the embroidery. I tried to cut the embroidery and hem as straight as I could, following the lines between the panels.
I now had one half-circle and two quarter-circles. Of course it's easier to make a half-circle cloak out of one half-circle, so I put the quarter circles away (after ripping off one of the eight pockets from the lining, because I really do want a pocket in my cloak at all times!) and continued with the half-circle.
I measured the neckline and made it a bit larger, and then measured the hood to see how much smaller I could make it. There was a period where I cut cloak hoods as big as they could go, because that would be cool, but I realised they just fall off all the time. I trimmed the hood down and finished the bottom edge with a zig-zag since I wasn't in the mood to change the thread on my serger. This was a last-minute alteration project, after all.
The sides of the half circle were folding inwards, because there had been seams there. This made for an easy finishing: the edges were already turned under! I just could topstitch everything and get a lined cloak out of very little effort. The only problem was the bottom hem, with the embroidery, where I couldn't turn the edges under and I'd have a cut edge.
First, I sewed the pocket to the lining fabric, and then I pinned the sides. At the bottom near the embroidery, I used a satin stitch (tightly-spaced zig-zag stitch) to finish off the edges so that they couldn't fray anymore. The rest of the vertical sides were topstitched and I zig-zagged the neckhole so the fabric couldn't droop.
Final touch was putting the hood back on and topstitching the seam down and creating a loop with a pretty button.
Half the cloak for twice the comfort! This was only an hour's work or so. I can fix the other half at a later time for a twin to this cloak with a center-back seam.
The cloak now doesn't fully close in the front anymore, but I'm used to that and if all else fails I can toss one end over the other shoulder, for a draped front that keeps me warm. And I won't need to wear a green cloak with my purple dress, which can be fashionable but not for this character.
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Date: 2012-09-15 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
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