Recycled cloak $40

[apollinav]

I had the itch to sew today.  (No whining - TGC will post) So I made this cloak because it was the perfect length of project for my attention span.  It's *twice loved* meaning I recycled the fabric from a wool blanket I found at a thrift shop for $10 (oh and the clasp was about $5).  And I thought, gee... for a fangurl on a tight budget this could find a new home.  I mean, honestly, who goes around wearing cloaks and robes?  So if you figure you're only lightly going to wear something maybe 2 or 3x/year, recycled robes might make sense.  I'm only looking for $40 to cover my expenses and my time, plus postage, which I have no idea how much that will be, but I might be able to fit it into a flat rate box.  Regardless, I don't believe in charging more for shipping than the actual cost, and I will also be at ZibitCon if you want me to bring it with me there.

The wool is very soft and comfortable.  It has minor flaws like thining areas and some staining, but it's not obvious.  I wouldn't have bought it if it was in bad shape.  It passes the wool burn test (acrylic and polyester check).  And if you know anything about sewing, it was cut on the bias for swishiness and to maximize the length and width.  It's a little over a half circle, with a seam up the back.  The edges are blanket sewn, and blend in.  The bottom hem is unhemmed.  Given the weave of this is wool, it's unlikely to fray.  All the seams are sewn with encased French seams, for durability, and the collar sewn down with handstitching.  The clasp is a (fake) gold filigree, but very nice.

It's quite long (originally cut at 50") and falls near my ankles (I'm 5'5").  I would recommend this for someone who is XS, S, to Medium.

First fangurl to email me at apollinawrites at gmail.com can have it. 



More pics after the cut.

Comments

[severely-lupine.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's nifty. Do you use a specific pattern? Is there a website or somewhere that tells how to make these? I think it might be fun to try making one.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Patterns abound online. I've made so many of these I don't need one anymore, but for a simple circle cloak, try here:
http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~lwittie/sca/garb/cloak.html

This website breaks things down easy with a semicircle cloak (And if you have 2 semicircle and sew them together you get a...what?): http://home.clara.net/arianrhod/Aldebaran/DoItYourself/Cloak02.html

[severely-lupine.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Since you seem to know about this sort of thing, do you have any idea how I might go about creating a pattern of an idea for a dress I have in mind? I've looked around at some patterns to see if I could just adapt an existing one, but nothing was close enough to what I'm thinking of.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Depends on your dress idea, honestly. I have a lot of experience with sewing, but i hate patterns. It's as if they come up with the most confusing and illogical way of sewing something and the obfusicate the directions. But try me.

[severely-lupine.livejournal.com]

Hm...It'll probably be easier for me to sketch up something like what I've in mind. Let me see what I can come up with.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Yep, go ahead and send me what your sketch and I'll see what I can do.

[sbrande.livejournal.com]

Are you going to Az? If so, then I have a favour to ask if you have the time to do it.

Love Sonia :)

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not, but email me I might still be able to help.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

OOH that looks nice. (doesn't need a cloak though) Love the hood!

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

No, I don't imagine you do. *grins*

[tudorpot.livejournal.com]

I bought a similar blanket for $5 the other week, planning to do this with it. I found the hood on the second site was very small when I made it last year.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Score! I love good thrift finds. Blanket cloaks are awesome, the only problem I have is usually you need 2 blankets to get a full circle out of them.

[miamadwyn.livejournal.com]

::whiiiiiiiine::

(Hey, I can whine if I want to.)

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

*rolls eyes*

[miamadwyn.livejournal.com]

Ooops, one of them rolled through a dust bunny.

[mischievous-t.livejournal.com]

It's lovely! Very nice....

Now, when are you posting?

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Oh hush you.

Go read the googledocs wedding chapter. Stink is there.

[mischievous-t.livejournal.com]

*twirls you round & round*

[southernwitch69.livejournal.com]

It's lovely. :) lady_karelia made one for me a couple of years ago, and I still cherish it. :)

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

How sweet of her. Isn't she wonderful?

[southernwitch69.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

[eoforyth.livejournal.com]

That's a nice, all purpose cloak :) Sadly, not only am I on the other side of the pond, I'm 5' and XXXL

Can I whine as there is only an hour left of Friday here, and still no chapter of Gilded Cage yet?

[eoforyth.livejournal.com]

Thursday, not Friday. It just seems like the day has dragged into two.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Eh, it'll find a good home for someone who wants it. I'm not worried. I wanted a project and the idea of making what otherwise would be an expensive piece for a pitance appealed to me.

And you may whine but it won't do a bit of good. Incidentally, the chapter has posted. Mind you, I just got home from work in my timezone.

[christev.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I hadn't come back to check out the photos here until now (I've been obsessing about the Perve and all)! That turned out really nice. I like how the hood lays, and also the clasp.

You know, I think it would be a great idea if you would just move to Chicago and make robes for... uh, people... Yeah! That would be a great idea! *smiles winningly*

P.S. No whining here. (snort)

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yeah, it did turn out nice. But then that had a lot to do with the fabric choice. If you saw it up close you'd see why it was such a bargain, it's thick but comfortable and not at all scratchy. Wool is hella expensive. So $10 for all this is amazingly good. If/when I get rid of it, someone will have quite a deal.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

BTW - I'm not even going to dignify the Chicago crack. You know I'm kinda 'committed' to where I work.

[christev.livejournal.com]

Uh huh. As long as you're not going to mention it or anything.... (hehe)
And you know we have skies that need protecting in Chicago. And we have idjits who say and do stoopid things here, too. All I'm saying - job security.

[apollinav.livejournal.com]

Screw the skies. I have complete job security based upon Sexual Harassment alone. There are 7 protected categories under Title VII for unlawful discrimination. Sexual harassment is only a subcategory of sex discrimination. And yet... I could spend my entire work day chasing after idiots who send pictures of their penises to women. Honestly.

As long as there are people, I will have a job.