Steppes Artisan Cloak

The Steppes Artisan Cloak is a piece of regalia that was a collaboration of three artists. Lady Safiya Spizega wove the oak leave brocade trim, I did the construction, and Baroness Ekaterina Iadorovna Kharlampieva did all the applique. It was presented in court yesterday, at the 2018 Steppes Artisan Competition.

The cloak was designed as a 3/4 circle cloak of linen lined with linen, 41" long. As regalia, it needs to comfortably fit a variety of body types and heights.

To get started, I cut my wedges and sewed the top three together. I did the same with the three wedges of lining, but set that aside for later.

The brocade trim determined the curve of the neckline. Here you can see it laid out flat in the initial pinning.

Once the initial pinning was done, I pulled the front together to make sure everything was in line and then began sewing it down by hand, using a black linen thread.

Once the trim was attached, I pinned the outside to the lining and trimmed the neckline before sewing the two pieces together. Due to the timing, I did the construction on the machine, but all top-stitching was done by hand. I did a small running stitch down the front to help it lay flat, and then began the hem. Baroness Katya needed access to the inside for her applique work, so the decision was made to hem the exterior and the lining separately so that it would be both accessible and yet still finished.

My husband did the math, and the hem alone took approximately 14 yards of hand-sewing. And that doesn't include the running stitch on the front, or the trim attachment.

After this, the cloak was ready to be handed off, relay-race fashion, to Baroness Katya. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the finished version. I will post more as soon as I'm able to obtain them.

Christmas Cloaks for the Godsons

Last Christmas I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what I could do for two boys who live half the country away and that I don't see nearly often enough. As usual, things were a little tight so I went through my stash to figure out what I could make happen. Luckily, I still had some wools that I had been holding for their mother, my friend Katie. Add in a little cotton for the inside lining and some very cool dragon trim I'd been hoarding and the idea for some cozy cloaks was born.

I waited until the next sale at JoAnn's and picked up McCall's pattern #6420 and some cloak clasps. I felt weird getting a pretty-pretty princess pattern, but none of the other children's cloak patterns were on sale!

Katie sent me the boy's heights, and I did my best to figure it out. Kaiden's was easier, because it actually followed the pattern. Connor's was more difficult, because they don't really cut the patterns down to toddler size and I don't have access to any real-life models!

I had just enough of the blue wool to line the back  inside with it, and I used black cotton to line the parts that would actually touch his skin. For Connor's cloak, I had to be a little creative in the cutting to get just enough for the outside, so I did all the lining out of Symphony Broadcloth in brown.

My favorite part of both cloaks is the trim - that's why I hoarded it for so long! The trim is actually double-sided, so I used the side that was more purple for the blue cloak and reversed it to the mostly-gold side for the brown one.  I did have to employ a trick I learned from the Wooley's back in Fairbanks - using an iron to slightly round the trim before I sewed it down. I'm always surprised at how well it works, but it's saved me a lot of headache with wide trim on curved surfaces!

I still haven't seen any picture of the boys in them, but Katie tells me they fit well, and the boys enjoy playing superheroes! If she does ever send me pictures - and gives me permission - I would love to post pictures of the boys in their cozy cloaks.