Middle Earth Ranger Forum

OKAY! Quick update! I received both pieces of wool, and I’m excited to start in on some new cloaks!

First I received the very tightly woven olive green twill/gabardine/whipcord I initially posted about above. As you may recall, it was listed as 80% wool, 20% poly.

This stuff really is VERY tightly woven, and the result is a fabric that honestly has a very similar feel and drape to denim. It basically feels like woolen blue-jeans - except rather scratchier. It seems very similar to the material of certain military uniforms, and in fact my wife has an old 1940s US Navy uniform shirt that appears to be made of an extremely similar wool (only in navy blue, naturally), except that it’s LESS scratchy somehow.
So... Ideal cloak material? No, probably not. But I DO have some thoughts about weather-proofing it and maybe using it as a kind of slicker-cloak. Or perhaps I’ll hold onto it for when I finally get around to finishing my full movie-accurate Ithilien Ranger costume, since their cloaks were very smooth and tightly woven - almost like a heavy cotton broadcloath - and this would be a good stand-in.

Here are some pics. I’ve tried to color-correct the first one because it came out really gray in the original photo. The second one is a much more accurate color, and it shows the detail of the weave fairly well:

BUT THEN!!! I ALSO got 5 yards of this mid-weight charcoal grey brushed twill, AND FOLKS, I think I have FINALLY found the perfect material for a new cloak, at long last! The website described it as 90% wool and 10% nylon, and a burn test appears to bear this out. In fact, if I hadn’t seen it stated that it was 10% nylon I almost would have believed it was 100% wool, because it is extremely fire-resistant, and has almost no tendency to melt. At only about 10 or 11 dollars a yard, I think it was just about a perfect find! I can’t wait to get this new cloak finished!

Oooh... that charcoal stuff does look great! What pattern are you using?

Elleth wrote:Oooh... that charcoal stuff does look great!

agreed

Elleth wrote:Oooh... that charcoal stuff does look great! What pattern are you using?

I’m going to make an attempt at a “Frodo” style cloak, also partially inspired by the one Urthgard posted here a number of years back:

The pattern I’m working up is essentially just a slightly-more-than-half-circle cloak with extended tabs at the neck that will cross over and fasten at the shoulders. Frodo’s crosses right-over-left, but I’m planning mine left-over-right so that I can fasten it with my Dúnedain star brooch on the left shoulder, as was described in the books. I’m planning to make the main part in 4 pieces, with a seam up the back and two seams roughly at the shoulders. The front pieces will be extended across the chest to form the closure tabs, and I’ll be adding a small open space in the rear seam that I can pass my quiver strap through (having done this on my current cloak I’ve become extremely fond of this little “cheat”). Then for the hood I’m just planning a fairly simple one. Probably square-ish (maybe with a slightly elongated point) and not too loose or drape-y (but probably not SUPER tightly fitted either - somewhere in between).

It should come out looking quite a bit like this one, which was taken from one of the toy Frodo figures sold a while back:

Cool!

... my current "Middle earth" cloak does something similar, but it's stitched in place rather than using clasps.
It's still not perfect, but it's sooooo much better at not turning into a noose the second the wind picks up.

Elleth wrote:Cool!

... my current "Middle earth" cloak does something similar, but it's stitched in place rather than using clasps.
It's still not perfect, but it's sooooo much better at not turning into a noose the second the wind picks up.

No kidding! I certainly know the feeling. Being choked out by your own cloak is the worst!

Currently I’m mostly just trying to decide how I’m going to handle the right-hand tab’s fastener situation. What I’m kind of leaning towards is making two small eyelet holes in each layer on each side. That way I can pass the pin of the brooch through them on the left side to avoid having to pierce the fabric every time, potentially damaging it, and I can pass a narrow length of cordage through them on the right shoulder tying it in place on the inside so it’s barely visible.

Manveruon wrote:Currently I’m mostly just trying to decide how I’m going to handle the right-hand tab’s fastener situation. What I’m kind of leaning towards is making two small eyelet holes in each layer on each side. That way I can pass the pin of the brooch through them on the left side to avoid having to pierce the fabric every time, potentially damaging it, and I can pass a narrow length of cordage through them on the right shoulder tying it in place on the inside so it’s barely visible.

I am also considering something similar to this for the planned pennannular broach closure I'm working on intermittently. Two little sewn holes on each layer to avoid damage to the wool and ensure proper placement each time. I'm thinking also maybe some simple embroidery around the holes for decoration and ease of finding the dang things!