Anyway, I based mine on several illustrations of period designs, as well as extant examples from the Middle Ages, but then I took some artistic liberties with it. Most medieval hoods, for example, have gussets sewn into them (similar to the common "Viking tunic"), but I didn't want this, so I left them out, and made the pattern for the mantle a bit wider so as to accommodate for the missing panels. I also wanted the cape to be less round along the bottom and more pointed and angular, which was somewhat inspired by the shape of the Ithilien Rangers' leather gorget (or whatever it was) on the LotR movie costumes. In order to achieve this shape I simply designed the cape part to come to squarish points instead of rounding out the bottom line.
One other thing I did was to re-shape the hood from the standard square piece. I wanted it to hang down the back a bit, like the Fellowship Cloak hoods for example, but I didn't want a ridiculously long liripipe either, so I just angled the back point out a bit more and called it good. This worked pretty well in the end. I also made the hood much deeper than suggested, because I didn't want it to fit as closely around my face as many period examples do when wearing it up. In the end, I think I made it a bit too deep, and I'd probably adjust that on my next go-round.
Then after sewing the rest up, at the center bottom of the cape, where it comes to a point, I cut a short slit in the cape, just a few inches long. This was mostly just a bit of artistic flair based on the hood worn by Russel Crowe in the new Robin Hood film, but also gives you a bit more room to move your arms. I left the bottom edge of the cape and this short cut unhemmed and then blanket-stitched them instead, but you could just as easily hem them. Also, the hood would be perfectly functional without the shoulder split.
The pattern below is basically just a slap-together job I just created in MS Paint, and the dimensions probably aren't all perfect. You will almost certainly need to adjust some of it to fit your personal shape, size, preferences, etc. For instance, I'm not sure, with the split where it is on this picture, if it would line up with the top of the shoulder. I definitely recommend making a mock-up first to test it.
Also, when I originally created this pattern I intended to simply cut it out as one big piece, but as it turned out, I didn't have enough fabric, so I ended up having to cut the pattern in two, and make the mantle out of 3 different pieces (with the top of the hood itself being placed on the fold). Either way will work, depending on how much fabric you have.
And I think that's pretty much it! I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!
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