Finally! A cloak!

[Dailir]

My kit finally has a cloak! I have spent quite some time wishing for a cloak so I went to a second hand store and bought some blankets to make a cloak. They didn't have any wool ones, so I went with cotton instead for more of an indoor/summer cloak. Its a thicker cotton, almost like a light denim, and a darkish tan color. Its actually warmer than I expected, and turned out quite to my liking. The seams are hand stitched for that personal touch, and its a half circle cloak with a hood. Pics are to follow up!

[Dailir]

Two pics:

Oh, ignore the pants. I have no good ones yet. At least these ones are draw string. The cloak looks lopsided, but that was just how I was wearing it. The actual kit is hard to see, so I'll put kit pics up elsewhere. And yes, that is a full metal sting replica.

[Ernildir]

I like the second picture. It looks like autumnal magic.

[Peter Remling]

Nice cloak congratulations 1

[Kiriana]

It came out very nice!! Good job.

And there is no hard and fast rule that a cloak HAS TO BE WOOL!! If you want natural fibers.. there are plenty to choose from and cotton is one of them hehe

Besides.. if you are like me and have reactions to any kind of processed wool, then wool is out of the question anyway.

[kaelln]

Excellent work, young Ranger! And I know we have some anti-cotton snobs on the list, but cotton is a staple in warmer climes, like, say Utah and south Georgia. I know that here in Georgia you get a lot more death from heat stroke than hypothermia. Even now on November 22, it's 76 degrees going on 102 from the way it feels here. And cotton is just plain cooler than anything else! They say linen is supposed to be cool, but I made a shirt from linen once (at least it was supposed to be linen!) and I absolutely could not wear it in summer. It was just too hot, and scratchy to boot. I'm going to give linen a second chance, though, because I suspect that material was really just a linen look-alike. Anyway, IMHO cotton is just fine, especially for folks that live in heat sinks. The caveat is: just don't wear it when it's both cold and wet. They say cotton kills in those circumstances!

[Kiriana]

Kaelln is right.. wool is NOT good for the warmer areas like here in the South for MOST of the year.

You might have had a linen/polly blend kaelln.. or rayon

However, wool is good to keep you warm when it is wet and cold out at least. We have wool blankets on top of our other bedding when we go camping.. As long as it doesn't touch my skin.. I'm good hehe

[Willrett]

you could disappear in the second pic. Great job looks good. I have my blanket I just need to sew or have it sewn.

[Manveruon]

Excellent work, young Ranger! And I know we have some anti-cotton snobs on the list, but cotton is a staple in warmer climes, like, say Utah and south Georgia. I know that here in Georgia you get a lot more death from heat stroke than hypothermia. Even now on November 22, it's 76 degrees going on 102 from the way it feels here. And cotton is just plain cooler than anything else! They say linen is supposed to be cool, but I made a shirt from linen once (at least it was supposed to be linen!) and I absolutely could not wear it in summer. It was just too hot, and scratchy to boot. I'm going to give linen a second chance, though, because I suspect that material was really just a linen look-alike. Anyway, IMHO cotton is just fine, especially for folks that live in heat sinks. The caveat is: just don't wear it when it's both cold and wet. They say cotton kills in those circumstances!

Yep, sounds like you were using something that was either a linen blend, or completely non-linen (you've got to be careful, because a lot of fabric stores will label things as "linen" when they are in fact a 100% poly "linen look" fabric. Nasty trick IMO). And yeah, linen can be a bit scratchy at first, but one of the great things about it is that it softens up amazingly after its worn and washed a few times, and can be quite resilient.

But yeah, in regards to cotton, it's only really a no-no if you're going for true, 100% historically accurate Medieval garb. When it comes to rangering, I'd say it's a little more open, because it's fantasy, not history - even if that fantasy is drawn from history on some level. I'm sure there was a lot of cotton used in the Peter Jackson LotR films, at any rate. I'm almost certain Faramir's Ithilien rangers' cloaks were all made of cotton. In fact, their cloaks looked to have a very similar weight and drape to the one you've made here.

Still though, as previously mentioned, cotton isn't the best choice for cold weather, and especially wet cold weather, because it's quite breathable and moreover, extremely absorbent. If you get cotton clothing wet, it will hold that cold moisture to your body, which can easily lead to hypothermia (one of the first things my uncle taught me when I was learning to Ski out here in Colorado, which isn't all that different from Utah, so just something to keep in mind).

At any rate, looks to be an excellent piece of garb!

[R.D.Metcalf]

Here in the mountains wool is a good choice, most of my kit is geared towards the cooler months and is wool, but....*big* but, cotton has alot going for it, its tougher than wool, it dries very fast, dont pick up half as many burrs, and there are lots of homebrew treatments to water and wind proof the stuff, and finally, its comparatively cheap even in duck and canvas weights.

My gambeson in progress and the gambeson I've worn for 5 years are both 100% cotton canvas stuffed with wool scrap and horsehair, even if I did make it, this has been a hell for tough peice of equipment and although the material is not historical....Who the hell cares as long as the job gets done.

If you look at my pic in the warsword scabbard and belt thread you will note my Ulfhednar kit, my winingas are blue cotton duck, edged with white cotton thread....Your not riding the cotton train alone

[Mirimaran]

Awesome cloak! Great job, Ranger!

Ken

[Dailir]

Thanks all. Yes, I definitely want a wool one for once the snow starts coming in, but for the summer a cooler cloak is almost a requirement as it can get quite hot here. I may try for linen, but being a younger ranger money can be a limiting factor. As for accuracy, I'm sure they had cotton in middle earth seeing as Rosie's last name was cotton. But like Kaelln said "Cotton kills", and after spending quite some time outside and as an eagle scout I've learned to love wool clothing for camping. So, I am trying to get a wool cloak for when it is cold and wet. Besides, I like the look of a thicker rougher cloak.

[Greg]

I've decided that a wool cloak, even in the snows that are on their way here in IN, is too much for me. There's enough weight in my kit for me to be carrying around without needing to throw a wool cloak around my neck too. My winter garb is almost exclusively made from heavy wool military blankets, and I wear between two and three layers of it in the snow, so adding a wool cloak was just overkill. My cloak is *gasp!* cotton; a heavy cotton canvas. Cost me less than $30 since I bought it as a dropcloth from Lowe's and altered it to suit my purposes. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a cotton cloak. We just have to be careful around fires...wool smolders, but cotton ignites.

[Ringulf]

I just recieved a cloak from a woman who is in my shire. She does wonderful work and I have invited her to be a merchant/vendor for the Ranger Moot. (BTW we have a date and a location and are working on the event planning but that is for another post!)

I had this one at the last event and you can see the pics from that:




And I took a few tonight just to show it off!:





This one is most likely cotton duck in a hunter green she has other colors available as well as hoods and such. This one is all the heavy and warm I would ever need even up north and it can be treated to be quite water repellent.

This one ties with strong, sewn in tapes, but she makes them for brooches as well.

If anyone is interested she will be at the moot or is selling through me if you can't make it there.

She is charging a little over a hundred dollars for this size and the shipping if there were to be any would be whatever it would cost to ship (I know that sounds rediculous but I just don't know the shipping rates yet for things.)