The First Cloak!

Whether I like it or not, I need to make myself a cloak! While it may not sound like a big deal, I have to create a heraldic "mantle" which is 3/4 of a circle, the radius of which is 1.5 metres. Half of this cloak is to be gold while the other half is to be gold/black chequered, much like the surcoat I made...

...and that's where the difficulty really begins. the middle of the circle is the bit that goes around my neck, so the chequers have to be tapered as they go towards the centre. The maths of this - while sounding relatively simple - is going to be very tricky. Wish me luck!

Ew...math! Can't you just enter some numbers in a computer and push a button and it will tell you the answer?

I just hope you head doesn't explode pondering this question...that would be bad for your hair!

This hastily drawn sketch (while watching Law & Order) should explain things a bit better:

I'd like it better if it were purple.

Is he wearing heels in that sketch?

He is not! The cloak is designed to be about an inch or two above the ground so as to reduce dirt stainage!

I WOULD LIKE IT BETTER IF IT WERE PURPLE.

Only royalty can wear purple during that period!

I don't know, my ex-wife could wear any damn color she wanted when it was her period, but then she was a moody cuss.

HA! ROFLWAGI!

You could make a stencil out of some wood.

But firstly you should measure youself for the height. So theoretically, your height will be the radius of your outer circle. The thickness of your boofhead will be the diameter of the inner circle.

Your best bet is to make 2 semicircles (of the two different materials) sow them together, then cut a hole for your head, and the indent thingy.

And Bam, Wagi's your uncle. ex wife.

His head wouldn't be the inner circle.. his neck would.

Depends how he decides to where it. Either way, the inner hole will still have to be as big as his head.

RedCleft! wrote:You could make a stencil out of some wood.

But firstly you should measure youself for the height. So theoretically, your height will be the radius of your outer circle. The thickness of your boofhead will be the diameter of the inner circle.

Your best bet is to make 2 semicircles (of the two different materials) sow them together, then cut a hole for your head, and the indent thingy.

And Bam, Wagi's your uncle. ex wife.

Look at my sketch! As I mentioned, it is 3/4 of a circle, so the front will always be open, held together by ornamental hooks at the neck. I have created a template that is 1/4 of the circle, and am about to make one that is 1/8 of the circle because 5/8 will be in one colour and 5/8 will be black/gold chequered.

The hole around the neck is deliberately larger than the neck so that I can add a hood to the mantle if I want to - and also because things like neck size alters when you're wearing armour.

You measurement theory is wrong also; it should not be my height, but rather, the drop from the base of my neck to my ankles. Experience has led me to make it slightly shorter than this so that the cloak is less likely to get dirty at the edge.

RedCleft! wrote: Either way, the inner hole will still have to be as big as his head.

Wrong.. cloaks are tied 'round the neck.. not pulled over the head.

And some people have HUGE damn heads and spindly little necks and shoulders - the cloak would go over their head and end up falling down to about belly level turning this into an overly long skirt. While that's fine it defeats the entire aim of Forg to avoid stainage.

While Forg doesn't have a spindly neck and shoulders (see illustration above...), the invariable Chinese rip-off that an army of ten year olds will work long hours in sweat shops creating cloaks for people who do and some customer will end up tripping over the overly long skirt and getting major stainage...do you REALLY want that on your conscience?

Some clefts really need to stop and think things through before they post...

RedCleft! wrote:Depends how he decides to where it.

Also

Where, wear.. learn the difference.

I am sure that you'll all appreciate that the Chinese children won't have to work too hard - an army of ONE AMPHIBIAN will be working incredibly hard on this project instead!!!

Obviously, Starfish will be overcome with excitement, lust and general loveyness and will leap into my arms!!!

Be sure to enter a room with a flourish wearing that thing.

El Our LORD And MASTER, SIR FROG wrote:

RedCleft! wrote:You could make a stencil out of some wood.

But firstly you should measure youself for the height. So theoretically, your height will be the radius of your outer circle. The thickness of your boofhead will be the diameter of the inner circle.

Your best bet is to make 2 semicircles (of the two different materials) sow them together, then cut a hole for your head, and the indent thingy.

And Bam, Wagi's your uncle. ex wife.

Look at my sketch! As I mentioned, it is 3/4 of a circle, so the front will always be open, held together by ornamental hooks at the neck. I have created a template that is 1/4 of the circle, and am about to make one that is 1/8 of the circle because 5/8 will be in one colour and 5/8 will be black/gold chequered.

The hole around the neck is deliberately larger than the neck so that I can add a hood to the mantle if I want to - and also because things like neck size alters when you're wearing armour.

You measurement theory is wrong also; it should not be my height, but rather, the drop from the base of my neck to my ankles. Experience has led me to make it slightly shorter than this so that the cloak is less likely to get dirty at the edge.

Sorry, your 'height' was meant to be the height of the cloak. Either way, personally, I like to have some left over at the end that I trim off. You can never be sure.

Maybe I didn't explain myself right. Create you circle of the two materials, Then cut out the 1/4. Thats how I would do it, but its your cloak

Not my day for typos:

Where & Wear I know the difference.

Right, so stage one was to make a template. I reasoned that as the cloak was to be 3/4 of a circle, the radius of which was to be 1.5 metres (a good length, but clear of the floor - and also the width of the cloth!), it would be easier to make a template that was 1/4 circle and use it three times rather than make a 1/2 circle template...




...except that 3/8 of the circle was to be gold and the other 3/8 gold/black chequer.....so it was time to make a template that was 1/8 so that I could "do" the job properly! The circle was drawn by tying string to a fixed point at the corner of the paper (centre of the circle) and attaching a pen to the other end of the string, then following the arc of the pen.

After cutting out the pattern, it was pinned to the gold cloth, then the cloth cut and hemmed to shape.



Then for the tricky part. I created a second 1/8 template and drew a series of smaller arcs, all with the centre point of the circle at the same place. These arcs were then divided into three equal sectors, and each arc sector cut out to make templates for the chequers. Each template part was used three times, producing 3/8 of a chequered circle, thus:



Each chequer is attached by (very small) blanket stitches, I suspect there to be thousands of them.

The whole cloak was then lined in black linen. I then wrapped the wool cloth around the edges of the linen so as to give a pleasing finish.


Remaining jobs:

Make hood for cloak mantle.
Attach broaches to fasten cloak.
Sew on decorative border.

Nice job, as always, and that's not just because of the duck! I'm looking forward to seeing the final touches, it should finish it off nicely.

I am happy you were able to "do" it properly!

Thats nice!

There have been a few delays, but I can confirm that the cloak is almost ready, hopefully finished by the end of the weekend!

We'll soon see similar cloaks on the runways of Fashion Shows everywhere...you know how those fashionista's are!

Soon there will be an army of small oriental children slaving away trying to figure out what size their template should be for sixteen cents a day!