The whole reason I have Black Welsh Mountain Sheep is that I wanted to make a traditional medieval Black Welsh cloak. While most folks would go buy a cloak or, at best, buy fabric and make one, I did things a bit differently.
I bought the sheep, bought a spinning wheel, learned to spin, and bought a loom. I learned to weave and sew. The idea was that I’d make my cloak from scratch. That was 12 years ago! I am only now good enough at spinning to spin fine enough for historically accurate fabric. However, soon after we got the sheep, I had a mill spin some coarse two-ply yarn from our fleeces. I used this yarn to weave my initial fabric.
Well, I finished weaving this first cloak fabric in December of 2006. It took six years, and I used the commercially spun yarn from our own flock. The fabric has been sitting, just waiting for me to do something with it. Actually, it was waiting for me to get the courage to cut it, since it took so long to make.
Along the way, I learned that what I had in mind for a traditional medieval Welsh cloak was not accurate. It was closer to 18th-century styles. That resulted in me doing nothing for a while.
Well, Kass at Reconstructing History makes historically accurate clothing patterns. She now has a pattern for an 18th-century women’s hooded cloak. This pattern matches what I originally had in mind for my cloak.
I’ve decided that I really need to get that cloak made, whether it’s accurate to medieval times and with appropriate fabric or not. I can always work on more accurate fabric for another one later. However, because I am such a novice at sewing, I decided to try it with some commercial fabric first.
I made the first revision of the cloak using commercial brown wool fabric today. Here are all the pattern pieces, cut out and ready. I cut out a piece for the waistcoat, too, but I don’t think I’ll use it.
Here are some pictures of the hood back, showing all the pleats and the gathering at the neckline.
For this test, I used contrasting thread and machine-stitched the whole thing. I’m missing some ribbons to tie it closed, but it’s all finished.
I learned several things while making the pattern. I’ll adjust them when doing it with my Black Welsh fabric.
First off, my fabric is not as wide as commercial fabric, so I’ll use more pieces to make the cloak body. I’ve already asked Kass about it, and her suggestion is to make the center back from the full width, then piece the sides together to get the entire cloak body made.
I’m not sure if the waistcoat looks good on me, so I think I’ll leave it off. I can easily add it later anyway.
My fabric was woven, then filled, but it’s still too coarse and will unravel at the edges. I’m going to use a black cotton tape binding on all edges, unlike extant cloaks from the era. They have no hems or binding. The original did not have the seams pressed open or finished, but I think I’ll need to do so because the fabric is so thick. I’ll have to see how it fits and make adjustments once it’s done.
My next step is to press the Black Welsh fabric and figure out how to lay the patterns on my narrow fabric properly.