Sewing a homegrown cloak - Mood winterberry cloak pattern

Wow, I may have just jumped the shark here, but I did it.  I made a cloak, entirely by hand, using traditional methods, from sheep to finished clothing!

For those of you new to the adventure, you can catch the full playlist here.

Basically, I gave in to peer pressure and put my life on hold to make this cloak.  It turned out amazing, but I still have a lot of work to do to finish it up.  Something to keep me busy this winter.

I want to talk about the pattern because the video was long and I edited that bit out.  Also I don't really feel qualified to assess a sewing pattern as a complete N00b!

I used the Winterberry Cape pattern by Mood.  This is the updated version where I got the PDF pattern and this is where the instructions live.

Yep, two different pages, just to make things a bit complicated.

The actual pattern pieces for the PDF printout were amazing!  Not only did I not have to cut off the edges, but they were also careful (or lucky) not to put important information where the four pages join (I'll be complaining about that in a few weeks with this next project).  The sizes were clear, easy to understand what I need, and what the seam allowance is.  This is a high-quality pattern and I am impressed by how much awesomeness went into that pdf download.

And because murphy's law... the instructions were crap.

Complete and utter rubbish.

I think if one understood sewing, this is simple enough that one doesn't need instruction to sew a cloak.  And if one doesn't understand sewing - like me - and they need the instructions - like me... then these instructions (at the time of writing this blog post) are impossible.  I very nearly gave up on the whole project trying to figure them out and in the end just did my own thing.  It turned out okay.

There target audience is intermediate to advanced sewers, so I suspect they would understand what is meant when they say fold the collar in half (when the pattern has it as two pieces) or why there is an entire pattern piece not mentioned in the instructions.

I mention this for future pattern designers out there.  THIS is how you make an amazing PDF file and chances are that some of the people using the pattern has no idea how to sew, so be kind to them.

What's next for this cloak?

Between you and me, I'm a bit cloaked out.  

I'm going back to working on my winter coat but even that has some hesitation because it is just so darn hot and dry here.  It feels like winter will never come.  Or worse, it will come all at once and we'll have another flood far worse than the one that cut us off from the world last year.  

But once the cold weather settles in, I'll get some DVDs out from the library (I would love some suggestions) and put the finishing touches on this cloak.  The first beautiful snowy day I hope to get some great action shots of the cloak, although in reality I'll probably be just shovelling the driveway.

Arm slits and hemming are a must.  I might top stitch around the seams.  I can't decide if a couple of small pockets hidden in the lining would be a good idea so I could stash my wallet and keys so I don't have to bring a handbag when going for a walk in the local park.  

I also want to do some experiments to discover if and how cloaks might be practical in the modern world.  I think there is a place for them, but not as most of the internet seems to think, as a pure coat substitute.  

Popular demand says people would like a video about this, so I'm hopeful for just before winter Holidays but I'm not going to stress out if I don't get it done in time.  I have some more videos to finish first.