sca_attire | wool for a cloak

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greenwitch posting in

sca_attire

I've been meaning to make myself a cloak for a while now, but I don't know where to get the fabric. I've seen some great heavy weight wool cloaks for sale at my local faires, but have never seen that weight fabric at my local stores (only suiting). I'm fine with buying online, but have no idea what to look for in terms of numbers. Does anyone have advice on fiber, weights, and/or places to buy online? 100% wool is best, obviously, but if anyone has any experience with blends, that's okay too.

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From:

holyschist

I used to have a fairly lightweight wool circle cloak (lined with silk noil), and it was heavy and generally inconvenient--I used it more as a blanket than a cloak, and now I'm planning to turn it into a dress that I'll actually wear. I've found coats with sleeves, cassocks, etc. far more practical (you can use your arms without letting cold air in!).

That said, if you've tried cloaks extensively and like them, I wouldn't go heavier than coat-weight. Fabrics.com often has pretty nice coat-weight wool and wool-blends, although their stock is extremely variable.

From:

greenwitch

Seems like that's what everyone is suggesting (to stick with lighter fabric -- my main concern was that lighter fabric wouldn't drape well, though I guess that's not a problem?) What I'm having trouble determining though is what exactly coat-weight is, since most of the stores online seem to be listing their fabrics by the weight in ounces, which makes them a bit hard to compare between sites that list by suiting or coat weight.

From:

holyschist

When you have as much fabric as goes into a cloak, even lightweight wool drapes fine.

Coatweight/heavyweight (melton, etc.): 18-24oz/yd, approximately (if you're thinking full-circle cloak, you probably want lighter than this or your cloak will weigh several pounds, easily--honestly, because of how thick coatweight wool is, it's better for less bulky garments than cloaks, e.g. coats)
Suiting, flannel, etc.: 10-12oz/yd spring/fall, 14-18oz winter

Bah, Fabric.com has a lousy wool selection right now. The thing is, there's no widely agreed-upon standard for weights & names. Generally speaking, most sellers will suggest uses for the wool--if they're suggesting suits, skirts, etc., and it's at least 12oz but less than 18oz, that's probably the weight you want. Plain twills (and tabby, if you can find wool tabby--it's hard) will drape and flow more than tweeds, hounds-tooth, and other fancy weaves. Boiled wool is shrunken and semi-felted, too stiff for cloaks. Tropical weight is probably too light. I'd avoid crepe.

I'm not sure what online sellers you're looking at, but none of my standbys describe in oz without any verbal description. B. Black & Sons is on the higher end of the price range, but their quality is fantastic and you should be able to use their descriptions to match up oz ranges and uses. This is what I made my full circle cloak out of--it's 10.5-11oz, took almost 7 yards (and I am pretty short), and was irritatingly heavy and bulky. I wouldn't go heavier than that. (It was super-duper soft and lovely, though, and I'm excited about turning it into a dress.)

From:

greenwitch

That's very helpful actually, thanks! The style I have in mind has slits for arms and is not full circle, so I don't think it'll be unmanageably heavy.