Raven Roth: Cloak

I love making cloaks.  I don't love buying fabric for them.  Expensive -_-

Raven's cloak flows, but it's not amorphous.  Some artwork shows it floor-length, some show it having a train.  My fabric ultimately decided for me which length it would be...Joann's did not have enough of the fabric that I wanted and I ended up having to get fabric from a 44 inch bolt instead of a 60 inch bolt.

Since they do not sell fabric in the right colour, it was necessary to use fabric dye.  I went to the fabric store and brought home four yards of linen and a bottle of liquid purple RIT dye.

First dye bath: not dark enough.  Phooey.  It was beautiful, but only a kind of baby purple.

It came out of the dye bath really dark in colour, then it all washed out in the sink.  Back to the fabric store we go!

I digress for a moment.  Who the hell decided that it was a perfectly good idea to cancel the bus that's always full and that countless students use to do their shopping?  GRAAAGGHSDfargasjdl;fgkalrjt
Anyway, it now takes me two hours to get to the fabric store.  Two hours there, two hours back, while waiting out in the cold for the bus connection.  It used to take only half an hour each way with no bus changes.  I hope whomever made this decision gets spinach stuck in their teeth and always runs out of toilet paper when they take a shit.

It took me awhile to get the fabric dye I needed thanks to the WONDERFULLY IMPROVED BUS SCHEDULE.

Now it's done:

Perfect colour!  It's a little darker than the photo shows.  Thank my camera for the glare.

I cut out the hood pattern based on one I've used before to make a Jedi cloak.  It's lined with the same black fabric I used to make the pants for my Drocell cosplay.

The cloak is gathered at the top into a thin yoke.  It's not particularly sightly, but it all gets covered up with excess fabric.

At completion, the cloak is lined and has about a 15 inch train.  It flows beautifully and I can wrap myself in it.  The hood lining tends to bag a little, but this shouldn't be a problem.  I'll add the front clasp later, and maybe a strap to tie over my shoulders, under my arms, and around my back to prevent the cloak from choking me.

Very nice so far!  I've also got some beautiful gray tights which work well as long as I can keep the fucking "control top panty" under my leotard.  it's a different colour than the rest of the tights and quite obvious when it shows -_-