A Cloak for Liadan

Way back before Pennsic, Liadan asked me to make a cloak for her. The only purpose of the cloak was to be used as a non-rigid parry device. Obviously some major changes happened in our life not long after Pennsic, but we finally got settled and I started the process of making the cloak.

I was given a bit of artistic license with the cloak. I was told gold, black, and purple, no cord, and that she preferred the size and weight of my larger cloak. She didn't care about cord or a collar as it was never going to be worn. So I chose to drop the cord so it didn't get in the way during use, the collar was made roughly to my size so that she had something to help her lead it, and the interior I decided to alternate the gold and purple.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out, but I really need to figure out how to make the collar look better. The last couple cloaks I've turned out I haven't been happy with the collar. Rather than my normal wall 'O' text, I'll just throw a bunch of pictures at you.

One can always rely on rum to help get the job done. In this case, "get the job done" meant "holding the pattern on top of the fabric". 

I had to modify my normal pattern to get the interior pieces to come out right. I didn't have a pattern yet for alternating wedges of color. 

The front and back of the collar pinned together. 

Finished cloak, exterior. The collar is designed so that when worn it flops over and you see the exterior fabric, but get the highlight of the gold interior. 

Completed cloak, interior. Super happy with how it looks. You should see it in action! Ideally each panel should have come together in the center, but I'm pretty bad with seem allowances and measuring.

Not that it's going to be worn, but this is what it would look like if one were to wear it. 

The collar completed. This is technically the exterior side, but it would almost never be seen when worn. 

I had a really hard time photographing why I don't like the outcome of the collar. This was the best I could get. The corners never quite line up. If I sew each side to the cloak before sewing it together, it comes out even worse. Again, seem allowances and measurements don't quite align. Even though it's not ideal, this looks much better than ways I have made it in the past. I'm open to suggestions. 

So this was my first commissioned cloak. If you're interested in a cloak of your own made by my hand, feel free to reach out to me in some way. Comment on the blog, email me at Beardeddragon.spyke@gmail.com, find me on Facebook  or G+ - whatever works best for you. I've even got one of those Twitter things! We can talk designs, prices, and timetables that way.