Beginning as an attempt to keep me warm last March when I first visited Colonial Williamsburg in costume, this short cloak ended up in the proverbial sewing basket.
Unfinished, it at least kept me warm as a simple wrap on the chilly evening that descended after a lovely warm spring day.
Since we are soon to embark on another journey to Colonial Williamsburg for Prelude to Victory, I’m digging through my sewing basket to complete projects for my daughter to enjoy wearing.
With the arrival of autumn, the days are getting cooler and sometimes my daughter needs a bit of warmth but her cardinal red cloak is too much.
Therefore, I pulled this short cloak out of my basket to complete for her to enjoy this weekend.
RESEARCH
This 18th century short cloak is styled this after several inspiration pieces from many visits to the Colonial Williamsburg Milliner shop where I’ve seen lots of gorgeous short cloaks made from changeable silk.
FABRIC
However, we are more Texan than Virginian, meaning we endure heat better than cold.
Thus, we need a more than a bit of silk to keep us warm on chilly October days.
Therefore, I used some left-over black broadcloth wool from my son’s colonial cloak to use as an inter-lining.
Sandwiched around that I used two shades of blue silk taffeta, light periwinkle blue for the outside layer and navy blue for the inside layer.
PATTERN
To speed the process, I used a Kannik Korner short cloak pattern, however, I didn’t pay much attention to the directions.
Instead, I skimmed those, looked at the directions for the lace cloak in Costume Close-Up and drew from my experience in making previous cloaks.
SEWING PROCESS
Completely hand sewn, I even hand stitched as quickly as I could on the Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg last spring, trying to finish it before I needed it when I arrived in costume the next day.
Then I added ruffles like the pretty ones at the milliner shop.
