Question about fabric for a cloak...

[Seleyna Eirian]

What do you think is the most ideal fabric to use as a liner? The outside is going to be duck canvas, but the liner? I have no clue.... It needs to be VERY warm, because the Ohio Renaissance Festival is one of my home faires-- and it gets COOOLD here.

Any ideas?

[Auryn]

id think ideally you should line it with wool, or at the very least a thick fleece. That would definitely help keep you warm.

[DonaCatalina]

Synthetic fleece will keep you very warm and also has some water repellant qualities to keep you slightly drier. Stay away from synthetic furs if you plan on cleaning this garment as quite a few of them develope a coarse itchy texture.

[isabelladangelo]

I have three cloaks; one is wool lined with wool.  Another is my beloved brushed cotton twill lined in flannel that keeps me very warm.  The one my Mom once again stole the other day (she takes it when ever we go to an event and it's cool) is out of fleece and not lined.   It's just a Nordic fleece and it kept me quite warm when I got it...and it was snowing.  And I didn't have a cloak at all...because I was told it would be 65 and I'd just need sleeves then and gloves....grrr...silly weatherman!

[Trillium]

When I lived in WV, I made a cloak with a middle layer of fleece, then an inner layer of satin.  It is a nice warm cloak and still have the pretty look of a nice lining.

[Lady Rebecca]

Why have you decided to use duck as the outer? I personally don't think that will drape very well, and I don't really see it being particularly warm, either. I recommend wool instead (if you check out some of the older cloak threads, they recommend finding army blankets from surplus stores). I made a wool cloak a year ago - it's an olive wool that I found at a fabric warehouse for $3/yd, and I lined it in a burgundy flannel (very similar fabric to a typical thermal shirt). It's super warm. I actually haven't gotten to use it at a faire yet, but it lived on my bed as a blanket last winter in OK (I like to sleep with my window cracked open).

[Butch]

I'm currently making two cloaks out of Italian wool blankets I bought from Sportsmans Guide.

I'm using the guidance from this site:  http://www.theweebsite.com/sewing/index.html under the section marked as Cloaks, with the subsection marked Gores.  Good directions there.

The blankets I'm using have stripes on the outboard edges, so we'll wear them this year in their "issued colors", but probably dye them next year!

Gonna go with collars instead of hoods.  No plans for liners.

Probably get some pewter cape hooks from Noonesbusiness.com.

[Seleyna Eirian]

The only reason I'm using the canvas as an outer, is because I already have the fabric on hand. And a good lot of it at that. If it doesn't work, I'll figure something else out lol.

[operafantomet]

The only reason I'm using the canvas as an outer, is because I already have the fabric on hand. And a good lot of it at that. If it doesn't work, I'll figure something else out lol.

What about get a hand of a fleece blanket (I know for example Ikea have lots of them to a very cheap price) and use it to line the canvas with? That will hopefully get it to drape better, as well as being warmer, and you can use the cloak on both sides.

[act2redux]

The only cloak I have is made out of what looks to be cotton duck (I didn't make this one- it was a requirement of my home faire/ cast stuff since we play rain or shine)  I am gonna take it aprrt, line it with a layer of ripstop nylon  and then interior to that a layer of fleece.
I'm tired of gettin wet and cold and I figure  that in Mo. they usually come as a pair!  I'll hem it as I rebuild it to ditch the extra 3-4 inches I kept falling over this season

[isabelladangelo]

The only cloak I have is made out of what looks to be cotton duck (I didn't make this one- it was a requirement of my home faire/ cast stuff since we play rain or shine)  I am gonna take it aprrt, line it with a layer of ripstop nylon  and then interior to that a layer of fleece.
I'm tired of gettin wet and cold and I figure  that in Mo. they usually come as a pair!  I'll hem it as I rebuild it to ditch the extra 3-4 inches I kept falling over this season

Actually, rather than nylon, go with wool.   It's period and it will help a lot in the rain with keeping you warm and as dry as possible.   Fleece on its own also seems to work pretty well depending on the kind you get. 

[gem]

Another vote for wool!

But if you really want to go with one of the modern "performance" fabrics, I highly recommend DWR  (durable water-repellant) microfiber, which is that wonderful sueded-texture fabric that high-end mundane raincoats are made of. I made rainwear for my whole family from this stuff--it's *wonderful!* It doesn't scream "Modern! Modern!!" the way a lot of fabric can (like fleece), and the water absolutely rolls off of it.  I ordered mine from Rose City Textiles.

Here's one of the walking capes I made (not a period style):



I still have a good 6 yards or so of a lovely dark navy blue; I just need to decide whether to make it into a loose gown/"ropa" or a pirate frock coat! I go back and forth several times per season! LOL