Cloak Wearers - Step Forward

The Cumbrian

Full Member
Nov 10, 2007
2,078
32
52
The Rainy Side of the Lakes.
You're a mine of information Mary, thanks for all of that.

I'm still getting good service from my Granda's WW2 army blanket that I've turned into a poncho, but it's not nearly as versatile as the garments that you've described.

Cheers, Michael.
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,528
695
Knowhere
My mum who was a wheelchair user and therefore more vulnerable to the climate used to wear a Welsh cape, seemed to be good enough for her up in wild wales and the scottish highlands and all the places a wheelchair is not supposed to go.
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,970
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Exeter
My only concern with a full on Cloak is the length and amount of time you would be being caught on Brambles and the like, if there was a way to easily 'hitch' the excess up It could warrant use.

I can see the merits in a longer Woolen poncho type affair combined with a separate Mantle type hood , which would allow one to add the hood section when the weather requires it.

All the LARP'ers have this sort of gear

http://www.lrpstore.com/Dark-Age-Hooded-Mantle/p--95/

http://www.lrpstore.com/CottonLinen-Mix-Hooded-Cloak-Medium-Weight/p--97/
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,970
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Exeter
What ?! You mean you have'nt got a set on in the photo's you've posted??...




:rolleyes:
 
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TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,970
4,083
50
Exeter
Now that you've pointed them out i think i may get myself a set and just wear around town and a few pubs and clubs and see if anyone actuallys says something.

"Please Go on, I'm all ears."
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
apj1974 that looks an eminently practical garment :)

The larp ones though ............that hood is so full over the shoulders that it'd blow up with any breeze, and the cloak has no volume around the shoulders at alll, all of the cloth is in the dramatic flare of the hem, chilly.
They 'look' good though :D
If the two were somehow combined and perhaps the hood skirts tag attached to the seams on the cloak............:dunno:

If one is walking any distance, or working, or moving through woodland or near fires, then a cloak any longer than just below the knees is a pain in the neck. It catches, it drags, it drapes in front of you when you try to bend over to work.

It's the wardrobe mistress's, "That'll look good :) " , effect.
We're spoiled by the images on film and cartoon though and are kind of divorced from reality with our view of traditional clothing. It doesn't help that the painted images that remain of the past were often more concerned with showcasing the social ideal of their time. This is usually negated when you look at the background figures though, the ordinary folk, the servants, the farm workers, the huntsmen doing the driving for the chase. Those images show real clothing styles of the time and are generally an awful lot more practical :)

cheers,
Mary
 

Moff8

Forager
Jul 19, 2004
202
0
55
Glasgow
I bought a full length of great kilt material with the idea of using it as clothes and blanket in one. Tried sleeping in it first on a coldish night where my wife and son were in sleeping bags. I decided I was too much of a wimp and liked the comfort of a sleeping bag after one night. My toes were particulaly cold.

I remember my Aunt saying the warmest thing she ever wore was her nurses cloak. I don't remember ever seeing a nurse wear one but maybe it went out of fashion.
 

Doc

Need to contact Admin...
Nov 29, 2003
2,109
10
Perthshire
Nurses were still wearing those rather fetching blue cloaks in 1993 when I qualified. Very handy at Raigmore hospital as it was a wee walk from the hospital to the accommodation blocks.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
Those orignal nurses cloaks were made from pure wool gaberdine. Lovely stuff, very fine and exceptionally showerproof.
Tightly twill woven, a truly exceptional fabric.

Actually, come to think on it, I got offered a bolt of it a few weeks ago in black. It's the stuff that apj1974's clergyman's cloak should be made from.
A good price for that fabric should be a little under the £20 a metre, I think I was offered it about a third of that but I'd need to take the entire bolt..........and it's black, fine for Ministers, vampires and Scottish widows :sigh: Too rich a colour for most reenactors, and most bushcrafters go for the greens and browns :sigh:

cheers,
Mary
 

andybysea

Full Member
Oct 15, 2008
2,609
0
South east Scotland.
My old dad still has his Police wool cloak from the 60's i keep at him to donate it to me but it falls on deaf ear's.He apparently got asked to donate it or sell it to the younger cop's when he left as they'd seen him wear it on the beat and how warm it had kept him.
 

Cobweb

Native
Aug 30, 2007
1,149
31
South Shropshire
I've got an open wool poncho type thing that I wear bushcrafting, it's black but it's bleeding warm and easy to chuck on in a second, it's not completely water proof but it is wool so it keeps me warm. I wouldn't mind making a proper cloak though, it sounds like a fun project :)

If you are bringing the cloaks to the moot Toddy, I'd love to come and see how they are made :D
 

andybysea

Full Member
Oct 15, 2008
2,609
0
South east Scotland.
Toddy yep he'd let me take a pattern from it,he'd probably let me have it if i really really pestered him,but i cant as he still really like it,so i just use suble hints that dont work.
 

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