View Full Version : cloaks
Graham_S
09-10-2006, 20:41
i'm toying with the idea of a cloak for the rain.
cloaks have been used for hundreds of years as the premier method of weatherproofing so why have they fallen out of fashion?
so i'm looking at getting some waterproof fabric and knocking one up.
The idea pops up every now and again. I think the resident freelance viking may have some experience with this. I'll get around to one at some point when I find some cheapo wool blankets.
chrisanson
09-10-2006, 20:50
Good idea, my wife has a cloak she made herself and says it is the warmest “coat type thing” she has ever had. I think it is basically a large circle with a smaller circle for the hood. All the best
Chris
I was thinking this just the other night after watching Robin Chav!! If it was lined with one of those thin tartan blankets found in old peoples' cars, it would be both warm and waterproof and could be used to sleep in aswell. I wore a cloak this summer for a medieval pi$$ up, and felt very comfortable and pretty damned cool in it!! I almost fell asleep by the fire wrapped in my cloak sat on a hay bale, it was fantastic.
Please put up some pics if you do make one, I'd love to see it. The only problem I foresee is how do you wear a bergen/backpack? Or does the cloak sit over the top of it like a poncho?
chrisanson
09-10-2006, 20:54
I was thinking this just the other night after watching Robin Chav!! If it was lined with one of those thin tartan blankets found in old peoples' cars, it would be both warm and waterproof and could be used to sleep in aswell. I wore a cloak this summer for a medieval pi$$ up, and felt very comfortable and pretty damned cool in it!! I almost fell asleep by the fire wrapped in my cloak sat on a hay bale, it was fantastic.
Please put up some pics if you do make one, I'd love to see it. The only problem I foresee is how do you wear a bergen/backpack? Or does the cloak sit over the top of it like a poncho?
i think the cloak gos over every thing.
chris
Shall we bring ours to the meet up for you to try?
The only real problem with them is that they can get in the way of your hands or chug at your throat and if it's windy you look like a flag :rolleyes:
Round a campfire though, they're great things, and you can just roll up in it to sleep too.
Probably why the Scots wore a fealeadh mhor, it becomes a cloak at need, but you can belt it down if you want a rammy ;)
The basic blanket shaped type need pins or brooches to fasten them......I can see the conversation now, " Woodlore or damascus?" :D "Carbon or Stainless"....kit list takes on a whole new meaning :lmao:
Cheers,
M
I take it you could only wear a medium sized bergen then, or else it would get a bit cold out back, so to speak!!
I wore my plaid on my scotland trip.
its just a big square of woollen cloth doubled over and pinned at the shoulder with a brooch.
Its the dogs bits.
......I can see the conversation now, " Woodlore or damascus?" :D "Carbon or Stainless"....kit list takes on a whole new meaning :lmao:
Cheers,
M
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
Thats made my night
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
leatherneck
10-10-2006, 03:22
Not being a smartass, but if you're looking for a cloak for the rain, wouldn't some of those military ponchos do just about the same job? Or, even the 3/4 length rain coats?
during W.W. 1 and W.W. 2 the british army issued it's soldiers with a groundsheet/rainCAPE.....some models were rubberized and had buttons to the front and metal grommets along the side to help make a rough shelter...why re -invent the wheel ,try an older surplus store and see if they can help....also see if you can find a east german army rain cape its rubberized and lined....vince g. 11b inf..
Large numbers of Swiss surplus rain cloaks are on the market, selling for under $10 US over here. They are made of what seems to be a rubberized fabric and have slits (closed by snaps) for the hands.
The rubberised ones keep you cold and sweaty though. Wool gets damp but stays warm and it breathes. Unless it's really, really chucking it down, the woollen ones are much more comfortable. It's our dreich climate again :rolleyes:
Cheers,
Toddy
Spikey DaPikey
10-10-2006, 15:25
Always wanted (and still do) a hevy wool travelling cloak, they just look soo cool !!
Also warm and waterproof to some degree as well :)
But at $408, i think i'll leave it :eek:
http://www.hmoon.com/garments/cloaks/traveler1-detail.jpg
If you're up for sewing it yourself you'll get the fabric for under £40.
Where did you get the image from? I quite fancy a pattern from that one.
Cheers,
Toddy
Buckshot
10-10-2006, 15:53
That looks almost 'Jedi - like' Spikey,
Always fancied one like that myself...
Hmmm, perhaps another project for SWMBO aftre the ventile trousers she's going to do for me soon.....
The other option is something like the buchmans cape from bushwear http://www.bushwear.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id =19 Supposed to be very good but it is open at the front and it's not designed for warmth.
Mark
Spikey DaPikey
10-10-2006, 16:06
If you're up for sewing it yourself you'll get the fabric for under £40.
Where did you get the image from? I quite fancy a pattern from that one.
Cheers,
Toddy
http://www.hmoon.com/travelers.html
http://www.hmoon.com/travelers.html
Ah yes just the thing for your next trip to Transilvania. :lmao: :lmao:
Get a poncho.
Geoff
British Red
10-10-2006, 18:12
Toddy,
If you work out a pattern for this could I have a copy please? BB reckons she could sew that for me no danger and it looks just the job for lounging round the fire!
Red
arctic hobo
10-10-2006, 18:13
I made one a while back from a pattern Toddy kindly explained to me. It's grand, really nice and warm, and yes, you do look quite cool. I might make another soon (after I've finished the ones for my mates :D ) that's thicker for winter.
I've some photos but I'm on the wrong PC at the mo, so if anyone's interested give me a PM and I'll sort something out :)
British Red
10-10-2006, 18:19
Love to see 'em AH (restrictions of dial up permitting)
Red
[URL=http://www.tartantime.co.uk/html/capes_and_serapes.html[/URL]
try
Don't get a traditional poncho though!
As reenactors we knew people who always sued them and could never understand why they though a waterproof with a hole in the middle would work better :D
A cloak would also double up as a blanket for sleeping and probably make an ok shelter. I also prefer tradtional gear most of the time as most things that used to work probably still do!
Heathenpeddler
10-10-2006, 20:12
http://home.clara.net/arianrhod/Aldebaran/DoItYourself/Cloak03.html or
http://amtgard.com:8080/how2clok.pdf (better description and pics)
I have one made to this pattern - it's fantastic!
Okay, please excuse my poor photography and rough sketches, but this is as simple as patterns need to be. The Birrus Britannicus was famed throughout the Roman world simply because it was made from excellent material (wool, sometimes goats wool) and it just worked. The other oval pattern is a development of it that allows for wider cloth and a more shapely drape. ]
The fitted cloak is the standard one I make. It flares well, it looks good, it feels comfortable and it can be dressed up or down or made double-layered with little bother.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/seamstimeless/IMG_8206.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/seamstimeless/IMG_8208.jpg
Cheers,
Toddy
p.s. thanks for the links folks
M
Heathenpeddler
11-10-2006, 00:22
I love that 2nd one Toddy - in the little pic where it shows the outer part of the cloak, is that made to the same pattern just shorter length? How do you attatch it to the main cloak? What about a hood? I might just have to get a new one made up like this (as well as a basic rectangular one for my heathen days :) )
Use the same pattern but try to increase the width by a couple of cms at the 45o seams. The idea isn't to add much, just a shade. Generally I sew the collar onto the inside neck-edge of the undercloak, then sew the overcloak and hood. Now using a really strong linen thread, stitch through all the layers to attach the hood/neck edge of the outer to the inner and then slip stitch the collar over all the raw seams to leave everything sweet and tidy.
When you have the bits in your hands it'll all fall into place :cool:
Cheers,
Toddy
Toadflax
06-08-2010, 14:27
After Toddy's session at the Moot, I'm quite tempted to see about making up a Birrus Britannicus before next year but, if I remember correctly, I'm unlikely to be able to get the entire thing out of one blanket (given that I'm 5' 11" tall and therefore probably looking for something like 9' length of cloth to get a drop down to the knees?). One option would seem to be to try and get two matching blankets and put in a seam somewhere, but I wondered whether it were possible to buy a single length of blanket cloth and where I might get such a thing...
...and no doubt there will be more questions about dyes and lanolin replacement.
Thanks
Geoff
Womble_Lancs
06-08-2010, 14:33
I'm really chuffed with mine, Geoff. All I need to do is hem it and patch the hole that was already in the blanket, and it'll be right :)
lol I just get by with a big ol' multicam poncho.....
Spikey DaPikey
06-08-2010, 19:20
i now wear a blanket and a pin :p
Thanks to Wayland for his help and patience for showing me how :D
leealanr
06-08-2010, 20:25
I really like the idea of these.
As a young police Constable some 32 years ago! I worked at Sandringham House in Norfolk, protecting the Queen!
Life was very simple then, even though it was at the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland. We were equipped with radios that did not connect to the nearest police station & big torches on shoulder lanyards. No firearms, night vision aids or even side handled batons and CS spray! Just standard police uniform of the day, nylon blue shirts (yuk!) tunics, gannex coats (Look at pictures of Harold Wilson when he was Prime Minister) which were very waterproof, VERY long and bloody cold! As well as the best bit of kit ever, a heavy wool cape! Worked well in every type of weather, ideal when working as a guard, not so good when roughing it at a night club though!
I used to smoke those days and I can still remember the bliss of squatting down on my heels at the front door of Sandringham on a really frosty January night, with a cigarrette lit and held under the cape! I was toasty warm, it was like having my own personal central heating!
Really like some of the Half Moon stuff!
Alan L.
drewdunnrespect
06-08-2010, 21:29
now would anyone who has not been to the moot like to see some photos of a scottish widows style cloak that was made by toddy (thanks again) and is silk look alike lined and is very worm drew
Harvestman
06-08-2010, 21:35
There's a previous thread (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57222&highlight=cloak+wearers)about cloaks. Mine is a modified US Navy poncho, as re-sewn by my wife. Lovely bit of kit. I'm about to go and use it again as it looks a bit showery out, and the cloak is much more versatile than a waterproof jacket for short trips in changeable weather, and I need to take the dog for a walk. No need to take a cloak on and off, just adjust it. Accompany with a Tilley hat, and it takes serious rain to get me wet.
It's a pleasure to wear. Would love a wool one though.
leealanr
06-08-2010, 21:49
Drew Dunn,
You know that is a Yes!
Pics please!
Alan L.
drewdunnrespect
06-08-2010, 21:51
okay will do it tommorrow matey
leealanr
06-08-2010, 22:38
I look forwards to it!
while looking at this thread, my wife, came in from sitting outside in 28 degrees (bugger it was hot at the Dead Sea today over 45 Degrees, we have a heat wave at the moment!) and I showed her this thread. She immediately went and got my Mothers (now dead) Cloak that she was gifted by her and we had a lovely talk about it. She used to use it quite a lot in UK, but while here, as we have such wonderfil and cheap tailors on tap, she is thinking of having it lined while we are here.
If she does I will post some pictures ( once I have remembered how to do it all again!).
Alan L.
drewdunnrespect
08-08-2010, 13:53
please not its not finished but if i posted up fotos of it finished you would not be able to tell the diffrence please note it was not made by me but toddy
and thanks again toddy
so here goes
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt190/drewdunnrespect/cloak%20album/DSC_0235.jpg
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt190/drewdunnrespect/cloak%20album/DSC_0234.jpg
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt190/drewdunnrespect/cloak%20album/DSC_0236.jpg
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt190/drewdunnrespect/cloak%20album/DSC_0237.jpg
leealanr
08-08-2010, 19:31
i like the red lining! Very Vampiric!
thanks for showing, looking forwards to the finished item.
I really like the idea of a cloak............. when we leave Jordan.
To bloody hot for one here, even in winter!
My staff have seen three snakes this week alone, right in the centre of Amman!
All active because of the heat!
Alan L.
Graham S has a Jordanian herders coat........a really thick felted wool cloak/coat that reaches to the ground. Apparantly the desert is freezing cold at night. Graham swears by it for sitting around the campfire in the damp, icy cold of a Scottish Winter night.
Drew's cloak is the three part one from the other thread. I had intended to make a bushcraft one, but he had his own ideas and I reckoned, why not ? :)
cheers,
Toddy
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt190/drewdunnrespect/cloak%20album/DSC_0236.jpg
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTOyYLB1Vokn c46Et7s7R0vAPW1CBPE5W_aYCg2Uxc 2laBY4lI&t=1&usg=__v2KFieaFJeFMp9rcPGmWioR5 fcA=
To quote Yoda...
There are always 2 master and apprentice....:rolleyes:
drewdunnrespect
09-08-2010, 10:25
lol john boy
Graham_S
09-08-2010, 10:35
Graham S has a Jordanian herders coat........a really thick felted wool cloak/coat that reaches to the ground. Apparantly the desert is freezing cold at night. Graham swears by it for sitting around the campfire in the damp, icy cold of a Scottish Winter night.
Drew's cloak is the three part one from the other thread. I had intended to make a bushcraft one, but he had his own ideas and I reckoned, why not ? :)
cheers,
Toddy
Yup, Love my Jordaniian jacket.
I always take it camping when it's cold.
I've even used it as a sleeping bag (combined with a swannie)
I recognise that dark , shadowy figure - its --- DAFT VADER!!!!
N
drewdunnrespect
09-08-2010, 18:48
lol neil.....
EddBamber
18-08-2010, 10:09
I would love to own a cloak, i own a big long brown leather waterproof coat and it looks cool when i walk with it undone because it blows behind me i look badass..
Are we talking lord of the rings kinda cloaks btw?