Across the Ages - Discovering Medieval Life in Modern Times

In the midst of allowing life to overwhelm me, I realized that our guys did not own cloaks. Well, that is not acceptable! Especially with a weekend event in West Virginia right around the corner.  These are the times when my tendency to save (or horde as Ed likes to say) fabric comes in very handy.  For my fellow 14th century friend, I found some lovely navy and burgundy wool to make a cloak that buttons at the shoulder. Something like the man on the left:

Dit de la harpe (BNF Fr. 1584, fol. 175v)

I used the find from the Bocksten bog man as a basic pattern.  I found the line drawing above and information about the Bocksten man's cloak on I. Marc Carlson's website Some Clothing of the Middle Ages.  The page also had dimensions of the original cloak, which I replicated as close as possible.  The pieces of fabric I had for this project were remnants from previous garments, so although the width of the fabric I had was a modern 60 inches, I used much of the the same piecing the original used in order to have enough. 

What I got was a cloak that drapes beautifully and is almost the exact proportions on the wearer as my initial inspiration image above!  I will post an image of it very soon, but what would a long drive be without a piece of clothing to hem along the way? And forgetting my camera that weekend wasn't SO bad considering that was the only thing I forgot. :-)