Filling in missing items for my kit

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

6 hours ago, madPete said:

you should try the shellac again, sounds like Miranda had good luck with it

 

I can bring my bottle to 1721! I barely even dipped into it for my hat so I've plenty to go around and no opportunities for the foreseeable future to use it before it goes bad

[madPete]

2 hours ago, Tudor MercWench Smith said:

I can bring my bottle to 1721! I barely even dipped into it for my hat so I've plenty to go around and no opportunities for the foreseeable future to use it before it goes bad

MInes been sitting for 2 years with no issues

 

[madPete]

Got the hammock out today. Really dont have an attachment point on my patio tho.

I will have to remedy that.

So the cook its bringing a hammock... Anyone else?

 

[Stynky Tudor]

15 hours ago, Tudor MercWench Smith said:

22 hours ago, madPete said:

you should try the shellac again, sounds like Miranda had good luck with it

I can bring my bottle to 1721! I barely even dipped into it for my hat so I've plenty to go around and no opportunities for the foreseeable future to use it before it goes bad

Thanks for the offer, but I'm good for the moment - though I'd like to pick Pete's your brains about it while we're at the event.

In the early 2000s I gave the shellac thing a try and failed miserably. I tried making my own hat blanks too - that failed too, but ended made great cat cup beds.

[Stynky Tudor]

13 hours ago, madPete said:

So the cook its bringing a hammcok...

Nice job, looks great!

[madPete]

I started to make this for my middle son since he threatened to go to Dana Point with us and it fell thru. I went ahead and finished it since all I have is a snapsack and a leather possibles bag.

Medium linen 10 inch X 11 inch. I added a lining on the flap and the strap is heavy linen stitched and turned inside out.

[Mary Diamond]

Love the striped lining!

[Stynky Tudor]

Made another bedroll, this one used coconut buttons instead of (poplar) wood toggles. Just removed the foam and mailed it off to @Tartan Jack.

[madPete]

8 hours ago, Stynky Tudor said:

Made another bedroll, this one used coconut buttons instead of (poplar) wood toggles. Just removed the foam and mailed it off to @Tartan Jack.

Nice! I made one for my son and GF using the self-inflating mattresses (about 2 inches thick)

[madPete]

On 1/27/2024 at 10:49 AM, madPete said:

Ok, made some progress on the watchman cloak this morning. Advice is, find the widest material you can. I started with 5 yards (YES 5 YARDS) 60 inches wide of a charcoal (mixed black and white) suit weight wool. I made one of these for my youngest with just slightly heavier wool and cotton flannel blackwatch (green and black) lining. And it seems plenty warm and reduces the weight somewhat (warm enough for Arizona so take that with a grain of salt).

The plan is for long cloak (mid calf or ankle) with a shoulder cape and lining. I would plan no less than 5 1/2 yards of 60inch wide. Having said that wool is not inexpensive. I found somewhat of a deal on 5 yards already cut that came in 2 pieces. But a full on coating weight wool is gonna be at least $20 a yard and maybe closed to 35-40 depending what you choose.  And dont forget, you need only slightly less for the lining. I chose a heavy window pane linen bought from Joanns online.  So a significant investment!

If you want to do a cloak that goes half circle, you will have to piece it at least minimally. There are several ways to do it, but I chose to extend the corners at the bottom, like wings. I figured it would be less distracting and use smaller pieces than a horizontal seam halfway down the cape.  As it was, I scrimping for fabric already. I would like to have used one large piece instead of two smaller pieces but wasn't sure I could do that. If I make another I will get an extra half yard to make it happen.

With the shoulder cape and the half circle, it has pretty much used up that 5 yards. Altho the material has no pattern, there is definately a grain. The outside (rightside) grain is vertical, inside is horizontal. so if you have a patterned material you may need more to match seams.  I'm doing the seams by machine. Its a lot of yardage to hand sew and I did the shoulder cape mostly by hand, especially the hemmed edges and front. I'll do likewise hemming the bottom and front edge of the main body by hand.

First photo is a rough example of the target - a men's watchman cloak. I was surprised how many originals I found that were red (mostly later 18th century tho)

Next photos are the shoulder cape, the overall size and the pieces (or wings) I used to extend it.

After deciding this material was far too thin, and several misfires trying to buy coat weight wool on ebay. I think I bought and got refunded 3 times because it wasnt coat weight wool as advertised.  As a follow up, Miranda turned me on to a 70% off sale at Fabric mart where I got this fine coatweight wool at a bargain price.  The cloak in the photo is not finished, but I've indeed made serious progress. I need to add a standup collar, and I'll likely do hooks so the cape can be removed. oh, and some kind of a front closure.

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

37 minutes ago, madPete said:

After deciding this material was far too thin, and several misfires trying to buy coat weight wool on ebay. I think I bought and got refunded 3 times because it wasnt coat weight wool as advertised.  As a follow up, Miranda turned me on to a 70% off sale at Fabric mart where I got this fine coatweight wool at a bargain price.  The cloak in the photo is not finished, but I've indeed made serious progress. I need to add a standup collar, and I'll likely do hooks so the cape can be removed. oh, and some kind of a front closure.

Love that you scored such a good deal - it looks like it's coming together really well so far

[Mary Diamond]

Very nice! Should be a great addition to your kit.