Hogwarts Cloak

Here is how I made my latest Hogwarts School Robes!

I'm 5'7 so if you are making this for a child or someone much taller or shorter, you might need more or less fabric.

• black fabric, cotton works fine but thin wool is very nice. (9? yards)
• colored lining fabric, thin cotton is best. (3.5 yards)
  dark red for Gryffindor
  dark blue for Ravenclaw
  dark green for Slytherin
  deep yellow for Hufflepuff

• I started with simplicity pattern 5840.

• First, I needed to change the yoke into two pieces to form a top sholder seam.

  

  The yoke pattern piece is #2. In the pattern, you cut out two yoke pieces and sew them together in the back. (A yoke is a peice of fabric that rests on top of your sholders and forms a collar, connecting the front, back and sholder pieces.) The side with the half circle cut out is where your neck goes. The shorter straight section is the front and the wider one is the back. The other curved edge is where the sleeve goes.

  The pattern makes a very wide cloak, so for anyone who weighs less then 300 lbs, you'll need to slim down the cloak so it will look like the ones in the movies. On the yoke piece this means cutting off 2-5 inches from the sholder seam side. You can see in the following pictures that my newsprint pattern pieces are slimmer. Measure your own sholder width, just remember to make the cloak loose enough to wear over other clothes.

  

  To turn the yoke into a top sholder seam, you need to make it into two pattern pieces, one for the front, one for the back. You need to remember to add a seam allowance to EACH side of the center seam, the rest of the pattern has a 5/8 inch (~15cm) seam allowance, so that's what I used. Then, transfer any markings to your new pattern (all those little triangles and circles). Great! Now you have the first two modified pattern pieces.

• Next, we need to change the shape of the sleeve.

  

  The sleeve in the movie is much less boxy. So keeping the top of the pattern the same, make a straight line changing the angle of the bottom seam of the sleeve to be a little wider. Add a curvy edge to the sleeve opening to give it a widard feel. Make sure you fold your pattern piece in half so both sides are identical.

• Now, for the body piece.

  

  Like with the yoke, we need to slim down the body. Using the same measurement as before, trim off that much of the pattern from the center this time.

• For the hood, I think I just used the pattern as is.

• Ok, now it gets trickier.

  Remember how the cloak is lined with a colored fabric? Well, the lining is both black and colored. There is a panel of color running down the front opening, about 6-8 inches wide. The inside of the hood and sleeves are colored, and the yoke area is colored. The rest of the body pieces are black, though.

  I didn't want to make any more pattern pieces, so I just made some marks so I could fold or overlap the right pieces to make the lining and the body.

  

• This picture shows how to layout the front yoke and the body to cut one front panel. Don't forget to over lap them by 5/8 inch or things wont line up right. You will need two front panels like this. You can also see how the back yoke will connect to the front. Similerly, you will need to overlap the bottom edge of the back yoke with the body and cut out two panels in black for the back of the robe.

• Cut out two black sleeves and two colored sleeves.

• Then cut out one black hood and one colored hood, making sure to line up the top of the pattern on a fold.

• If you want to make a reversable cloak, you can just use the previously described pattern pieces and cut one of each color, and see the assemply section below.

• For the colored part of the lining, I made a new pattern piece. Over lap the front and back part of the yoke to, well, form a yoke again, and attach a 7 inch strip to the front side that is a long as the body piece. Cut out two in colored fabirc.



• Then I folded the body piece along the straight edge at 6 inches, and cut out two in black. Then unfold it and cut out two more in black for the lining in the back. You should be able to see in the picture how the skinny, black body lining attaches to the colored lining.

• Let's start with the outter layer. Sew the two back body pieces up the center seam.

• Sew the two front body panels to the back piece at the sholder seams.

• New we are going to put on the sleeves. Pin the sleeve so the dot lines up with the sholder seam. Follow the directions in the pattern for attaching the sleeve and sewing the side seam.

• Also follow the directions for sewing on the hood.

• Now we will assemble the lining. Sew the long colored panel to the skinny black panel starting at the top corner by the yoke. Sew from that same corner towards the sleeve hole to attach the top. Clip the corner so the seam lies flat. Repeat for the other side.

• Sew the two back panels together up the center seam.

• Sew the two front linings to the back lining on the back yoke seams.

• Sew the colored sleeve lining and hood as before.

• With right sides together, sew the lining to the cloak by stitching around the hood, down one side of the center seam, around the hem, and up the other center seam. You'll want to use lots of pins and be really careful that the hoods and bottom corners line up correctly.

• Turn it right side out though one of the sleeves. Unforntuetly, you can't close up the sleeves this way. (You wouldn't be able to turn it right side out, trust me!) Fold over the seam allowance and press it with an iron. You can either top stitch this seam, or sew it by hand, or some other creative way.

  Top stichings the other seams would give it more stability. I think I will try that with my next cloak. And mabye attaching the two layers at the neck or sleeves...

• Press. Really, go iron the whole thing. It really makes it look nicer :)

So, if that didn't take enough time, or maybe if you want to add something to your old cloak, here are some ideas.

• pockets

  Some of these are much easier to add BEFORE you sew the lining in, or if you rip open a seam or two.

  • You can add in side pockets. I think these are great for when you are actaully wearing the costume. It's just like having coat pockets.

    I just traced my open hand on some fabric, making a large circle, then set it in at an angle.

    

  • I found a few insdie pockets to be helpful. I also snuck in a secret want pocket!

    
• house crests

  • You could print out house badges and tape or pin them on. You can also print and color in the badges yourself, here. Both printouts can be found on my Harry Potter Page

    

  • If you already know how to cross-stitch, I made a cross stitch chart, too. These look the best, to me. Don't forget to print the outline stitches. These can be found on my free patterns page.

    
• scarves

  • Can you knit? Make a scarf for a child or an adult to wear with your cloak!