How to make a witch cloak with a hood

No matter if you need to make a luxury cloak for rituals, a warm cloak for winter foraging or a witch cloak for your kids Halloween dress-up, this is how to make it!

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The cloak = A garment for hiding. Used since the beginning of time... (I mean, from when humans started to wear some kind of clothing)

The Cloak has been worn for ages. From the first pieces made of animal skin. In ancient Rome, the purple cloaks gave off who where the generals. The Priests wore rounded woolen cloaks. What type of cloak you wore depended of your profession and social status. It was not until the 1900s that the coat replaced the cloak for the ordinary man and woman. But for some it still prevails as the preferred shield of fabric. The cloak is still worn in rituals, by secret societies and in witch rings, by kids on Halloween - and by you!

The cloak is one of the easiest pieces of clothing to make (so not to worry!), you can even make one with a no-sew technique if you don´t have access to a sewing machine.

The cloak makes a very practical and versatile piece. It can shield from hot sunrays and low winter temperatures, from wind and rain. And what more, it shields the person inside from the world outside... If you want to travel incognito, the cloak is your piece.

How to make a cloak in an hour or so

This is what you need:

• Garment

• Sewing machine

• Needles, pins and thread

• Measure

• No cat on the garment (add one hour if cats are in the house)

First, lay out the garment to cut it right. (Try to get the cat occupied with something else, so you can get the job done swift and easily.)

1) Measure the garment according to the hight of the person wearing it. To get a long cloak (ancle length), you can basically cut the same length as the persons height. I am 172 and would cut 175. For width, a S/M size will fit same width as length, for L and up, add 10 cm per size.

2) Measure the length of the persons head and neck plus 5-10 cm. How wide? Take the height of the hood + 10 cm.

Now,

3) Cut the fabric. If you want a lining for the hood, cut this the same height and length as the outer fabric.

HOOD

4) Sew the sides and the top of the hood and the lining together, right sides together (back sides out). Leave the bottom open.

5) Pull the right sides out and remember to always iron the seams and edges!

6) Lay the hood flat with the right side UP and fold it over so the outer garment is sandwiched by the lining.

7) Sew the hood together with one seam at the top and then fold the hood right side out.

8) Gently fold up the lower edges inwards and stitch a seam to secure. Iron the seam.

CLOAK

9) Hem the top with a single seam and the sides with double seams, leave the bottom for now. Iron.

10) Use the longest stitches you have on your machine to make basting stitches along the top side, about 2 cm from the top of the fabric.

Make sure you leave enough thread on each side to be able to pull and scrunch the fabric together in the next step.

11) Pull from both sides to make an even scrunch, measure it to the hood as you go so it will end up the same width as the hood.

12) Match up the hood and the cloak, right sides together, spread the scrunches evenly and pin to secure the design.

FINISHING

13 ) Sew the hood and the cloak together.

14) Try the cloak on and pin up to the desired length, then sew the bottom with a nice and even seam.

15) For closing the cloak, you can choose a button, a ribbon or clasps.

Here is our model, Merida with no head, trying on the finished magic hooded witch cloak: