Winter product highlight: cloaks

Following on from capes a couple of weeks ago it's time for my last product highlight: cloaks!

Full-length cloaks were the first item that I started to offer on a made to order basis, and they've remained a steady favourite ever since. Most popular are my fleece cloaks with a polyester lining, as they are lovely and warm plus showerproof and can be easily machine washed when needed.

(I also offer an unlined version, but most people seem to like the opportunity to have a flash of contrasting colour from the lining as they walk)

In the last year or so I've seen an increase in demand for semi-circular cloaks, which customers generally prefer to have made up in a wool-blend Melton or pure boiled wool. These are truly spectacular garments, quite heavy but super warm due to the amount of fabric you have draped around you.

I haven't listed the semi-circular cloaks in my online shop yet as price varies quite a bit depending on the length you require, but it is on the list of "things I really need to do". In the meantime I'm happy to do you a quote if you let me know what you're after!

Catching up after Christmas...

Blimey December was a busy month! I barely had time to catch my breath between sewing sessions to get all the orders done and keep my area in Fabrication in Leeds fully stocked. Rather than bore you with a post per cape/cloak, here's a round up of some of the beautiful custom pieces which left my workroom in December...

Black crushed velvet cape with a pointed hood:

Semi-circular boiled wool cloak a red lining, with 3 frog-clasps as closure:

Semi-circular pure wool cloak with a midnight blue satin lining and a beautiful celtic clasp - a surprise Christmas present for a very lucky lady!! The hood on this one is detachable, revealing a mandarin collar underneath:

Full-length boiled wool cloak with a jacquard weave lining. This was designed to go over a silk-velvet wedding dress in the same colour as the lining, which I also made but don't have any decent photographs of:

Child's red melton cloak with a white fur trim, after the cloak worn by the main character in the Goth Girl books. Also a Christmas present! 

This month already has a couple of cloaks and a wedding dress lined up, so I'm sure I'll be doing another round-up at some point!

Keeping snug and warm

One of the benefits of winter has to be the extra layers that we get to wear. Yes, I know it can be a pain when you're stood at the front door piling on the gloves and scarves, but outer layers of clothing do give some scope for an extra bit of flair.

I've always loved capes and cloaks (although with the latter I have to battle with my urges to have a cloak that goes completely down to the floor - completely impractical in wet weather as it just soaks up the water from the ground!) so as last autumn approached I set myself the task of coming up with my own cape pattern, which I planned to make from warm fleece. The result was a lovely soft green cape, complete with hood for that little bit of extra wow:

After wearing it a few times and establishing that there weren't many tweaks I wanted to make to the design, I've since made a second one, the outer layer in black fleece which increases the amount of outfits it can be worn over but with an eye-catching spotted lining to brighten it up.

And in the intervening time I'd managed to find some beautiful fastenings for future use:

Only thing is, this one's not for me - it's up for sale for someone else to enjoy!