Cloaks were the Elizabethan gentleman\u2019s fashion accessory, and always near at hand in a fight. Giacomo di Grassi dedicates a chapter of his book to using a cloak with the rapier, though the full-length cloak was favored in his work. You may certainly use a great cloak while fencing (and if you do, read di Grassi for advice), but SCA cloak work tends to use shorter cloaks.<\/p>\n
Choose a diameter. Small cloak swirl well, but those that are unwearably short (generally less than 24\u201d radius) tend to be derided as \u201cdishrags\u201d. Cloaks larger than 36\u201d diameter wear out your arm quickly, so you will want to refer to di Grassi\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n
Find some sturdy fabric. Heavier fabrics (say, brocade and twill) fly and deflect swords much better than wimpy ones. If you use a layer of light fabric, consider adding a third layer to add weight and stability.<\/p>\n
You need about a diameter\u2019s length of fabric for each layer. If you\u2019re good at geometry and don\u2019t mind piecing the cloak together, you can get by with less. Do the math yourself.<\/p>\n
Cords are useful for wearing cloaks, and annoying for fighting with them. Buy 2 yards of sturdy cord if you want one.<\/p>\n
Lay out a half-circle on each fabric, with the diameter on the selvedge.<\/p>\n
Cut out a collar from the remaining fabric.<\/p>\n
Put the good sides of the semicircles together, and sew the curved edge and all but the middle of the straight edge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Put the good sides of the collar together, sew together, and turn right-side out.<\/p>\n
Turn the semi-circle right side out, slide the collar into the cloak, and pull the cloak edge taut<\/p>\n
Hand stitch ends of cloak ties to the end of the collar, then topstitch the cloak shut.<\/p>\n
Topstitch around edge of the cloak to keep it from puffing out.<\/p>\n
And there you have it. Not only a fun secondary weapon, but a dress accessory to boot.<\/p>\n
Cloaks were the Elizabethan gentleman\u2019s fashion accessory, and always near at hand in a fight. Giacomo di Grassi dedicates a chapter of his book to using a cloak with the rapier, though the full-length cloak was favored in his work. You may certainly use a great cloak while fencing (and if you do, read di […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":42,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-457","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458,"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/457\/revisions\/458"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swordmaiden.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}