Paletots and Cloaks

    I'm researching cloaks instead of writing a paper for class. Of course. I'm the world's worst procrastinator. But I'd rather research historical patterns than write a paper on the textual analysis and audience response to gender in media. Or write another chapter for my novel. I'm pretty burned out on writing right now... anyways:

    The Naim Cloak!!! 

     This is the pattern I'm looking at for my reenacting 'cloak' (the name is a little misleading. It's not a cloak at all!). I found it in my handy-dandy 60 Civil War-Era Fashion Patterns by Kristina Seleshanko. I noticed that every other paletot or cloak pattern was made with velvet or silk. As a laundress, a silk or velvet paletot would be pretty impractical, and women wouldn't make a 'fancy' paletot in a plainer cloth. It just wasn't done. This pattern calls for "cloth, velvet or thick silk". Wool suiting is cloth. I'm going with it. 

     I really like the more fitted styles, since the only figure-flattering area is the waist (and especially on me: I have wide shoulders and a long torso, so I like the definition), but these women are wearing loose paletots. 

       Something like the illustration below would be great. It is an 1864 pattern, but I think it would be permissible to take in the paletot a little bit (shh, don't tell).

     And now that I'm looking at outerwear, I've stumbled upon a mid-19th century hood on Romantic History Historical Clothing. 

       

Sarah Jane provides the pattern on her blog, and I think I'm going to make one out of a couple of wool skirts given to me. The skirts don't fit, but the wool is soft and pretty, so I've been holding on to them for a while. 

     Well, dinner is ready, and I really do have to work on that paper (or research 17th-century New England for my novel...), so I'll write again soon. Hopefully I'll have made some sewing/ pattern progress by then! 

     Cheers!