My new mantra

...is "Fraycheck is your friend."*

This became part of my life when I decided to put my device on my cloak.

Vert, in saltire two needles threaded argent, and on a chief invected Or, three crosses bottony vert.

My cloak was a half-circle for the first two years, but I've wanted to enlarge it to a 3/4 cloak from almost the first time I wore it. I just lacked the incentive to clear the space to mark it out.  Being an apprentice has motivated me to finish my backlog of projects so this one became the next thing to do.

I added the two quarter triangles to the cloak and took it to dance practice, where I was able to spread it out on the floor and pin along the edge for trimming.  At this point it looked remarkably like a green Millennium Falcon:

I began the next phase at the A&S Solar in Nordenhal where I traced out the shape for the gold chief onto iron-on interfacing.  This was prior to adopting my new mantra, when I rather stubbornly used what I considered an ingenious modern method to turn the curves on the chief that would also prevent the edges from unraveling.  Yeah, I'm not doing that again.  The curves came out looking smooth and awesome, but it's not a process I can claim as Period.

The crosses, needles, and "thread" were all fraychecked, though.  I sewed the crosses onto the chief and couched them before sewing the chief onto the cloak.

The thread I couched down in all instances was DMC Pearl Cotton #3.  On the crosses and needles I used two strands, four strands on the chief, and one on the thread passing through the needles.  It was my intention to use Elegance fine twisted silk perle (#8) to hold down all the couching, but I ordered the wrong shade of green.  You might be able to notice the lighter stitches on the picture above.  I didn't like the effect of the light stitching on the Pearl Cotton, so switched to Pearl Cotton #5 for the crosses as I had it already and wouldn't have to delay the project while waiting for the correct color of silk to arrive. (Not to mention paying again for shipping.)

I finished the applique part of the cloak in time to wear it at Bjorn's Ceilidh.  I still need to line it, and even have the linen cut and pinned, ready for sewing, but didn't worry about pushing myself to completely finish it for the event.

Here is the unlined cloak:

The gold chief wraps around to the front.  I hope to make a separate hood out of the leftover green wool and line it with the gold linen, once I figure out what style of hood is appropriate for my time and place (1190's, England).

~ Marjorie

* Thank you Lady Ruth for teaching me this mantra.