Rosalie Gilbert

For those who asked about the cloak brooches...

on the reverse side of the wool, I have cut two circles and stitched them on, so when I sewed the brooches themselves on the right side, the fabric has a little extra support and it's practically invisible!

The front seams are using the selvedge and don't need hemming and at the top you can see where I made a little loop in the neck reinforcing so if I choose, I can use it with brooches removed.

Progress is hard when you've made sad discoveries about the thing you're working on. It kind of takes the will to do nice work and finish it.

I'm now sewing like mad on a green cloak. I unpicked the machine stitching to hand sew it and have discovered 9 tiny holes in the fabric. I knew it was recycled wool when I bought it, but hadn't seen all the holes until I started draping it and sewing on it, so now I'm sad that I paid a good price for a cloak that has holes in it already. 

A while back I bought a recycled wool cloak which was machine stitched with the view of re sewing it by hand. Half was completed and as I'm sewing I've found 9 very small holes which weren't apparent on first inspection.

So much for putting fancy brooches on it and being a fancy mantle. I guess it's to be darned and now a "worst" cloak. I helped a friend sell a bunch of other ones, so now I'm really worried that their cloaks may have teeny holes too. 

I could have left it machined and used it for a loan cloak if I had have noticed sooner, and it's been stored in an air tight container, so they aren't new holes. One darned spot I could have hidden, but 9!! Very sad.

And yes, if they were that small, what's the big deal? Small holes become tears and bigger holes. Since I didn't make it, I have no threads I can use to darn with, just some fuzz where I've trimmed the inside seams which I can possible needle felt later on. 

Sigh.


I had plans to put fancy jewelled brooches on it but I won't bother now, and it's already been dropped down to Not A Good Cloak already before it's even finished.

I've been waiting for some fake fur to arrive for a surcote I'm giving a glow up, and it's arrived! It looks very promising!



I ordered from Temu and wasn't terribly hopeful, but quite a bit of their "high quality" crafting pieces are genuinely that... high quality. The thin strips I'm going to be using for the edges of the surcote are indeed just like actual rabbit and I'm very impressed. Some other stuff I got in a wider width for the hems is quite okay but not the same quality. It's pretty good for hems anyway, which will be dragged through the dust and the mud, so I'm happy with that. I may give it a very slight overdye to take the brightness from it so it matches the other fur.

The surcote it's to go on is wool from France, and a beautiful wine colour!

I had a little down time last night so I pinned the linen reinforcing strip to the inside of my new, sand coloured surcote, and since the movie wasn't quite finished, I started sewing it in.

I'm using a stab stitch for a firm result, and I did manage to complete both the top and the bottom. The strip itself has the raw ends folded underneath, making it neat and since it goes around, it provides extra stability over the shoulder seams.

I've started on my next project already, but looking at the finished surcote I can't help feeling it would benefit from some Holkham Bible decoration. I absolutely love the geometric designs.I think there may be an issue though. I've seen them on gownes for women, and on overgownes for men and even what looks like cloaks, but... at this stage, not on any of the women's surcotes. They're all plain.


I've had a pretty thorough look and not a surcote. I am, however, making a gowne/kirtle in a colour that is represented which has red embroidered pattern, so that really may be what I do! I'm not a huge fan of red on woad blue, but it's not all about my modern ideas of fashion, it it?