Sewing! Can I make a cloak from raw wool in a month for

[@CrowingHen]

Part 4 of 3 is here by popular demand! Finishing the homegrown cloak kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKrEl2aGeKZgoq8

[@VBirchwood]

Your cloak turned out so beautiful! Well done! I also love your variation on the English Stitch 🥰

[@CrowingHen]

Thanks so much! 😊 Your video helped inspired this project. Thanks for creating such a brilliant tutorial!

[@YarnAndy]

Ooh, what a wonderful project! I'd love to see it on you, to see how it moves, to see the finishing touches too. I'm but a noob spinner, playing with Turkish spindles in hopes of one day having enough yarn to crochet a capelet. I hope you wear your beautiful cloak proudly!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you. I'll take my time with the finishing touches and as soon as the weather cools down a bit, hope to get some footage with of it in action. Expect a follow up about midwinter.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

In some cases even sampling doesn't help. I wanted to make felted knitted house-shoes. First I knitted a sample square, measured it, felted it (in the washing machine) and measured again. So I could do the math needed to knit the shoes (like an ankle sock). Long story short: after the whole process the two shoes were not the same size! One was more shrunken than the other ;-( (However ... With some creativity and extra work I found a way to make them into a nice pair of house shoes)

[@CrowingHen]

oh noses. Glad you managed to get them to work out.

[@novembersunflower968]

Gorgeous! Well done. ☺️

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! 😊

[@karenradcliff9163]

It is lovely so far, and yes, I'd like to see the last touches to it. Thank you for sharing!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! Will do!

[@leightate7491]

Sheep approved! I love it. It's beautiful! Gorgeous cloth. Thank you for showing us the English stitch. That's a new one for me but looks truly useful. Such an adventure. And I agree with the others, a finishing touches video would be a lovely follow-up.

[@CrowingHen]

Yay, thank you!

[@practicallymedieval2027]

How do your videos not have ten thousand views. This series has been amazing. I love your voice. Your camera and edit work is amazing, and you tell a great story. I cant wait to see your next video!

[@CrowingHen]

Wow, thank you! That's a great question.

[@johnduffy6546]

That is absolutely beautiful. You should be very proud of your hard work. It will keep you toasty warm for many years. Well done!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you very much!

[@SocksnGreys]

This really came out beautifully. Would absolutely enjoy seeing a video on the finishing touches!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! Will do!

[@starfishey2]

Funny you mentioned feeling like your parroting youtube videos to do the sewing part of your project-- I found this video trying to do just that! First sewing project in over 10 years! I want to make sure I piece everything together right. Your video and cloak look incredible! I love the sun pattern in the lining.

[@paulf7299]

Would love a part 4 Finishing touches

[@CrowingHen]

Thanks, I'm on it.

[@bowmac54]

Absolutely wonderful, loved watching the video's. So much work making a beautiful cloak. It would be nice seeing the final finishes. Thank you

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you very much!

[@kendalhooper3302]

This was amazing to watch! You are truly an inspiring artist. You have so many incredible skills that you’ve clearly spent a lifetime learning, and to not just have the crafting skills to make all this but the video skills to put your process out into the world?! Genuinely, it’s incredible. Thank you for making the videos so we can all see your beautiful process and creations, and thank you for talking so honestly about your fears and doubts working on the project! It’s incredibly inspiring, especially to us beginner fiber artists. Would definitely love to see a video of the finishing and the final cloak!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you so much for your lovely words! It means a lot!

[@kieraoona]

Your series on the cloak making was fantastic to watch, and it's also inspiring to see other creators from your home country, especially with those into "slow fashion". I love it!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you very much!

[@kathrynbassett1535]

Totally amazing stunning. I can imagine a fearless adventurer heading off to Middle Earth to battle the baddies and of course being victorious in this cloak. Thanks for the explaining I find it so helpful 😌 And thanks for another wonderful video

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! Definitely an adventure cloak

[@autumnmacarthur2092]

Impressive!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you!

[@jinxleah]

You make such beautiful cloth! I love your cloak! And yes, I would love to see a video of the finishing touches you put on your cloak.

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! Will do!

[@christinewilcox7110]

OMG, so wonderful! I love your amazing work!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you so much!

[@999ravner]

Oh please, do a video on all the finishing touches! I love your project and I’m so impressed you got so far! I have kind of a similar project going, all though without a time limit. So far I’m on the third year. I’m also still on the spinning part as we had a visitor that tripped over my spinning wheel and somehow got it a little bent out of shape. It moans terribly when I try to spin so it must be fixed somehow. I will also have to ply to even out my uneven spinning. And as I don’t have my own sheep I need to get raw wool where ever possible. I hope to have my own cloak in a year or two 😅🤞

[@CrowingHen]

Your poor spinning wheel! If you want to post some photos over on permies.com/f/336/textiletools I'll keep an eye out and see if I can help. I love troubleshooting spinning wheel problems.

[@999ravner]

@@CrowingHen Thank you! 💕 We know what to do now. We need to straighten the metal bar in the middle of the wheel (Don’t know the proper English word). The trouble now is I’m not strong enough to do it on my own. Unfortunately, muscle power is not easy to transfer through the web 😅 I might get some help from a blacksmith I met the other day, though 🤞😊

[@anpo6716]

What a lovely job!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! 😊

[@littlehomesteadbythebeach]

Beautiful beautiful work. Pretty relaxing from here but I'm sure not so much for you 😅 You are very talented!

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you! 😊

[@loganpollock1689]

I got through the Fulling and took it to a dressmaker to make a 12-14 mid length cloak. She can't believe that she is working with entirely handmade wool fabric. It is a gift for my grand daughter in Wyoming.

[@AndreaAlexander]

It turned out so beautifully! Congrats!! 🥰

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you!! 😊

[@JillianEve]

It's just absolutely stunning! 😍😍😍

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you so much!!

[@MijnWolden]

Oeh wasn't it scary to cut into the cloth? What a beautiful sewing machine you have 😍 and that cloak!!! That's something Else 😮🤩. I can't believe it only took you a month.

[@CrowingHen]

it was terrifying to cut it. Thank you for your kind words. I'm still a bit shell shocked myself and can hardly believe it was only a month too.

[@bonbonS1969]

your series made me appreciate textile so much more. Thank you for showing us the process of making a cloak from scratch. This is hard hard work

[@jw8223]

It’s so pretty!!! Yes, I’d love to see the rest of the cloak being finished.

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you. Will do.

[@TenaciousWorkshop]

What a beautiful cloak! Pity about the gorgeous penannular broach not going through the lining… A possible solution could be to determine a permanent location for it, and then hand sew eyelets just through the lining? That way you could still pin through the outer wool layer, fiddle gently for the eyelets and pop out again in the front? Merely a suggestion! I’m sure whatever solution you DO find will be beautiful! 😊 And yes, a follow up video would be grand!

[@debbiestuttgen1825]

Yes to the finishing touches. Very interesting. I'm a sewer, but by machine so this is so different. I love how every part of this project was yours. Thanks for sharing.

[@CrowingHen]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@karenmack2005]

Absolutely amazing, thank you for documenting this journey.

[@CrowingHen]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Some minutes ago I read your post in Permies. And now already the new video is here!

[@CrowingHen]

Magic!

[@earthandgleanerssociety7622]

congratulations on an absolutely beautiful 'neck sweater' and wonderful video document of all the processes to get there! waving my hands here in appreciation🙌

[@CrowingHen]

Thank you so much!

[@antinn7448]

fabulous video. yes to a finishing video. Curios, how many hours do u think u spent from raw wool to completion (minus time 4filming shots?

[@CrowingHen]

I haven't done the final math yet. I took rough notes as I was crafting, but when I tally the number, it's scary big so I must have made some mistake somewhere.

[@loganpollock1689]

I have a 12 dent reed. I should have did 12 ends per inch but every calculation showed that 10 ends was correct. After the fulling, the 38 inch fabric became 32 inch fabric. Even my cotton towels shrank so when you hear hat wool shrinks, you believe it.

[@onesassymama]

I'd LOVE to see the coming modifications, Raven! What a great project, and video! I'm inspired, and have once again, gone back to my wool, to clean and spin for my warm, sheep-to-shoulders-shawl. Thank you for sharing your process!

[@CrowingHen]

"sheep-to-shoulders" I LOVE this! Might have to 'borrow' it. I expect the final video will come out this winter once I've had a chance to play with the cloak a bit.

[@onesassymama]

@@CrowingHen Yay!!

[@mr.o5501]

This answers so many questions I didn't know I had.

[@MsTilda2]

Love this❤❤

[@irishcottagerenovation9900]

You must be very proud of your results it looks absolutely beautiful, what foresight and achievement.

[@CrowingHen]

Thanks. It was quite an adventure

[@jeeel9453]

A wonderful series, Thank you! I read years ago that when weaving with singles the warp should be worsted spun and the weft may be woolen or worsted spun, and to 'Z' spin one and 'S' spin the other, which supposedly helps with the warp wear and drape in the finished cloth. This could have come from one of my really old weaving books but since I haven't woven with home spun singles I can't vouch for it but it is on my 'To Do' list.

[@CrowingHen]

It is a fun technique and I do it sometimes. I find it takes a lot of extra time, especially when weaving as it's hard to calculate out the weaving math before the yarn is spun and finished. I haven't found that it makes a huge difference in the durability of the finished cloth to warrant the extra work, but it does reduce tracking. Good spinning technique, finishing the yarn before working with it, getting the sett is right, and fulling seem to make more difference to the durability. But it is fun to experiment.

[@jeeel9453]

@@CrowingHen That is interesting to know and I will definitely keep that in mind when I get to do my singles weaving. I love the look of your blocked yarn. Just read a section in Alden Amos book that they don't recommend changing the twist for warp/weft as it doesn't full as well and the fibres nestle down together better. I could have read about it in one of the archaelogical papers I have as being an ancient technique. As most of my spinning is done from the lock (wool or alpaca) most of my spinning is worsted but I have invested in a drum carder so intend to experiment with more woolen spinning and I've always wanted to try distaff spinning which you make look so easy. Thank you and all the best with your next project.

[@CrowingHen]

I can see times when it would be a useful technique, but a bit fussy for everyday cloth. The thing about clothing and archaeology is that very little survives. We get Survivor Bias where it's often the best clothes (grave goods. religious, etc) or special occasion clothes (grandmother's wedding gown) or clothes that are small (can't be altered to reuse and fit different people) that survive through time. But you know, books are just books, written by real humans as a medium to spread our opinions. When you are ready, try both ways and see which works best for you. That's the only way to know which you like best.

[@markpierce5892]

i need to learn to do all of this lol

[@CrowingHen]

Does anyone else have trouble keeping sewing shears safe? Even my own brain wants to use sewing shears to cut paper. Stupid brain. So I got green-handle scissors to indicate that green=safe. This seems to do the trick. What's your trick?

[@antinn7448]

i always keep the point guard on my sewing shears. This is the trigger for not cutting paper. Other scissors i dont use a point guard so can just grab to cut any old thing

[@cherylrosbak4092]

Mine are sequestered in my sewing area, and I have three other pairs scattered around the house.

[@onesassymama]

A sheath is an amazingly wonderful tool, for protecting both the person using them, and the sheers, themselves - from drops, impacts from other things dropping on them, moisture, AND from being used for stuff they're not meant for. I need to make sheaths for all of mine... I'll not admit to just how many new sheaths that means! 😳🙄

[@kati_mercury]

I love the outcome of this and for once the algorithm brought me to the right kinda place 🥳 as an avid spinner, somewhat decent sewer and wannabe weaver this is the kind of content I’ve been looking for 😊. I just have one question. Did you spin your warp and weft in different directions? I’ve read that this was what they’ve done historically to balance out the yarns and maybe that helps with a more consistent look?

[@CrowingHen]

I don't usually spin warp and weft differently because I don't always know what I'm going to use my yarn for when I'm spinning. It's also much faster to just spin everything with the same twist than fuss about getting the right weaving calculations before I've made the yarn. Some cultures did spin different twist for warp and weft for some cloth, but it's not ubiquitous. The tracking (texture from the yarn relaxing in fulling) reduces over time as the fabric settles and is worn. Tracking isn't much of an issue in a twill fabric or one that is fulled well enough for every-day garments rather than the minimal fulling like I did in this cloak.

[@deb1120]

Lovely!!! Simply delightful!

[@CrowingHen]

Many thanks!

[@danam2584]

❤❤

[@harshendraacharya7270]

Excellent. I need one for myself. Let me know if you sell ?