Genvieve.net

I had the joy of creating a cloak for the elevation of Master Miguel Estevan de Cabra's to the Order of the Laurel in November of 2007. Since I am a big fan of his wonderfully worked fiber arts tools, I was thrilled when his lady asked for my assistance. Given the time constraints, I was still determined to use as many of his original tools that I own to help create this cloak. With Violante's guidance, I finally settled on making a half circle cloak like that of Roger II of Sicily, only with much much simpler decoration.

Royal blue wool was purchased from B. Black and Sons for the outer layer, and I used white linen from my stash to line the cloak. I dug some silver silk thread out of my stash and put it to one of Miguel's speed lucets to work up a cord to form the laurel wreath. The finished cord was then laid out in the design of the laurel wreath and carefully couched down in place using one of Miguel's bone sewing needles. Then two lengths of trim were created of blue and silver silk thread using the first generation of Miguel's whipcording bobbins. The longer piece of trim was topstitched along the front edge of the cloak, while the second smaller length was used to hook onto a large hook and eye to close the cloak around his shoulders.

Detail of the wreath applied to the shoulder of the cloak.

Detail of the trim and lucet cord application to the cloak.

Cloak in my sewing room. A ribbon stands in for the handmade cord for the closure of the cloak.