I just made an almost no-effort cloak, but when I tried to wear it outside I was disappointed to find that the wind cut right through the single layer of no-pill fleece I had cut into a U-shape and draped over my body. Who could have predicted that! 🤦♂️
I'm currently puzzling over how to upgrade my project into something that could protect me from the wind a bit better. I've got two main ideas:
- Add a layer of polyester or vinyl to keep out the wind, plus an additional layer of fleece. That way, the wind can't get through, and it's still decently light. But will it be loud?
- Make it out of heavier fabric. I don't care if it's waterproof, I just want to have something that both stops the wind and can be easily thrown over my shoulder like the ultra-wide scarf it is. But my poor little sewing machine 😢 might be too weak to puncture thick blanket material.
That said, I am new, and i don't know which fabrics are best for which roles. I would prefer a fabric that stops the wind, doesn't make a lot of noise, and can stand up to an iron in case I get some questionable ideas later on about waterproofing my cloak with wax.
unreasonably long rant about the weather
Just to be clear, the reason I'm making a cloak is that it's 40 degrees outside right now but I just know that next week it's gonna be in the 80s again because you cant spell fall without all here in the midwest, and if I wear my jacket I'm going to transfer all my belongings into its pockets and I'm not going to readjust when the weather decides it's time for August Part 2. That means I'll he walking around with a winter coat on in 80° weather because I'm too lazy to just take my keys and wallet out of my coat pocket and put it in my pants pockets. So I just want something that can do the job without the commitment. I'm a college student, nobody cares what I wear, I could wear whatever I want. I literally saw a classmate show up to one of my classes in fuzzy pajamas last week. This is tame in comparison. Cloaks are comfy, they aren't a hassle, and I can easily adjust to sudden changes in temperature by wearing it differently. I don't care about it holding heat; if I need heat I'll put on my coat. Waterproofing is a low priority, since I won't be outside for long periods of time. I just don't want the wind to go straight through the cloak like it's mesh.
Please comment what sort of fabric you think suits my needs best. If I'm completely on the wrong track here, please tell me so; i have never had any common sense at all and never will.
First: you don't iron fabrics when you wax them. You use a heat gun. If you're thinking about doing that, you will need to use a cellulose fiber (cotton, jute, hemp, rayon, etc.), because oilcloth doesn't work well with protein fibers (wool, silk), or synthetics. The traditional basic recipe, IIRC, is beeswax, an oil like walnut or linseed (a drying oil, I think? you want something that's pure, not a mixture), and turpentine, heated enough to melt the wax and dissolve everything together. The cooled mixture should be a soft paste, and will obviously have a strong smell of turpentine. You rub it on, and then use the heat gun to melt it, and wick it into the fibers of the fabric. Best fabrics for that are going to be tightly woven, heavy cotton canvases.
Second: I'd recommend Dyneema, if you can find it. It's a fabric made from ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). It's hydrophobic and extremely strong. It's commonly used for ultra-lightweight backpacking tents, motorcycle protective apparel, and UHMWPE is used for lightweight bullet-resistant rifle plates in body armor. If you can't find that, the next choice would be a lightweight, treated Invista Cordura, probably something in the 50D range. You'll need to tape the seams if you want it to be waterproof.
If you want to stick to natural materials, then the obvious choice would be going with leather and/or fur. Leather that's treated with mink oil or neatsfoot oil should be pretty water resistant, and will very effectively cut all wind. Sheepskin that still has the wool on can do double-duty, as wool is naturally hydrophobic, although it will felt on you eventually. Oilskins were the traditional foul weather apparel--with wool underneath, as wool keeps you warm even when it's soaked--for sailors before the advent of synthetic materials.