Double Knit Cloak

 Although, it's not a cloak--a cloak is, as I have discovered, a cape, but long.  A cloak doesn't have arms.  Vogue 9340 has arms; the pattern envelope calls it a coat, but that doesn't feel right.  Neither does 'robe,' because, when someone sews a robe, the connotation is usually going to be "item to be worn around the house"

Not that I'm sure when I might wear this, but it will be 'out of the house'

 

I bought Vogue 9340 when it was new, and it's still in print as of this post--here's the pattern illustration, appropriated from the Simplicity site because I have not remembered to take a photo of it

 I had planned to do view A from the start.  If I've measured correctly, view C would be floor length on me.

View A in size M takes 3 yards of 60" with nap.  I do have some lengths of woolen yardage in my stash that would probably work, but I didn't want to u se any of those for the first attempt, so I put the pattern in the pattern stash and sometimes thought of acquiring fabric for it...as cheaply as possible, of course.

I had hope the Walmart mill end precuts might provide something--they are often available in 3 yards of 60" cuts, but nothing I found seemed as heavy as I felt this garment should be. When I visited the craft thrift store a few months ago, I spotted a big length of a double knit with a vaguely faux tweed texture that I thought would work well for this pattern.  I borrowed a bit of it for the skirt on a dress I made recently, and there was plenty left for this project. (I might be able to eke out a miniskirt from what's left.)

I am amused at the way this fabric is, due to the nature of double knits, not at all random.  It's extra obvious from an angle

 

 One of the main features of this pattern is the sets of deep pleats along the neckline, front and back.  I marked those on the back of the fabric with tailor's chalk, to guide my pinning and stitching, the same way I have started marking darts.

Construction of this was straightforward--it is a Very Easy pattern.  Of course I didn't follow the directions faithfully, starting with cutting the back on the fold.

The center back seam exists so there will be a vent in longer lengths, so it's not at all necessary here.

There is some odd bunching at the center back seam where the hood attached to the body.  I sewed the lining down largely by flipping it around sewing as much as I comfortably could from each center front edge toward the back center.  Yes, this gets very awkward very fast, but you know how much I'll go through to avoid hand stitching.  I still did some hand stitching on this, to sew down the open center of the lining's lower edge, and that's when I found that things didn't align perfectly between the slippery polyester lining fabric and the nubby double knit fabric.  I eased the longer double knit into the lining gap, and it's not pretty, but it's also really very much not obvious, so I'm not worrying about it.

I also didn't worry about making my hand stitching invisible, because, again, it's not very obvious, since it's black on black on black, and it will be behind my neck while being worn.

I also couldn't avoid hand stitching when it came to tacking the sleeve cuff facing to the sleeves.  The pattern instructs to tack at the seams, and, while, with the darts and top and bottom seams, that gives lots of places to do that tacking, I still decided to do a catch stitch all the way around instead.  Yeah, I know.  Hush.

The pattern wants you to turn and stitch the hem.  Since the dress showed how well this fabric presses and how invisible a regular sewing machine machine blind hem is in it, I knew from the start that I would finish this with a blind hem.

I also vertically blind hemmed the facings--had I followed instructions, there would be a row of snaps sewn through all thicknesses to keep the facings in place on both sides.  I might go back and add a snap near the neckline, but I wanted to leave the front open.

I also deviated slightly on the pockets--they're supposed to be made from the fashion fabric, but I cut them from lining fabric.

I also did my usual approach of attaching the pocket bags to the front and back sides with a half inch seam, so the construction 5/8" seams would clear them and I wouldn't have to fiddle with getting everything aligned perfectly.

Will I ever wear the hood?  Probably not...although...it just occurred to me, this might be at least a bit water resistant...

The overall feeling of this coat--especially in this fabric--is a bit Disney Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, a bit Jedi, and a bit cyberpunk.

It is indeed a Very Vogue kind of garment, meaning it has a lot of odd details piled on top of each other.  Not my usual preference for garment sewing, but an interesting deviation all the same.

Here it is on the hanger with the dress that uses the same fabric for the skirt.

(oh, I also added a few inches to the tie length)

It is complete coincidence that the coat ended up the same length as the dress.