Making of Mother Gothel’s Cloak
Are you looking for clarification on the instructions for the HOOD to HOOD BAND connection? Scroll to the bottom!
I made this cape to go with a fan art version of the villain from Disney’s Tangled: Mother Gothel. For those who haven’t seen the movie, she wears a red dress and is sometimes featured wearing a dark blue/purplish cloak with a hood. I used McCalls 7886 to create the look. Read on to find out how I made the fabric and my review of the pattern.
Pattern Description:
Lined cape is gathered to neck band with hook and eye closure and has side arm openings and train. Hood is lined and has contrast ruffle. Purchased appliques.
Pattern Sizing:
XS – XL
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once finished?
Heck ya!
Were the instructions easy to follow?
For the most part. The instructions were clear on everything except the hood connection to the front piece of the hood. Once you figure out how it’s supposed to work, it’s smooth sailing. It’s a cartridge pleat attachment issue that wasn’t explained well.
As Mother Gothel is ancient, it stands to reason that she would wear a garment or two that has her collected history… So I made it have mine! This cloak represents my entire sewing career from ready to wear through to cosplay. There are over 15 projects in here, and some of them are not actually mine – they belong to the friends that cosplay has helped me make. But projects included: A host of Elsa’s, Anna, Merida, Tinkerbell, Sombra, Rowena Ravenclaw, Petyr Baelish, my husband’s wedding suit, the first jacket I made, Snow White, Harley Quinn, and many more. I cut pieces of fabric that were 6″, 5″, 4″, and 3″ wide; they were all different lengths but none measured more than a foot. I then sewed the like widths together. Then I sewed the long strips I made together. I made 7 yards of fabric this way. Once I finished making the fabric I was able to cut out the pattern pieces.
Please enjoy the oodles of cartridge pleating and the years of history! My mantra for this make was: “I cut it apart, to sew it together, to cut it apart, to sew it together.”
What did I particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
The bad: I should have known better, but this project called for a tulle lining. I foolishly thought that was a great idea. No. No it was not. It was scratchy and far too thin for the weight of the fashion fabric. I felt like a dummy. The other issue was center front of the yoke. It’s so tiny and thin that sewing a proper cloak clasp is impossible. I had to use a flimsy clasp that ended up breaking and needing to be replaced.
The good: The fact that the cloak comes with instruction for arm slits and is cartridge pleated all over is something that just make my heart sing.
Fabric Used:
As you know, the sparkle tulle for the lining. Still kicking myself for that. But the rest of the fabric ranged from spandex to velvet and everything in between. The feature fabric is a heavy sequin.
Pattern alterations or any design changes I made:
Other than making my own fabric? Nope.
Would I sew it again? Would I recommend it to others?
I actually do want to make this again for cold weather events that require garb. Or even for a chilly Halloween season. It was fast to sew, even with all the hand pleating. The cloak is overall simple in construction and striking when finished.
Conclusion:
Why not? Be majestic, be fabulous, have a cloak that means something to you. Life is too short to not make things that bring you joy and remind you of all the warm fuzzy memories.
HOOD to HOOD BAND CONNECTION INSTRUCTIONS CLARIFICATION
Step 15 is the cause of the pain, I think. It has an incorrect image, showing the hook and eye placement for finishing. I’ll start at step 14 since it’s the beginning of the confusion (or at least it was for me).
Step 14: Prepping the HOOD for connection to the HOOD BAND.
- Turn the HOOD completely right-side-out with finished edges around the entirety.
- There should be no raw edges, and the hole you used to turn it right-side-out should be sewn shut.
- MACHINE sew gather stitches on both side fronts of the HOOD.
- These are between the marks the pattern gives (you may need to remark the HOOD if you put these marks on the back of the fabric or snipped into the selvage as I do.)
- When you re-mark, also mark the center front of the HOOD, this will help with positioning when attaching to the band.
Wait until AFTER you have completed Step 15 to do this next part of the instructions!
- HAND gather (cartridge pleats are what they are technically) the bottom edge of the HOOD that attaches to the YOKE.
- Do this step before Step 16.
Step 15: This is the attachment step!
- With the HOOD still not attached to the YOKE and CAPE, you’ll attach the front of the HOOD to the prepped BAND/BAND BASE piece (BAND) you created in steps 10 through 12.
Note One: Because the boning is already in the BAND, pinning this is a bit of a chore.
Note Two: The edges of both the BAND and the HOOD are finished. If they are not, you need to go back and finish them.
Note Three: You will not be using a machine to sew the BAND and the HOOD together.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR STEP 15:
- Pin the center front of the HOOD to the center of the BAND and the ends of the front of the HOOD to the ends of the BAND. The ends should be even with no seam allowance.
- Pull up your machine gather stitches on each side of the front of the HOOD.
- Pin the HOOD side markings to their corresponding markings on the BAND.
- Adjust your side gathers evenly and pin those gathered sections to the BAND. The edges of the HOOD front and the BAND should be lined up evenly.
- Hand-stitch the aligned HOOD and BAND finished edges together. To do this:
- Use a heavy-duty thread or doubled-up sewing thread with small stitches
- To stitch: Don’t go through the fabrics below the boning in the BAND. You’ll instead catch the finished edges of the aligned HOOD and BAND pieces.
- Sew the length of the HOOD and BAND connection this way.
Please comment below if you need more information/assistance on this pattern!
