Summer Project: Holo the Wisewolf Cloak

Matt and I started watching "Spice and Wolf" earlier this year and we are hooked. We've now watched all the episodes of the anime and I've read up to book 8 of the light novels. They are so great! For Halloween this year, I think we are going to try to dress up as Holo and Lawrence, which calls for some costume making this summer!

I will be making Holo's "pink blouse and brown cloak" outfit:

So far, I have made the cloak:

 

Here is the pattern I followed, with some adjustments to the hood to make it look like Holo's which is connected in the front to form a sort of cowl. This is a really, really easy and fast pattern for a cloak, especially if you get a material that does not need a lining and won't unravel at the edges. My cloak could probably have a lining, but since the front edges happened to end on the selvage edge, I think it will be ok for a while without anything else, just one layer.

 
My attempted cowl was make by using the hood pattern piece but cutting it out with an extra piece toward the front to sew together and form a connected hood. It does not exactly stand up like Holo's cowl does, and also, it just BARELY fits over my head since it cannot dis-attach and open up like a normal cloak. I may have to do some cutting and adjusting in the future. But, a benefit of this is that there is no need for a clasp or tie. Slip it on and it just stays!

 
I trimmed the cloak with some maroon material, but the rest of the cloak is made from a heather brown "suiting" material, so it's fairly thin and light.

Materials Used:

Wuji Brown Heather Solid, 4 yards at $4.19 a yard: $16.76 plus a little extra for the hood. They only had 4 yards whole, and I was worried this would not cover it since the cloak technically calls for about 6 ... but I'm small and it turned out ok. I bought some "end of bolt" pieces, one of which I used for the hood, just in case. They were very cheap.

I also used a teeny bit of Wood Potent Purple Solid. I bought 2 yards at $5.99 a yard, but it was basically negligible for this project, and I'll use the rest for other parts of the costume and add it in there.

Total Cost: about $18

Fabric prices are high, especially suiting, to which I have recently been drawn. But luckily, during my stop at JoAnn's on the way to State Track to watch a friend run, they were having a Memorial Day 40% off sale! I saved over $10 on the brown suiting. It was going to be a fairly expensive cloak anyway unless I got really cheap fabric, since it calls for so much, but I felt like I was able to get a fabric that I liked and though it was definitely a splurge day buying fabric (I spent $75), I felt a little justified since I have this great costume in store and I also did save a lot ($99 overall!!). They were having a sale on patterns, too: up to 5 for $1 each. SERIOUSLY! I bought three. That's where I saved the most money, and was able to finally get the awesome Elizabethan dress costume I've wanted but refrained from buying since it is normally $17 just for the pattern (yipes).

Anyway, got off on a tangent there, but I will keep you updated on how the rest of the costume turns out for anyone who might be interested!