So, this means we're back to fabric choice for the cloak. I know we talked about it upstream but I've made some choices and have to land on others since I'm now patterning.
Main Cloak Fabric
The chest closeup probably gives the best look at the fun. The main part of the cloak is a smooth woven fabric. A bit of a sheen without being shiny and a nice drape. It looks like it's lined with itself in a couple of shots. I'm going with a matte satin in Royal Blue which looks great. But a smooth suiting material with a small amount of sheen would certainly work too. I'll save some of that for future posts with screen shots, when we talk pattern.
Trim
I'm still in agreement with the upstream discussion that it's a typical elastic trim with some parallel lines running along it, especially given how it lays at the corner. I still hate how it lays.
Main Mantle Fabric
The lighter colored material is some natural fiber with high slubbing, light beige in color. I've chosen a natural viscose linen for that, as it was the closest I could find, but any high slub linen or a slub silk/silk noil could work here. Here's a look at my fabric. It doesn't look as slubbed in the photo as it is in real life, but it'll slub a bit more when I wash it and should be good enough.
Mantle Inset Fabric
Next up is the inset. Given the texture and color variation, matching this exactly would be impossible, so now it's time to find what will look right from the options. It's nice to have the high resolution close ups because you can see that the inset is not slubbed and it has a very straight weave to it in both directions. More convinced, as discussed upstream that this is a flat tweed, from the upholstery aisle. I agree, Angela, that it would have to be reasonably lightweight to work for the sleeve ends, because it's lined with itself at the sleeve ends and yet it doesn't drag drape downward badly. The lighting from the show makes it a bit difficult to set on color. It appears to be primarily shades of grey in the scenes from the show (where the lighting has a blue-green tone), but can have bit of brownish tint to that grey (in the promo shots that presumably have more of a warm white tone). I have a similar issue with the tunic fabric.
From the Promo Shots and a Screen Cap from the Senate Scene.
So, what are my options? I'm still looking through upholstery fabric at every store I run across. Way back I thought I had found something great at Fabricland, but I delayed going back and it's not there. So, I'm searching other stores as a I have time. I have found quite a few bolts of flat tweed upholstery that match the weave nearly perfectly, but nothing close to this color. Grrr. But the search continues.
I have samples of 3 fabrics that I have bought that are not strictly a tweed, that I will have to choose between if I can't find something better by the time I have a working pattern. Options are shown below.
Number
three is probably out right away. It's purely grey and quite a loose weave. It doesn't drape all that well. It would be the easiest of the three to dye if I felt like I had to be better on color.
Number
two is by far the best drape and weight of fabric that I've found. It's more purely grey color as well. It has a straight regular weave to it. Again, I might try dying it to see if the color could be shaded a bit more brown.
Number
one is has some brown undertones to it and visibly seems to match the color variation in the costume. Unfortunately, it's the stiffest of the three fabrics to the point where I'm not sure the sleeves would drape properly. It was a clearance item so I don't have much to work with to test out. It's also a synthetic material, so dying it would be a bit more difficult.
Anyway, I'm still searching, but if I don't find anything else, I'll probably opt for number one. If the sleeve draping is terrible, then, I'm probably looking to dye number two to shift it to more brown undertone.
