Wool Alternatives...

Cool thanks

I was wondering, is it the kind of dye, the longer you leave the fabric in the darker it gets? I'm wanting to do two shades of gray and was wondering if I could just use the same dye but of just different intensities.

 

While it's true that the longer you leave the fabric in the dye, the darker it will be, I would recommend using twice the amount of dye for the darker color that you want.

I used way less dye than recommended for the amount of fabric I was dyeing, but since I didn't want a dark tan, I got a lighter shade of tan that I was looking for.

Good luck!

 

That makes sense, so I should just use a more concentrated form.

Thanks

 

kreleia asked about Tencel earlier in this thread, and I've been working on making another cloak out of this matieral for the past few days. It's nasty! I don't recommend using it at all. It wrinkles badly (major issue when you travel with your costumes), and it frays so much that it's a pain to sew. It also doesn't take dye very predictably. I had to dye mine twice (and with twice as much dye both times) to get the same color I would have gotten the first time with cotton. I'll go back to cotton next time for sure.

 

I'm currently making a new sith robe out of a wool/rayon gabardine and I really love it. A nice weight, not too scratchy, falls very nicely. So far I am pleased. The only down side is it is dry clean only.

 

Hmm... so Tencel is out. I'm gonna have to find something else the right color now.

Has anyone tried to make a robe out of a heavy linen? Would that work?

 

Aww man - thanks for the update on the tencel Kirsten. I'm sorry that it's being such a pain for you. I might still give it a try (just because I'm kind of a sucker once I get set on something), but it's good to know that it frays easily. **sigh** Man, it sucks trying to be a Jedi in Phoenix... (wool in May? are you insane!?)

kreleia ^.^

 

Okay, here's kind of a funky idea. Has anyone thought of using cotton drapery fabric? I just found a site that offers different homespun fabrics in 10 foot wide increments. You can buy it by the yard, so really, you'd only need about a yard-and-a-half of the stuff to make your entire Jedi robe. It's all 100% cotton, too, so it probably dyes nicely. Anyway, here's the site I found:

Homespun Fabrics.com

They have Monkscloth, which I really think would make a cool-looking robe - I just made a peasant shirt out of the stuff (which I actually found at a remnant store), and absolutely love it.

Anyway, just a thought.
kreleia ^.^
**hack cough**

 

That's a cool site! Thanks for the link!

You know, that Hobnail fabric looks like it might work well for the cape on Padme's battle outfit..

 

Yeah, I was thinking that same thing - except that Padmé's shawl/cape thing is probably much thicker.

Anyway, too many drugs running through my system to battle this cold, and I realized late last night that 10 feet isn't nearly as long as 10 YARDS. For some reason, that didn't occur to me while I was typing that last post (the drugs, I guess). So, you'd actually need more than a yard-and-a-half to do the Jedi cloak - probably more like 3 or 4. Still, when you look at the price and the amount of fabric you'd be getting, that's not too bad a deal.

kreleia ^.^

 

I've seen the monk's cloth. I thought of it as an option for the tunics. Don't like dying that much fabric.

Heavy linen is at least as good an alternative as cotton. The 7 oz weight is heavier than many cottons. I just made my husband a bath robe out of 5 oz linen in a pattern that could be used for a jedi robe.

It's pretty good. It hangs and flows well enough.

It would be cooler than wool.

 

Hmmm... well, I'm wavering between linen and wool/gabardine... I dunno.

Well I hope you get better kreleia! I just got over my cold Took awile.

 

I remember I had some linen pants. Hated them cause the wrinkled horribly and were a pain in the a$$ to iron.

 

Well, as long as you keep it on a hanger it wrinkles shouldn't be a problem right? Plus the sheer weight of a linen robe should straighten out the folds, right?

 

I always machine wash and dry my linen fabric...before sewing so that I can continue to wash and dry the garment. It comes out with some gentle wrinkles and I never iron it. Linen gets softer the more its washed. And the softer it gets, the less it wrinkles.

 

Has anyone done their tunics in the hobnail homespun? I was looking at it and I really like the way it looks.. any thoughts?

 

Well, I went to the fabric store yesterday, and ran into some tencel once again. And I am very tempted. It's the perfect color, they have pleanty of it, and it's only like 7.50/yd So I talked to one of the employees and she had only good things to say about it. So far I've gotten a bad review and a good one... Hmmm... decisions to make

strawbary I've never used hobnail before, sorry can't help you there.

 

unfortunatley hobnail is very pricey I am going fabric shopping again today. Will look at the tencel as well.
Thanx!

 

I was talking to my mom about my tencel issues (she's a professional seamstress), and she thinks it's likely that I just got a low grade of fabric. I ordered mine through the fabrics-store link that Jedi_Kai listed above. If anyone else tries it, I'd love to hear about your experience.

I was looking through the trim fabrics site today, and I found a few cloak possibilities.

Wool
WL-254 - This same fabric is in my local specialty fabric store, and it's amazing. It costs twice this amount there.
WL-221

Cotton
LX-73 - Only one bolt left

 

Trim fabric is a good place to go. Never ordered from there before, but I know people who have and are happy with what they got.

And I'm pretty sure 8 1/2 yds will be enough

 

The links that I posted above are all to trim fabric. I've had nothing but good experiences from them.

 

I usually get 10 yards when making the robe. I ALWAYS mess up on the hood....lol

 

That's some nice looking suiting wool they have there. Cheap, too. I got similar stuff for $25 a yard

I'll keep them in mind next time I make a Jedi cloak. An expensive hobby this has become.

 

Trim is where i bought my wool/rayon gabardine for my robe. Bought it by the bolt. Also bought the Satin for my Leia gown from them.