Sewing a Jedi or Harry Potter Robe or Cloak

This instructable REQUIRES a Sewing Machine and the knowledge of using one. If you do not meet these requirements, best find someone who does.

History
Someone asked me to make a Harry Potter school robe. It was sized for a child. We could have just purchased one for $30 at a costume store but for $15, one can be made with fabrics ten time better quality. After I finished the project i realized I can scale the process for an adult size robe/cloak.

The following is the procedure to make your own Jedi / Harry Potter Robe or cloak.

This instructable is writen for the total sewing Noob, like myself.

Step 1 Materials

Tools:
Sewing machine
Fabric Scissors - Don't cut paper with your "good" scissors
Paper Scissors
Fabric marker/pencil
Pencil
Tape measure
Iron (optional)
Sewing needle (optional)

Materials

4 yards of Fabric - I like woven fake suede, AKA microfiber
1 spool of thread
25 sheets of printer paper 8.5"x 11" or legal size.
Paper glue - Elmers

Comments

[Pointy Cactus24]

I got one of those for $40 and it works like it is brand new.

[alexsandcastle]

How do you make it so the arm hole doesn't have a raw and ragged edge?

[hbryant2]

Turn it inside out, fold in the edges by 1/2 inch. Then iron them. If the circle of the cuff is too small to fit around the bottom of the sewing machine you'll have to hand stitch it. This will give it a smooth look.

[jmontgomery6]

Im using my MOther's/Grandmother's sewing machine and let me tell you I dont thiunk this is going to be nearly as easy as the pillow project>.<

[superhornt]

you can make an assasin's robes from this (assasins creed)

[luulla]

love the machine!! I've got a featherweight 222k from 1958. The one noticeable difference is a 'sew/darn' knob. Amazing machine, far superior to newer machines ( no fancy stitches but this baby will do 4 layer of wool, no problem). Mine is valued at $1400, by a local quiting/sewing machine shop. Glad to see another in use :)

[MrTinkerer]

Wow, i want to get my sewing machine appraised now. Not that I will ever part with mine. The funny part is I got it for FREE from a relative who said it did not sew well. The excitement I showed should have clued her in that there was more value to this little machine than she thought. All I did was add oil to key spots and adjusted the thread tension and now it sews perfectly.

[bridge47]

omg, my mom has the same one and swears by it! It really is awesome.

[Bekahthepika]

Great tutorial, although I found that I needed more than 4 Yards of fabric, And I'm not a very tall person. I used Flannel with a 42" bolt, and yet 4 yards didn't cover it. There wasn't enough room to put all the pieces on the fold, so I'm gonna have to cut corners and cut some pieces in half to fit on the edge and just have more seams. The body part was also just a tad too wide, so I had to take a few inches off the bottom "bell" shape of it.

[bounty1012]

More like jedi than harry potter.

[confusias]

Did you not see the part that has the TWO choices for Hoods? The POINTY style is for HP, and the ROUNDED is Jedi... Keep up now :)

[bounty1012]

but lawl, anyway you put it, it does look more like a jedi robe :P

[confusias]

To be clear, this is RavenJWolfe, not Confusias, whom is my husband. I use his pro account to DL the PDFs... :)

I'm sorry but I'm a sewing noob, and you never mentioned what to do with the duplicate hood piece for the inside of the hood... NOR did you say to HEM the inside edge of the front two pieces, which I'm assuming is about the time you sew the arms on... But i'm still unclear as to how to do the hood.

I guess before sewing it on, sew both together around the front edge, sew the back rounded/pointy seam, and then sew them pleated style to the robe????

EDIT: Actually I just realized this is probably how the hem can be covered on the hood.

1. Sew one hood piece on like normal.
2. Sew the second hood piece to the first, around the outside front part, so that the seam will be on the inside when you push it down into the hood.
3. Turn the hood inside out, so you can sew the neckline on turned under, so it dosent show when you turn it back. Kind of like making a pillow case.
4. Turn it back in and sew up the back seam of the hood, pointy or round, last.

5. after all that you could sew a 1 inch border around the front edge, so that it looks like a proper hemmed edge.

That was probably too confusing to even understand but I can see it in my mind's eye. You should be able to sew a seam around the front part and neck, saving the last seam (rounded or pointy part)  to pull everything back through when done and sew up?

I might be wrong but it sure sounds like it would work....

[jdc187]

for the smaller parts of the pattern you could use news paper. trick of pro graphic artists

[bruno13069]

I've made a hooded cloaks and robes before. I used full sheets of newspaper for the pattern. It worked perfectly, and is recycleable! Make more costumes or make paper mache'.

[sahirate]

I'm very confused at looking at these patterns. Not in the sense that you might think. I'm trying to find a movie quality patterns but everything I find has a shoulder seam. The robes in the movies do not have shoulder seams. Is there a way to remedy this in the pattern? I know I have to cut the front and back as one piece but.. how do I get the sleeves on there? I'm very confused by this. Do you know of a place that has a pattern for no shoulder seam? Otherwise this pattern will suit my needs. Thank you for posting, I hope you can help me.

[MrTinkerer]

That is a very good observation. Actaully, a "No shoulder Seam" would be much easier to sew. A lot of internet instructions on making a robe use a "no shoulder seam" pattern. I did not go that route because one major problem. The problem is the pattern requires you to cut out a VERY LARGE piece of fabric. See the "Alternative pattern" I provided in step 4.

[hg341]

this is nice i might make or my sis might if i do ill post pics but i have some this for you you said "the following is the procedure to build your own Jedi / Harry Potter Robe or cloak" you should have said the following is the procedure to make(you said build) your own Jedi / Harry Potter Robe or cloak other then that is was nice and well done and i liked it

[porcupinemamma]

we always use the word, "build" in fun ways at our house, so i didn't even notice-good 'ible. gotta go need to build breakfast :0)

[MrTinkerer]

Constructive critism is always useful. your right, "make" sounds better. I made the edit.

[hg341]

(removed by author or community request)

[tommychev]

that is a dumb thing to say. bigot

[hg341]

I'm not a bigot its true for the people i'm talking about

[corey_caffeine]

How do you define "redneck"?

[hg341]

it is a hard word to define...^{for the most part its an insule}

[Ward_Nox]

with soem breathable nylon cloth you could make the hood like a phantom mask

[mysterygirl154]

what's the difference in the look for the two different hoods?

[Brother_D]

One is the style used in the Star Wars films, and one is the style from the Harry Potter films.

[Mr. Brownie]

I'm probably gonna use this use this for the release of the 6th Harry Potter Movie

[chinchymork]

same here!!

[Syn327]

this is confusing when I mesure out say the arm when i make my messurement of 24" purple 20 brown and 11 Green I NEVER get 17 and when I do get 17 it makes brown 24???

[MrTinkerer]

yeah, i just put 17" there as a baseline. Larger and smaller arms will have a different number there. a 5yr will need a smaller wrist opening than a 7ft/300lbs man. Just adjust accordingly.

[mg0930mg]

I want to do this. OMG! I have the exact same sewing machine...

[hyrulianshinobi333]

cool. did you know that the latin motto under the hogwart's seal translates as "a sleeping dragon is never to be tickled"

[dchall8]

This is excellent! I made a "monk" costume from a pattern from real monk's habit. I modified the hood like yours so that it was about 16 inches deep. GREAT MOD! I wanted my hood to stand up by itself and not flop down. I bought some stuff that they use to do that but I didn't read the part about "DO NOT DRY CLEAN." The costume came out great! Unfortunately I wore it to work on a hot Halloween (which we have in Texas). Later I dry cleaned the costume and my hood structure melted away in the dry cleaning solution. It is not floppy but it is not as rigid as it was when I first wore it. Mine did not open up the front. The whole thing does over your head. I also made a piece of the costume that fit inside the hood. It was a black mesh that was cut to fit inside and sort of wedge in. With that in place I could see out but you could not see my face. Then I carried a costume plastic head mask under my arm that I had stuffed with paper to make it look like I had lost my head and was carrying it around. On a related note, if you completely cover your face like that for a costume, people get very uneasy around you. It is best to reveal your identity early so they don't think you are a total freak.

[MrTinkerer]

Thanks for the compliment. For my costume, i do not plan to cover my face. I just pixelated my image because I am not one for posting my picture in public forums. :)

[Sir Crapton]

Incredible job! Thank you so much for saving us money on costumes here, and now, I'll be able to claim I have a home-made Jedi Robe. Awsome instructable!