How to make a better Jedi cloak

How to make a better Jedi cloak
It seems that in terms of soft goods clothing for 3.75” Star Wars figures, people generally tend to fall
into one of two groups - those who like/tolerate them; and those who outright despise them,
presumably due to Hasbro’s very hit-and-miss efforts in the past.
Given that I am very much in the former camp but can see the point of view of the latter, I thought
that I would put together a little tutorial of how to make better one of the most common, but also
perhaps the worst, of Hasbro’s efforts – the ubiqutous Jedi cloak – in the hope that others might see
how simple it is to improve the look of their Masters, Knights and Padawans.
Before we get started, I should point out that there are many ways to skin this proverbial Bantha and
that what I present here is what works for me – your mileage may vary.
Perhaps the most important thing required for any clothing of this scale is the material itself. Hasbro
have more often than not used material that is either too bulky or have had the right sort of material
but have used far too much of it. I tend to use elacticised material (such as Lycra or Elastane –
lingerie is a very good source and is usually quite cheap at the scale required) so as to get both a
body-hugging look and maintain articulation for general clothing, but for a robe such as this, the
more important factor is the weight and thickness of the material – the lighter and thinner the
better. For this particular robe, I have used an old pillow case with a 225 thread count.
The basic pattern for the robe is as follows, with numbers being placed alongside each edge to aid in
later reference. There aren’t any specific measurements included here as the cloak needs to be sized
appropriate for the figure that it will be placed upon. Folded in the middle, the cloak should be
marginally longer than the figure is tall; and it should be a little longer than the figure is wide with its
arms stretched out fully.
Using embroidery or similarly small sized scissors, cut out your pattern from the material. If the
material is fraying too heavily, use a clear nail polish to keep it nice.
Place some clear drying craft or fabric glue along edges 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 14 and 15 and fold a very thin
hem back towards the centre of the material:
Fold the material in half along a line between edges 4 and 10 and pin each side in place:
Sew a line of stitches along edges 3 and 5, then remove the pin from above the new line of stitches.
Match edges 2 and 6 together, then pin in place. Note that these two edges are not naturally aligned
in this pattern:
Sew edges 2 and 6 together, anchor the stitch at the bottom, then remove the pin:
Sew a line of stitches along edges 9 and 11, then remove the pin.
Match edges 8 and 12 together, then pin in place:
Sew edges 8 and 12 together, anchor the stitch at the bottom, then remove the pin. The material
should now be beginning to take shape as a cloak:
Using something round and thin like a paintbrush, turn the two sleeves of the cloak inside out:
Fold the material in half perpendicular to the sleeves and pin in place so that edges 16 and 17 are
aligned:
Sew edges 16 and 17 together, but leave a small (roughly 1cm) gap at the neck:
Test fit the cloak on your figure to make sure that it fits nicely:
Cut another strip of material to act as the hood. This should be roughly four times the length of the
head and neck of the figure and be around one and a half times as wide as the head of the figure:
Glue a small hem along one of the long edges, then fold the material in half along the long edge and
pin in place:
Stitch the opposite edge of the material to the hem together, but leave a small (again roughly 1cm)
gap at the bottom loose:
Turn the hood inside out and match the stitched centre line of the hood to the stitched centre line of
edges 16 and 17 of the main cloak:
Put a dab of glue at the very top of the stitching on edges 16 and 17 and place the loose ends of the
hood against each side:
Run a line of glue along the bottom of both sides of the hood and match one side up to edge 18 and
the other to edge 19:
You now have a Jedi robe!
If the robe isn’t holding its shape well, iron the 2/6 and 8/12 edges flat. You might also find that
quickly ironing the front of the hood flatter gives a more realistic appearance by putting a kink in
each side:
The hood can also be pulled back easily:
Carefully trim any excess material from the edges to improve the look further if necessary. To give
even more realism, during stitching of the arms in particular, pull the thread just a little too tight so
that it bunches together in the underarm.
The possibilities are endless!