Project 38: Ritual Robes - Part 1

This year, our godson is turning 10, and he has just finished his first year of religious study with me. We have taken a full twelve turns of the Moon to learn how to create sacred space as is done in my tradition of the Craft.

Being a learned Witch, I anticipated that time would continue to flow at the previously observed rate, and so had some idea that this day was coming. I knew that I would be confening an grand Counsil of elder Witches to obserfe him performing the charmes and spelles so-far learned and to render their auguft judgmentes.

Oops. Sorry. Got all Cotton Mathers on you for a moment there.

The biggest question, of course, was what in the names of gods was I going to wear? I had already produced a set of clerical robes for my dearest friend Lance, so decided to base a set for myself on those ideas. Plain black wool suiting was a little too staid for me, so I bought a bold of black cotton flocked velvet! Gayer than Halloween and Pride put together!

As the months rolled by and the now impending month approached, my thoughts turned to the subtle details of the outer robe. Pockets? Side-seam definitely, but how about an inner welt pocket for. my. WAND. Yes!

Flared sleeves, of course, but since the velvet was a tad sturdier than I thought how about elbow darts to ease motion? And facing, and pretty sleeve lining. Lining.

Lining. I hate lining. I have made too many perfect garment shells only to have them distorted horribly by bad lining geometry. I wanted to find a lining fabric that would be strong, but forgiving so that any lining design errors on my part would only be visible to a trained eye with a magnifying glass and a copy of a pattern-making text book at hand. Done! Radiance is a blend of silk and cotton, but with an interesting twist. It has one cotton face, and one silk face. You can work with the cooperative, sturdy cotton face, then turn and BOOM: Red carpet slink!

I added contour seams to the front, and some lovely brass-coloured hook and eye closures that I got at  Botani in New York. The inner robe will complete the look, but I'm already quite happy with the aesthetic of the outer robe.