easy pattern for your Luke ROTJ cape/hood..

[cobalt60]

..and/or your Vader cape. (just omit the hood)

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as I learned from experiment (which most of you probably know), a "cape" is not a rectangle.
not even a "superman" cape. it has to be a semi-circle.

then it will hang off your shoulders and touch the ground @ the sides,
at roughly the same height that it does @ the back.



img152.imageshack.us/img152/2402/newbitmapimage2bz9.png

^--- after much trial and error here is the pattern I came up with.

and here is what you can expect it to look like. ---V






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(note: you'll want to scribe out the semi-circle with a 5-foot string and a white crayon; don't "eyeball" it)

(note: size of "neck hole" is arbitrary; the diameter will be about 6-8 inches depending on the size of your neck)

[Ldi-Ovef Te_Azi]

what kind of fabric did you use

[cobalt60]

I don't know what the technical term woud be, but thats just a cheap polyester "pant" material.
its got the texture/feel of dress-pants or a business-suit.
*shrug*
I bought it because it was cheap and I was in "learn-as-you-go" mode; I just needed something to experiment with.

now that I know what I'm doing, I'll shop for something better. ideally a thin wool 'business suit' material (sans pinstripes)

[Ky-Wan Zann]

Looks good. Thanks for posting the pattern. Appreciate it

[Ldi-Ovef Te_Azi]

sounds like you used a bottomweight poly

[Cronto Tocrone]

does the cape it self take any sewing and is it held together by anything

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

The cape and pattern look good. Thanks for posting it!

That cape is the first thing Luke lost when he got dumped down the rancor pit. He should have gotten a proper robe for a Jedi.

[Cronto Tocrone]

I tried to make it but it didn't come out quite right, I thinking I got the wrong size for fabric about how many yards would it be

[Leda EmBorr]

Ah, thanks for posting that... That's an easy pattern for sure.

I'm sure the cape would have a hem at the bottom and up the sides, or at least be bound at the edges somehow... with a serger or by adding trim.

[cobalt60]

I didn't hem the sides or the bottom; the sides are the "factory edge" of the fabric , and the bottom is the cut you make (the semi-circle).
the bottom part should really be hemmed but I just didn't want to make it shorter (heh). adding trim there is a good idea.
I did hem the edge of the neck-hole.

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I'm not sure how many yards it is , I just looked for the 150cm width and asked for a piece 3 meters in length.
(plus a 1m piece for the hood)
if you can find 172cm width that would be even better, as it would make for a longer cape.

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its held together at the neck by a 2-piece "snap" closure that I installed at the corners of the neck-hole.
it looks like the snap -closure on a pair of kid's pants (not sure what the technical term is).

for a darth vader cape you'd want to close it with a 3-inch length of black chain, attached at the same place (corners of the neck hole).