Mary (and Joseph) Cloaks

Page 60 in "Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church"

Catherine Fournier and Peter Fournier

Shortly after we began reading J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings aloud to our children—which we have done three times—our boys began playing "Lord of the Rings", leaping and racing around the yard with wooden sticks used as Gandalf-staffs and swords.

I made them cloaks from old bedspreads and watched in amazement as their play became more elaborate with the addition of costumes. Boys need heroes to guide them as they grow into men, and, as it turns out, many of those heroes wore cloaks. 

Costume play is essential in developing a child's imagination, and imagination is an important part of learning. Imagination helps us "put ourselves in someone else's shoes", the first step toward developing love and charity toward our neighbor. Imagination helps us behave with honesty, integrity, and faith as we ask ourselves, "What would Mary—or my patron saint—or Saint Joseph do?" A child with a good imagination is not dependent on television or other such entertainments for his play ideas and (eventually) his values. 

If we wish our children to play in healthy and constructive ways, we need to provide them with simple and flexible "props" that can become anything the child's imagination needs. A garbage-can lid serves well as Saint George's shield, and a stick or card board sword can serve as Saint Michael's sword. Cloaks can be used as costumes for many diverse characters, such as: 

• Saint Joseph 
• Robin Hood 
• Saint Francis 
• King Arthur 
• Luke Skywalker 
• Aragorn (also known as Strider) 
• Captain Hook 
• Frodo Baggins 
• The Virgin Mary 
• Maid Marian 
• Princess Leia Organa 

Cloaks are simple to make and relatively inexpensive (especially when you consider the play value—my boys are still using the cloaks I made for them eight years ago). Though cloaks can be sewn by hand, a sewing machine makes the project a lot easier. 

• Suitable fabric, such as an old twin-size bedspread or other durable material. A dark color works best. A lightweight. blanket is another good choice. (I bought bedspreads—not quilts—at a second-hand store for about five dollars each.)
• Scissors 
• A sheet of paper 
• Chalk, for marking fabric 
• A large button or an old leather buckle 
• Braid, ribbon or leather shoelaces 
• Needle and thread, or sewing machine 

1. Measure the length of the cloak from the back of your child's neck to the desired length. While it's best to make the cloak as long as possible to allow for growth, it should not be longer than the back of your child's heel to avoid his tripping on it. Write this measurement down. 

2. Fold the material lengthwise to make a rectangle. The length of the folded material needs to be a little longer than the measurement you just made. 

3. On a sheet of paper, draw a circle that will fit comfortably but not too loosely around your child's neck. The neck is not really a circle (it is wider across the shoulders than it is front to back), so the neck hole will have more room at the front and back than it does at the shoulders. Cut out this circle, and fold it in half. 

4. Fold the half circle a third of the way along the folded edge (see illustration). This will be your pattern for the neck hole that fits around the child's neck. 

5. Place the two-thirds section of the folded circle at the top of the folded material. Pin it in place or mark around it with chalk, and cut it out through both thicknesses of cloth. 

6. Next, using the measurement you wrote down for length, measure the desired length of cloak from the newly cut neck hole down along the folded edge of the material. Mark this point, then 

draw a curved line with chalk across the material to the other edges, as shown. This will be the bottom edge of the cloak. 

7. Cut along this line. 

8. Have your child try on the cloak. Decide how he wants it to fasten at the top of the neck. Adjust the size of the neck hole as necessary. The two front edges of the cloak can join with a button and loop, just bringing the two edges together, or they can cross over a bit and fasten with a large button or belt buckle. 

9. Now hem all the cut edges in whatever manner you choose. A single line of ribbon or braid along all the edges, with a decorative loop every once in a while, looks very "authentic". A loop of the braid can be used as the button loop.

The cloak is done, unless your child wants a hood. And what child, given a choice, would not want a hood on his hermit, pilgrim, hobbit, pirate, or forest elf cloak?

10. To make a hood, measure from your child's shoulder to the top of his head. Add a few inches for comfort. This will make a deep hood that he can hide inside mysteriously. Write this measurement down. 

11. Draw four squares using this measurement on a pattern or directly on the remaining cloak material, in a T shape, as shown. Cut this shape out.

Join together the sides drawn with dotted lines, and sew them, to form a boxy hood. Check to see that it fits your child's head, and then sew the hood into the neck hole of the cloak. You will probably have to gather either the hood edge or the cloak edge at the back of the neck to make the two pieces fit nicely.

Sew braid or ribbon onto the front edge of the hood to match the decoration of the cloak. Now the cloak is done.