How to Make a Mantle for Jon Snow From an IKEA Carpet
I bet you, like me, looked at the cloaks of the Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones and thought, Damn it, if they weren’t so flea-infested and drenched in the blood of the dead, I would have put them on in my heartbeat. Where can I even get such a raincoat? »Well, you can create your own cloak just like the show’s costume designer does: from SKOLD and LUDDE sheepskin rugs from damn IKEA.
Game of Thrones costume designer Michelle Clapton explained the origins of carpet cloaks in her talk about medieval dress at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
In short, there is nothing special about them. The Night’s Watch rat cloaks are not made from mammoth hide, but from sheepskin rugs from IKEA, which are dyed, tattered and sheared to look like they were in the Fist of the First Men and back again.
“These caps are actually IKEA rugs. This is a little gimmick. We take whatever we can. We cut and shaved them, added strong leather straps and then broke them … I want the audience to almost smell the costumes. “
Rugs are subject to even more wear and tear and are meticulously waxed and glazed to give them a look that is long overdue.
Upon hearing the news, people apparently went to IKEA to buy sheepskin rugs in droves, presumably to wrap themselves up in them and prepare for the coming of the Night King.
How to make your own
Feeling creative? Clapton can be a professional dresser, but that doesn’t mean you have to suck up over cloaks on the show while you’re shivering in the cold. You can make your own using a few materials and some know-how. In terms of sizing, be sure to check out this handy guide to figure out how much fabric you’ll need.
Collect your materials
- Rug and fabric: Of course, if you want to dress like the Night Watch, you’ll need the same fabric they use. So it’s time to go to IKEA. Grab the SKOLD and LUDDE rugs (just call the store ahead of time to make sure they’re still in stock) and get out. In fact, you should probably grab some black DITTE fabric for the rest of the trench coat before you leave Walmart in Sweden. Sell in the yard, which is nice.
- Paint: I think you can tell that the dazzling white IKEA rugs don’t quite match your Nightwatch raincoat yet. This is where clothing paint comes into play. You’ve probably dyed your favorite jeans to get them back into your outfit rotation, and you can use the same process to turn that white carpet into pitch black.
- Straps and buckles. A quick search for leather straps and buckles will return hundreds of results on the internet. What’s your best bet? Finding out the length of the strap and choosing a trusted supplier, possibly familiar with leather goods. As far as buckles go, you can always just search on eBay, where vendors tend to list different items like buckles at a lower cost compared to places like Amazon.
- Sewing Materials: The Night’s Watch didn’t have a sewing machine, but you bet Clapton had a butt when she sewed these cloaks. Of course, your consumer-grade sewing machine may not go through the leather, so you may have to sew this part yourself with a needle, thread, scissors, and a hole punch.
Measure twice, cut once
Of course, before you go looking for rugs, sewing kits, and fabric to sew your own raincoat, make sure you know how much material you need. Longer cloaks require more fabric, of course, but if they are too long (or too short) you will have to trip over yourself or curse your cold calves.
Some fabrics may not be wide enough to be cut in a semicircle by yourself. In this case, you may have to sew multiple pieces together, either in a wedge shape (like pizza slices) or by filling the outer edge of the semicircle with smaller, curved pieces of the same fabric.
The calamity of this shit
I have not seen an intact cloak on any member of the Night’s Watch. What makes you so special? Time to spin your newfound cloak. Grab a pair of scissors, toss them in a bucket full of rocks, let your dog lie in it for a few days, minutes, and voila! Your own raincoat ready to withstand storms from Hardhome to Highgarden.