Crocheted the Cloak for the Mediaeval Play, "Ye Good Old Bard"

For this project, a group of students and myself collaborated to create a medieval play. Within the play there were various roles that ranged from acting, producing, writing, and creating. One of my roles involved the creation of a crochet cloak for the protagonist, in order to distinguish them as a squire in training. Before I started crocheting the cloak, I broke the project into two research sections. One was researching what a cloak looked like in the medieval time period. This involved considering the length, colours, and designs. For this cloak, the shorter length represented the squire’s status as the lowest rank of knighthood. Additionally, green was made from natural dyes sourced from vegetables and plants, while colours such as red and black were reserved for the nobility. Squires were often left with scraps and had to use what was at their disposal, especially during harsh winter, hence the use of green for the cloak. The second section was dedicated to researching crochet patterns from the medieval era to combine the concepts of a traditional fabric cloak with crochet patterns. Despite my original plan to follow a pattern with one repeating stitch, I freed-handed the cloak to include more varieties in the stitches used. The designs were subtle compared to the designs nobility would otherwise be seen wearing. Overall, this project allowed me to combine two medieval aspects (crochet and cloaks) to create an amazing costume for the squire to journey in.

Hafsah Syeda