Its strange that people worry about these types of clothes being flammable, when the clothes most people wear everyday/while camping is made of plastic and will also catch fire and probably melt into your skin haha. If it's not a problem with normal clothes, I think its fine with these as well

I think people get waxed cloth and oil cloth confused. Oil cloth is quite a bit more flammable than an un-oiled equivalent, but waxing a cloth would actually make the wax burn before the cloth, acting like a wick. Not necessarily a good thing, but doesn't make the cloth any more flammable.

Only thing missing is a penannular broach to lock the cloak into position

A note on the flame stuff, the cotton acts as a wick that draws in the beeswax and paraffin like a candle, so it'll burn more slowly as it melts and draws in the wax to drive the fire. Upside is you're wearing a slow burning candle, the downside is you're wearing a slow burning candle.

Pro tip for those in the future- cut your fabric before dying it so the dying process is easier and faster. also saves you water and dye.

I use natural Turpentine, boiled Linseed Oil and Beeswax in an equal amount to waterproof my stuff with.

That's pretty badass. I don't need Ranger Cloak for anything but now I want one.

all the clapping gave a me chuckle each time and it just made things easier to stay focused on paying attention lol

Literally just sat here and did this with my son. We coincidentally had to two of those same drop clothes from HF,and I said hey,let's make Ruanas. Lol. They came out so good. We still have to sew them,but I'm gonna let mine fray a bit for that worn out look. Thank you so much. He's 7,and is now so obsessed with his new Ruana cloak and the rennaissance faires. 🏾🏾🏾️

I made a post-apocalypse coat out of the exact same fabric. I was looking at canvas like materials & was like "This drop cloth is cheaper than even thinner fabric at the fabric store & I don't care about the extra seam that is down the middle."

4:05 A fabric pizza-cutter? What a time to be alive :D

My wife and I made a couple ruana cloaks a few months back, they are freaking awesome. I used mine most of the winter. I think I might need to make myself another one for warmer weather. Great vid.

If you ever wanted to do a "winter version" of this, USGI wool blankets are pretty cheap AND already green :)

Thank you for this! I dyed my fabric yesterday, and sewed up the cloak today! I cut off the manufacturer's seams, because I didn't like that the white thread didn't dye; I sewed new seams on all sides following your suggestion of rolling them in an extra time. I'm super pleased with it! This is my first piece of garb! Woot!

Old reenactors trick for waterproofing natural fabric tents if you don't want to use the beeswax route: try looking for tins of wall/brick water proofer and paint it on. It's the same stuff as those cans of fabric water proofer and a lot cheaper by volume. You'll need to let it air to get rid of the vapours but it works really well. Short apocryphal tale; We did this to our tent, but tried using a spray bottle to get an even coverage. At the end of the session, hubby found he couldn't taste coffee as the waterproofing aerosol had got into his mouth and the coffee just didn't touch his tongue at all. This is why I recommend using brushes, 'cos you wouldn't want that in your lungs... Alternatively look for Teflon coated cotton twill, the same stuff that they make school trousers out of.

I use the Harbor Freight canvas drop cloths myself, but if you are going to use expensive beeswax at 12 dollars a pound, maybe consider using wool cloth. Wool doesn't burn well and resists water. If you know where to shop you can get wool cloth in a variety of colors for 15 dollars a yard.

Wool is more naturally waterproof, especially in a more raw form with the natural sheep tannin's and is also quite a bit more fire-resistant. You can get some pretty light wools aswell, it's not a winter only material. Though the issue then is price, wool is usually quite a bit more expensive than other (specifically) natural ones with few exceptions, probably more-so in the US where you have far less Sheep than the UK for example

down here in Australia, a bought waxed cloak costs around $150-$200AUD! Reckon I'll be following your method, so thanks for this Ol' Mate! Good Adventuring.