This is an independant study on Hogwarts Robes. I am in no way affiliated with the wonderful J.K. Rowling or the WB. This is all my own research for entertainment and fun. These instructions are based on the robes we see from Prisoner of Azkaban on.

These are my research notes while I get prepared to make a set of Hogwarts Robes, so as of yet, all the notes on here are speculation on my research of how I think the outfit is put together. I think my observations are pretty accurate since I've seemed to have a pretty good eye for seeing what the pattern of an outfit should look like, but the best notes will be available here when I have a change to actually drape and work out the pattern. I'll have a tutorial up as soon as I'm able to finish my robes. I have decided that since everyone and their mother usually picks to do a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, I'd pick a different house. As I've taken a ton of online quizzes that tell me I'm Ravenclaw about 80% of the time and Gryffindor the rest of the time, I'm going with Ravenclaw. We have such a pretty commonroom and our ghost has such a gorgeous dress! I think I've been sorted!

These instructions are for personal and private use only. If you want to link to my instructions, please feel free! If you use my drawings or instructions on your site, I do ask that you please credit me and link back here.

For the sweater, vest, cardigan, house scarves, quidditch sweaters and gloves and socks are all availble on a site my best friend, Zizzy, referred to me called WIZARDKNITS.com. Their products look wonderful and are for a very good price for something that's hand-knitted for each order. They even have the lighter colored sweater versions from the first two movies (and flashback scenes) and the darker ones from the new. They also have their scarves like the first two movies and the new, darker, "trapped-bar" style of the others. WizardKnits is the expensive, but accurate option. The cheap way to do this is to just find a sweater or sweatshirt in a dark gray, if you can't find 1/4 inch (I believe the width would be) ribbon in the correct color combo, like maroon/dark gold/maroon, you can always get 1/4 ribbon in the dark house color and stitch a 1/8" ribbon of the accent color down the center, and trim your sweater at the wrist (above the cuff) and at the bottom.

[Shirt] For the most part, you can be pretty safe picking up a plain white buttondown from a department store for this costume. If you aren't concerned with how accurate the shirt is underneath the sweater, you just need to get a collar in the right shape... some button downs have buttons on the tips of the collar, and you want to avoid this. You also want to avoid collars that are too skinny. The other thing to look for, is probably a shirt of poplin or cotton. You need to be sure it's not shiny or an optic white.

But, if you want a shirt that's accurate all over, here's my observations on the shirt. The best place to observe the shirt itself, watch the scene in Prisoner of Azkaban during Hagrid's first class. Though it might seem like you can just pick up any old shirt from the store, there are subtle differences in shape, and if you keep an eye out for the details, you should be able to find one in the store that comes close, or, make your own. The first thing to note is that girl's shirts are not fitted. They are the same shirts the guys are wearing, and even have the buttons on the right like guys shirts. I've learned from looking that it's nearly impossible to find shirts with these specs in the women's section, so it would probably be best for girls to look in the boy's and men's department for the shirt. The bottom dips down in the back (I don't know the technical terms for shirts like this, if anyone knows, I'd be appreciative to know!) The front can't just have buttons, it must have a button placket, topstitched. There is a pocket on the left front of the chest. I've noticed (please check my reference image) that a few people have pockets with flat bottoms, and some have pockets with slightly pointed bottoms, so either are acceptable, just not too pointy. Pay close attention to the collar shape, you may want to print off the reference picture to take with you to compare. The collar is topstitched, and if the one you buy isn't, it's an easy fix. For the sleeves, there are two small pleats in the sleeve at the cuff (standard width cuff it looks, 2 inches most like) but be sure that it isn't a full sleeve, these look to be pretty straight. There is also a topstitched placket here, and is also topstitching around the armhole. The back of the shirt has a yoke, and I note most people have a box pleat in the center, but on Ron and Dean, there are two smaller tucks on the outer side of the yoke.

[My Shirt-making notes] I am making my own shirt because the men's shirts were way too big and I couldn't find any in the boys departments. For this I am using McCall pattern 2447, view C. This pattern is for a men's button-down shirt. I think it will work, I am using the small/youth size. My chest measurement is 32" and the one for this size is 34", so it should be about the right amount of looseness, and if it's too much I won't have to take in much. The pattern goes up to a XXX-Large, 56" chest, so this pattern should work for everybody. I think just the collar shape has to be adjusted a bit, otherwise, their flat sketch looks a lot like mine (SEE COMPARISON). The pocket needs to have a slightly pointed bottom (though square will do, if you look at the ref pic, one kid has a square pocket) but that's easy also. Right now I am in the process of starting the shirts, I'll document my alterations.

[09/13/07] Done with the shirt! I will be bringing a tutorial for shirt alterations for this particular patterns. Taller/bigger girls can probably get away with the man's shirt mostly as is with slight sleeve and collar alterations, but smaller/petite girls like me will need to heavily modify the shirt to make it the correct size. I definetly advise making a muslin of the shirt to see how the fit compares with the movie. Here's my completed shirt with my Ravenclaw Tie:

[Tie] Ties for PoA on are in the darker school colors, with two thick bars next to each other and one skinny one. WizardTies.com has movie-accurate fabric for the ties, but I found their ties to be a little clown-like big. Be aware of the official WB release ties, they are actually incorrect. I know the hue of the Gryffindor tie is a purpley hue that isn't correct, and they print the house crest on each tie, which is also incorrect. The tie is made of silk.

There are several places easy to find via google to buy the incorrect "official" silk tie, but for those looking for a more accurate, but polyester tie can find them through Ebay Seller Accent1222. Unfortunatly there is no "buy now" option, but it looks like there are regular auctions for ties set up so chances are good you can lay your hands on one for a pretty good price. I found this tie, though the fabric had thicker ridges and was over-all thicker than silk would be, had the correct shape.

[THE SKIRT] The skirt is actually very easy, it was just very hard to find a clear shot of it to figure out what is going on! The skirt is a basic A-shaped skirt. It's a wrap-around, and has the illusion of having two large inverted box-pleats in the front, with one of them being the opening. If you look at my sketch, you'll see that the back is just a basic A-shaped skirt, some flare but not too much, just enough to move in. I haven't seen many back-shots of the skirt, but I don't think there is a back seam, or darts. However, everyone's body shape is different, so you may need to have a back seam, or better yet, two small darts in the back. The front will be in two pieces, with the right side overlapping the left. Your box pleats will start a little farther out from the Princess Seam. Each side will be the same size when pleated, but the left side will only have one pleat and the right will have 2, forming an inverted box pleat. I have found that a 2 1/4 inch deep pleat seems to look about the same as the movie skirt (meaning there is 4.5 inches to the whole pleat, since it is folded in half, and 9 inches total for the box pleat). There are two pleats that meet each other, meaning an inverted box pleat. You will want to iron and pin in your pleats before you can shape the waist. In [THIS PICTURE OF HERMIONE] you can see a gold button above the pleat and I assume there's one on the other side for symmetry, since the opening is technically disguised in the pleats. My sketch above is the correct shape of the pattern, except I drew the skirt almost split into thirds with the pleats but the front panel is actually a bit bigger. For size reference... my skirt is 26.5 inches at the waistband (sits about 2" below the natural waist), and the front of the skirt measures 15.25. The panel in the front is 9 inches across... so the center panel will take up 2/3 of the front.

The fabric I ordered from [FASHION FABRICS CLUB]. I can't direct link what I ordered since they don't carry regular stock, they get things in lots. They had a lot of different shades of grays, so it's good to browse, and compare it to pictures of the sweaters on WizardKnits.com to try and match the color. Remember, colors on a monitor can be different than actual fabric. Also, if you order from Fashion Fabrics Club, be aware that they don't have shipping options and they send it by the slowest, cheapest option possible. Their customer service isn't great either, but they have good prices. The fabric I ordered was 60" wide, and I needed 1.5 yards of it. Charcoal is usually the color to look for for the skirt.

The pictures below show how the skirt opens, they're lightened so you can see the detail. Also, my pictures of my finished skirt. The first one of me shows it compared to Hermione's skirt.

Here are my pictures of the skirt for reference. The ones I captured will be marked, there are others I got from The-Leaky-Cauldron.org, which is a GREAT site for research.

[SHOES] The shoes are thankfully something pretty easy to find in the stores, keeping a few things in mind. For boys, pretty much any nice black lace up shoe will be fine. For both girls and boys, you want a leather-look. For girls, you can either get lace-up shoes, loafers, or Mary Janes. A lot of Mary Janes I've seen in the stores have a thin sole. All the shoes I've seen in the movie have at least a good, sturdy thick sole, about 3/4-1 inch. You don't want to get a heeled shoe, as it is too mature a look, you want to basically stick to flats. [HERE] is a picture of Dumbledore's Army that shows all the acceptable shoes, and I lightened it so you could see them more clearly. All the boys are wearing a similar style lace up shoe. Ginny Weasley wears a girl's version of the lace up shoe. Padma and Parvati Patil and Cho Chang all wear loafers. Hermione wears her Mary Janes, and Luna wears Mary Janes with an asymmetrical strap, which I've been seeing a lot of in stores. You want to avoid shoes with extra embellishments like flower stamps, but buckles are ok.

The shoes I got were at Payless Shoes, ironically from the kid's section because due to vanity sizing, I can now fit a kids size 3. I couldn't find Mary Janes in my size, but I found these nice loafers with an interesting buckle detail that's very witch-like. My shoe reference photo, a couple pictures of Hermione where you can see her Mary Janes, one of Ron's Shoes for the fellas, and pictures of my shoes are below.

[ROBE OBSERVATIONS] These aren't instructions yet until I've had a chance to actually drape it and see if it works. I am in the process of draping the robe as we speak. There is also Hogwarts Cloaks as well, I will be adding instructions in the future on how to do the cloak.

[Body] -Edit- My robe is nearly finished, and these observations will be updated- Some notes on the shape of the body of the cloak. I have some sketches I made below on what I believe the shape of the pattern pieces would be. If you look at the reference pictures, the cloak does have a pretty good flow to it, as you can see in the picture of Harry riding Buckbeak in my screen caps. The front edge of cloaks and robes are cut straight. The back will definetly not be a straight seam down the middle, it might be straight for a little bit at the top of the back so there isn't bulk there (this is covered with the hood) but it will taper out. The front neckline will be a v-cneck from the shoulder down to the point of closure, which should be about an inch or two below the v-neck of the sweater. It is probably best to have the sweater first before doing your robe pattern to ensure it closes at the right place. The back neckline is a simple curve. The shoulders are dropped a little, which means the sleeve seam does not sit right on top of the shoulder, but a few inches down the arm. The armholes will be a little large, not fitted, and it should be level with bust level. There is a 2.5-3.5 inch strip of colored lining down the front, which is possibly interfaced so it lays nice when open, but this is covered in the hood section. There is no obvious seam between the hood and the lapel lining so I do believe it is part of the colored hood lining. I imagine it is lined with normal lining, since it looks slightly shinier underneath the robe as seen in [THIS PICTURE] of Hermione.

There are a couple of points of speculation I have on the robe. In the picture of the Slytherins, we notice Malfoy has his hands in pockets hidden in the side seam of the robes. In one of the pictures of Hermione brandishing her wand, I think I can see where the pockets are in the seam, I'll post a picture pointing them out shortly. Also, there must be a wand pocket somewhere inside the robe (which means the robe should be lined to put the pocket on). In POA, when Ron is facing his Boggart, he reaches into the left hand side of his robe to get his wand. Also, and this is not a spoiler so don't freak... in Deathly Hallows, Harry, at one point, is laying on the ground and says he can feel his wand in his robes under his chest. This pocket is going to have to be crafted so the wand can be pulled out at a moment's notice. However, just making a sleeve that secure enough to hold the wand will be a bit hard to extract it quick. My guess for now is possible a short sleeve for the tip of the wand, and near the top could possibly be two tabs with magnets in them, or possibly just sew some ribbon or chain with jewelry magnet closures.

[Sleeves] These sleeves are fairly full at the bottom, a bit more tapered at the top. I believe it's a straight seam. When the arms are at the sides, the outside of the arm hangs higher than the underside. You can see in some of the outstretched arm pics that the underside curves at a very slight point. The first sketch drawing will show the possible shape of the sleeve. The lining will be in the color of the house. I don't think I see a seam on the lining, and if the seam of the sleeve is straight, you should be able to take your sleeve pattern and slit it down the center, and tape the sides of the sleeve together (see the second drawing to see what I mean) and you have an inverted pattern, so the seam will be on the top inside where no one will see it.

[Hood] The hood is the tricky part. It is pointed, and when down, it hangs about to bum level. I think that there is a strip of interfacing (possibly continued from the colored inner lapel) in the front part of the hood based on the scene where the Slytherin's are mocking Harry about the dementors and throw their hoods up, and a few pictures of hoods down do look like the opening lays nicer. I believe the hood will be the "christmas tree" shape I mention in my second sketch, because the pointed part at the bottom of the opening matches the v-neck on the robe, which is also where the robe folds back when open. The seam is on the underside of the hood, so I think this hood is one piece. EPIPHANY! I just saw a picture of someone who has their lapel flipped forward enough to note THERE IS NO SEAM BETWEEN THE HOOD AND THE NECK! The two front pieces and the hood are one long piece and I think I know exactly how it is shaped! I will ammend my drawings shortly. It should still be mocked up as two separate pieces, but as the vneck and hood was supposed to flow flat and straight into each other, just leave those two stitched together when patterning... This is definetly one to play with to make sure everything sits right. I don't see a seam on the lining when the hood is down, however, and there is no seam I notice between the lapel and hood lining, so there might be some inventive cutting of this shape to ensure the seams are on the inside of the hood where they aren't visible. I'll report back after I experiment. I also think that the hood lies pretty flat on the back, but the lining looks to gather a bit decoratively at the back neck. If the whole hood was gathered there it would be a little bulkier, so it might be a good idea to make the neck a little bigger in the lining. Again, I will report back more accurate observations once I experiment.

-edit- 01/10/08 I haven't been able to figure out how to make the hood lining seamless, and I can't find a clear enough picture to confirm or deny the existence of a seam in the visible part of the hood lining, so unless I can figure something out later, I am putting a seam in mine. More to come later on the final shape.

[Finishing Touches] There is really only a few things to do now. The patch of the House you are doing gets added to the left side, the top of the patch looks to be level with the closure and placed about in the middle of that side of the chest, but the outside left edge of the patch should be at least 4" in from the opening (or however wide your color lining strip is) so that when the robe is open, the patch doesn't interfere with it hanging open correctly. There is a site called [Patch Palace] that has the most accurate patches, however it has been "Unavailable" for a while now, but their eBay store is up and running, you can check it out [HERE]

I just got my Ravenclaw Patch in from Patch Palace, it's beautiful and accurate! It's also the only one I've ever found with both the correct bird (movie accuracy, in the book, Ravenclaw is an Eagle) and has the right shield shape. They have the accurate patch for all houses. I bought both the robe patch and the smaller patches they offer for putting on scarves or whatever you want.

The buttons are cover buttons, 1/2" wide, made with your robe fabric. Pretty cheap to get the kit at JoAnn's, couple of bucks. I put black interfacing on the fabric that was covering the button because the silver of the cover button tends to show through. There's a button sewn on each side even though only one is used. A black loop is sewn into the seam between the lining and the black fabric and there should be a 1/2-1" gap between the opening.

[Robe Style Differences] -As you all know, the style in Hogwarts School Uniforms changed between Harry Potter's 2nd and 3rd year. It's assumed the school made a change in the uniforms and not just the costume department hoped to pass off a new style because flashback characters still bore the Old Style uniforms, but, the style of 50 years previous is NOT the same as Harry's early years. I still have to research and see which era robe style Harry's Parents would have worn, but here are robe difference observations.:

50 Years Previous: I noticed in The Chamber of Secrets, both Tom Riddle and Harry Potter wore the swag-style old robes seen in the first two HP movies. However, Tom's robes did not have the Slytherin Patch, it had just the Hogwarts crest instead, as did Moaning Myrtle. I also noticed his sweater was different from Harry's. His sweater was in the New Style dark charcoal color. It is not the same as the New Style sweater exactly in that it has the slytherin colors around the v-neck, where the New Style sweaters don't. I'm not sure if it had a color band around the cuffs, as Tom Riddle also had another jacket over top of his sweater, and underneath his robes. He also has the darker, trapped-bar style of tie that is seen with the New Style Robes.

Ron Weasley: For an accurate Ron Weasley costume, when he wore the Old Style Robe his first two years of Hogwarts, his robe color was a faded black/gray because his robes are hand-me-downs from his older brothers, presumably also tattered on closer inspection. However in his third year he has new robes, his mother having to buy them because of the style change, and also because he's tall and gangly and needs longer robes.

New First Years: First year students on their first day in the castle before their sorting, wear no crest on their robes and a black tie with the Hogwarts crest.

Ravenclaws: The Ravenclaws we see in the movies have silver and dk blue as their house colors although in the books, Ravenclaw colors were bronze and blue. This was probably changed for the movie because every house but slytherin would have had gold in their house colors. Ravenclaw patch is also similar in shape to slytherin's, whereas Hufflepuff and Gryffindor's are shaped similar to each other, so it was probably done for a balance.

Here is the Robe Timeline sorted by years. Harry was born in July of 1980.

1940's: Uniform consisted of Dark Charcoal sweater with house colors around the hem and neck-line, and dark colored trapped-bar style house tie. Girls had a knife-pleated skirt, boys also had a medium gray jacket. Their robes were the old-style swag robes and bore the Hogwarts Crest. This uniform is appropriate for Tom Riddle and Moaning Myrtle. I need to research if Hagrid had any sort of special adaptations to his. It is unknown if these uniforms were in use back in the older teacher's school days. The jacket bears he House Crest on a left breast pocket, with two button closures. We will be seeing better views of this jacket in Half Blood Prince.

1970's: Uniform consisted of Medium Gray sweater with house colored bands around the hem and neck-line, dark colored trapped-bar style house tie. Girls had a knife-pleated skirt, boys also had a medium gray jacket. Their robes were the old-style swag robes and bore the House Crest. This uniform style is appropriate for James, Lily, Sirius, Peter Pettigrew, Remus and Snape back in their school days. This would probably also be appropriate for Molly and Arthur, though they are older.

[Reference Pictures]