I made a cape. I'm kind of in love with it.
Tweed rides/runs/rallys require suitable clothing and back in the initial planning stages of the rally, I decided it would be fun to make a cape. I originally thought I would make the Peppermint cape because it looked simple, didn't use a lot of fabric, and best of all, it's a free pattern, but the DC convinced me that it would just fall off my shoulders while riding. So the hunt was on for the best cape pattern.
I was drawn to two: the BurdaStyle Lindsey and the To Go Patterns Cape for Women. I was intrigued and at the same time intimidated by Lindsey's collar (and the fact that it's a BurdaStyle pattern), and, after studying Gjeometry's Vivacious cape, thought I'd prefer to have side slits for my arms, again to make sure it stayed on during the ride. The Go To pattern had the side slits but no pockets and a hood that I didn't want. The DC and Leila from the Three Dresses Project assured me that adding a standing collar and pockets to the Go To cape would be simple, so that's what I went with.
I cut a size small, regular length. I was a wee bit worried because for some reason when I bought the tweed and lining, I thought I only needed 2 yards of the tweed and 2.5 yards of the lining, while the instructions call for 3 and 3.5 yds. I got it to work by cutting the back pieces separately, flipping the second piece over and cutting it upside down. Fortunately it's a symmetric check, so flipping didn't change the print direction. I forgot to flip the pattern when cutting out the lining, so one of the pieces is inside out. I'm refusing to care. The pattern goes a bit circular and it's not suitable for obvious stripes or diagonals; I decided to match the pattern at the front and back seam and let the shoulder seams be as wonky as they needed to be.
I interlined it from a flannel sheet from Value Village. I have a RTW loosely woven tweed coat that is unfriendly in chilly winds and whose back seam pulled apart, meaning I had to sandwich some bias tape between the tweed and the lining and zigag like crazy. I'm hoping the flannel will act as a stabilizer for the seams as well as keeping the wind out. The added fabric made the cape seriously heavy to work with.
Swing!
The lining does not really match either of the blues in the tweed, but once again I refuse to care. It makes for fun flashes of colour.
This is an extremely goofy picture of me, but it's the best one of the front.
I used three of the carved wooden buttons I got in my FabricMart mystery notions bundle. I was planning to do bound buttonholes but I'm a dope and should have realized that they are just like welted pockets and I'd need to do them before I sewed the tweed to the lining. Alas. Happily my sewing machine does a pretty good buttonhole and I have a lot of FrayStop.
I'm going to add an inside button at the top to keep that bit from twisting and gaping. Or I can add another button outside just under the collar, since I have one more of those carved buttons and that would fix the spacing issue (that resulted from measuring from the bottom of the collar instead of the button in the collar). Would that be too much?
To draft the collar, I followed this tutorial (standing collar starts at 2:40 -- I didn't need to alter the pattern itself because the neckline is quite wide) with help from here to sew it on. The DC had offered to pad stitch some canvas for me, but time was getting a bit short so I just interfaced both the lining and the tweed and hoped for the best. I'm pretty proud of it; not only is it my first drafted collar, but I'm pretty sure it's my first ever collar. And it it fit the neckline perfectly. Go, me!
I used the Thurlow welts and Macaron pattern for the pockets (which I did know to do before sewing in the lining). The pockets were a little too long, and I was unsure about attaching it to the other side while it was in two pieces, so I just sewed it straight across to save myself the aggravation. They're big enough to hold my camera and keys, which is ample.
Sadly, I wasn't paying attention and put the left-hand pocket in upside down. I didn't notice until it was finished. So upside-down it will remain.
But look how good the welts are!
I cut the welts on the bias. Tasia's method (via Lladybird's tutorial) is so awesome. This is only the third set of welted pockets I've made and they've all turned out more or less perfectly.
One additional note: I used my blind hemming food for top stitching, which I think was very clever of me.
And so, I have a cape. And I'm trying to talk myself out of making another. How many capes do I need, anyway?
Tweed rides/runs/rallys require suitable clothing and back in the initial planning stages of the rally, I decided it would be fun to make a cape. I originally thought I would make the Peppermint cape because it looked simple, didn't use a lot of fabric, and best of all, it's a free pattern, but the DC convinced me that it would just fall off my shoulders while riding. So the hunt was on for the best cape pattern.
I was drawn to two: the BurdaStyle Lindsey and the To Go Patterns Cape for Women. I was intrigued and at the same time intimidated by Lindsey's collar (and the fact that it's a BurdaStyle pattern), and, after studying Gjeometry's Vivacious cape, thought I'd prefer to have side slits for my arms, again to make sure it stayed on during the ride. The Go To pattern had the side slits but no pockets and a hood that I didn't want. The DC and Leila from the Three Dresses Project assured me that adding a standing collar and pockets to the Go To cape would be simple, so that's what I went with.
I cut a size small, regular length. I was a wee bit worried because for some reason when I bought the tweed and lining, I thought I only needed 2 yards of the tweed and 2.5 yards of the lining, while the instructions call for 3 and 3.5 yds. I got it to work by cutting the back pieces separately, flipping the second piece over and cutting it upside down. Fortunately it's a symmetric check, so flipping didn't change the print direction. I forgot to flip the pattern when cutting out the lining, so one of the pieces is inside out. I'm refusing to care. The pattern goes a bit circular and it's not suitable for obvious stripes or diagonals; I decided to match the pattern at the front and back seam and let the shoulder seams be as wonky as they needed to be.
I interlined it from a flannel sheet from Value Village. I have a RTW loosely woven tweed coat that is unfriendly in chilly winds and whose back seam pulled apart, meaning I had to sandwich some bias tape between the tweed and the lining and zigag like crazy. I'm hoping the flannel will act as a stabilizer for the seams as well as keeping the wind out. The added fabric made the cape seriously heavy to work with.
Swing!
The lining does not really match either of the blues in the tweed, but once again I refuse to care. It makes for fun flashes of colour.
This is an extremely goofy picture of me, but it's the best one of the front.
I used three of the carved wooden buttons I got in my FabricMart mystery notions bundle. I was planning to do bound buttonholes but I'm a dope and should have realized that they are just like welted pockets and I'd need to do them before I sewed the tweed to the lining. Alas. Happily my sewing machine does a pretty good buttonhole and I have a lot of FrayStop.
I'm going to add an inside button at the top to keep that bit from twisting and gaping. Or I can add another button outside just under the collar, since I have one more of those carved buttons and that would fix the spacing issue (that resulted from measuring from the bottom of the collar instead of the button in the collar). Would that be too much?
To draft the collar, I followed this tutorial (standing collar starts at 2:40 -- I didn't need to alter the pattern itself because the neckline is quite wide) with help from here to sew it on. The DC had offered to pad stitch some canvas for me, but time was getting a bit short so I just interfaced both the lining and the tweed and hoped for the best. I'm pretty proud of it; not only is it my first drafted collar, but I'm pretty sure it's my first ever collar. And it it fit the neckline perfectly. Go, me!
I used the Thurlow welts and Macaron pattern for the pockets (which I did know to do before sewing in the lining). The pockets were a little too long, and I was unsure about attaching it to the other side while it was in two pieces, so I just sewed it straight across to save myself the aggravation. They're big enough to hold my camera and keys, which is ample.
Sadly, I wasn't paying attention and put the left-hand pocket in upside down. I didn't notice until it was finished. So upside-down it will remain.
But look how good the welts are!
I cut the welts on the bias. Tasia's method (via Lladybird's tutorial) is so awesome. This is only the third set of welted pockets I've made and they've all turned out more or less perfectly.
One additional note: I used my blind hemming food for top stitching, which I think was very clever of me.
And so, I have a cape. And I'm trying to talk myself out of making another. How many capes do I need, anyway?
That looks amazing. I wasn't a fan of capes, but now I am! :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't think I'd like it quite as much as I do, either. It's a really easy sew, too.
DeleteLooks so fun to wear!
ReplyDeleteIt is. It's hard to wear a bag with it, but it's so great for biking because it doesn't get overly warm - built-in ventilation. Although it does act kind of like an anti-sail in the wind...
DeleteNow I want a cape too! Brava!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Delete