I love this cape. I really do. Of course, I'm biased.
My fabulous new herringbone cape took about a week to make, although I lost track of how many actual hours were spent sketching versus pattern-making versus browsing online fabrics versus sewing (...versus staring off into space).
It all paid off. There are two dozen details I'd love to share about what went into making this cape but I doubt most people really want to hear all about the intricate details, the design decisions, the mistakes, the frustrations. Mike has no choice (once as he was falling asleep I rushed into the room to tell him all about the welt pocket I just finished) but for you I'll just highlight some features.
The Lining
Beautiful, no? I found this piece at Fabricland (of all places) and I think it was in the outdoor fabrics section. Can't quite remember but it was somewhere I wouldn't have expected to find fabric that could be used as lining. It's a little thicker than actual lining but is still silky smooth and has a gorgeous floral print. I actually bought this piece weeks before I ever got the red herringbone wool to know it would be such a good match. Just a hunch, I suppose.
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| Original loop placement |
In this version of the cape I added wool pieces to the lining half to make it look more finished. Also put in a loop for hanging up the cape, something I forgot in my first one. Originally the loop was centred along the back neckline (where you'd expect a loop) but because the cape is asymmetric that caused the whole thing to hang awkwardly. I had to move it over to the right shoulder, which looks odd from the inside but allows the cape to drape much more evenly without tilting to one side.
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| Final loop placement by right shoulder |
The Piping
The wool wasn't quite as red as I originally wanted so I chose sharper reds for the accents. I knew I wanted to put more piping detail in the back but played around with 3 different options before settling on this one. The first prototypes with muslin were good but had too many lines. This one is cleaner and simpler but still gives that extra pop of colour. Now I just have to muster up the courage to take out the iron and press down the back panels flat since the cape definitely needs some iron lovin'. Please oh please don't let me burn this piece!
The Pockets
This is only my second project with welt pockets. I found a good tutorial here for sewing a single welt instead of the double I tried last time. I did two practice runs with muslin and then went for it on the wool front piece. At the last minute before pinning the welts to the wool I decided here was another good opportunity to add piping :) Then for the actual pockets I used the same lining fabric for kicks.
The Leather
Here's the leather piece I found from the Leather and Sewing Supply Depot that sold me on this wool. I had entered the store with just a sample of the red wool, found this great colour of leather, then promptly returned to Designer Fabrics to purchase enough wool for the full cape. I didn't know where I wanted to add leather detailing but I knew I wanted it.
In the end I added leather to the bottom corners of the wing panels and love the overall look but need to practice with sewing leather. I didn't want to leave the edge raw so I doubled it underneath but it made for quite a thick layer, especially where leather meets piping. The Singer foot slipped a few times and the top-stitching isn't as clean as I'd like it. Maybe it wouldn't be so obvious if I had used matching thread but contrasting thread on top of leather looks so much better. We'll see if this feature makes it into future capes.
The Buttons
Again these colourful chic buttons were found at good ol' Fabricland. The original idea was to use toggle buttons to close up the cape but I loved the look of these red buttons too much. I decided to add an extra loop on each wing panel and small buttons on either side of the front panel so that the cape can be closed along the bottom if desired. I will leave these buttons undone pretty much all of the time since the lining is displayed much better with an unconstrained cape. However on particularly windy days it'd be nice to walk down the street without all the cape panels fluttering chaotically around your ears. Not very stylish.
So that sums up my new Red Herringbone Cape and all of its new features. I finished up the last of the hand-stitching last night while watching the second half of the Ontario Leader's Debate (they're all robots) and 1 1/3 episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I told Mike I wasn't coming to bed until it was all finished :)
Hopefully soon I can get some shots up of me actually wearing it, despite the wrong season, but for now I have to rely on photos of it with the trusty dressform.
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