Well this post is long overdue. I actually made this cape last year but never managed to get any decent shots of it at the time, and it seemed wrong to blog about it in Summer, so I've been keeping it for more Wintery weather.
This is a fun little wool cape, made from New Look pattern 6916, which unfortunately seems to be out of print now, but the envelope looks like this:
It's a very easy make which requires very little fitting (obviously), but it took my some time to complete due to my inability to choose a suitable lining. When I initially bought the red wool (which once I had laid eyes on I couldn't let go off - I just love the shade of this red!) I decided I wanted to have a fun, playful lining and ended up buying a bright turquoise Chinese brocade. The woman in the shop was giving me a bit of an odd look while cutting it for me, but I just thought her 'old' and not quirky enough to appreciate just how fabulous this was going to end up. It wasn't until I had the the red and blue pinned and ready to sew together did I realise that I was making myself a Superman cape!!! Um….no. There is quirky, and then there is just wrong.
So the beautiful red wool languished at the bottom of my unfinished pile while I searched and searched for the right lining. After much thought and deliberation I decided that a tartan would be the perfect lining and ended up buying some online. Unfortunately once it arrived, it was rather heavy and, to be honest, a bit too much like a picnic rug. So again the red wool waited. (By the way - said picnic rug should hopefully be appear on the blog soon in another post!).
Finally I found the PERFECT lining, and on sale in my local fabric shop too! A lovely black, white and grey tartan with a little line of the perfect shade of red running through it. It was destiny! I didn't have enough fabric to even attempt to match the tartan, and to be honest even if I did I think it would have been near impossible anyway. I had hopped that the cape would be reversible and I would get a nice tartan cape out of this, but the tartan fabric has a bit of strange wrinkle to it due to a metallic thread that runs through it, so it doesn't really work for the outer layer. Never mind!
The cape is actually designed with a mandarin collar (see picture on left above), but I had a detachable faux fur collar in my wardrobe and when I put the two together it was a match made in Christmas heaven!! For the closure, I sewed on two twine frogs & wooden toggles.
The cape, as most capes go, probably isn't the most convenient piece out outwear I own (where do you put your arms and how do you carry your handbag???), but with the collar on it's good fun and perfect for getting into the spirit of the season with a trip to the Christmas Market:
