Molly-Made: capes

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Run Away Home

After showing you some drool worthy Cape inspiration last week, I can now add my very own to the list.

I had such a wonderful time making this little number. I went the whole hog too and even made a muslin! Gasp, how unlike me! But I really wanted to take my time with this one, and focus on its quality.

I used a rust coloured wool crepe that I bought a year ago from the Remnants Warehouse. Ever since I found it, I knew that I wanted to make a cape from it. One year on, and I've actually done as I intended. Nice turn around Molly.

I lined the cape with a buttery soft peach tencel, and hand stitched it to the hem. I love how pretty and neat it looks on the inside. I'm so proud that I'm tempted to waltz down the street with this baby on inside out, pointing at the lining to passer-bys. But this is why I have a blog - to stop my own self inflicted public humiliation spurred on by ill channeled pride.

I chose to line the hood in a contrast fabric, as it would be on display a lot of the time. I chose a vintage Olive/Ivory fine houndstooth that my mother picked up for me from a thrift store. It's such glorious fabric, but I had a little less than half a meter of it, and was thrilled to finally find the right project for it to be a part of.

Since I still live in fear of the button hole, I used a snap closure at the neck and attached a pretty bronze and glass button for show.

I blind stitched the hem and pick stitched the front lapels. Since the wool is so thick, the pick stitching isn't too obvious, but I know it's there, and that makes me very happy.

One of my favourite things about this pattern (1956 McCalls #3935), is the size of the hood. It's a Real Size hood, that can actually cover and protect your head/hair from the rain. I find so many modern hoods on coats/jackets are purely there for show and don't really fit over your head comfortably (or do I simply have an over sized melon? eep!)

My super talented brother Jack took the pictures for me. It turns out he's quite the photographer, a talent he discovered about a year ago. He works primarily with vintage analog cameras.Check out his work here.

I must say, there is an awful lot of pressure not to make a goofy face, or blink when your photograph is being taken on an Analog camera! So, of course, I had my eyes closed in some great shots, and made a world of goofy faces!