Capes³

On the weekend, I caught up with Kat and Juliet for some fun modelling of our fabulous Peppermint Magazine Capelets

Together we are the team behind The Monthly Stitch (an ongoing sew-along collective with a different challenge each month) and we thought we had better lead the way with the first ever challenge and make sure our capes were posted up before everyone else 😉

I’m really lucky to have had the opportunity to sew with my good friend Sandra of Sewanista Studios, who drafted this amazing pattern.

It’s a free download so if you like it, you should grab it.

It’s a quick make too and uses hardly any fabric. The clever shoulder seam keeps the cape on your shoulders, no spinning around. Plus you can jazz up the closure with a fancy snap or button and what about making it reversible? Oh yes!

You’ll be able to read more about  Kat and Juliet‘s capes over on TMS and their own blogs soon.

Here is a bit more about mine:

I used a beautiful and slightly fluffy wool check that I bought waaay back in July of 2011 for $20/meter at The Fabric Warehouse.

I reserved this for the Papercut Watson Jacket a little while ago but only just recently checked the yardage and realized I did not buy enough. I was sure I could squeeze it out of the 2.5 meters I bought, I am always up for a good cutting layout challenge, but then I remembered that it is a check, I would have no chance at pattern matching.

This is ok, because I found a replacement: A fabulous grey and hot pink houndstooth wool from Global-that-was (now known as The Fabric Store) during their 40% off sale. It’s going to be the cutest Watson ever.

For my capelet I only used about 0.70 meters so now I have enough left over for a skirt too. Yeah!

For the outer shell I cut the “sleeve” parts on the bias, partly because I knew they would never line up properly with the front but I also thought it would add some interest. Careful stay-stitching the entire outside edge kept them from stretching.

I lined my capelet with some satin I bought at The Fabric Warehouse Pop Up Store for $3/meter in March last year. I bought it because it made me think of a high class fashion brand, like Channel or something 😉

I followed the rest of the instructions exactly except for the fancy loop closure. Instead I extended my neck band about 1 centimetre each side and attached a pair of black snap fasteners, then I sewed a pretty button to the outside.

We took these photos in Palmerston North at the park in The Square with the help of Linda, aka Mama Gypsy.

We had the best weather and there is something about a group photo shoot that brings out the fun. I wish all my garment photo shoots could be just like this! 🙂

Are you planning to sew a cape this month?