Completed: The Cape Coat

Just a little bit proud of my latest me-made. After literally weeks of obsessively staring at Sass & Bides Snowbird Cape (see here for my inspiration post) I faced my fears of stuffing up and got to work. As per usual with most of my me-mades I had a tight deadline to work with  as the Boy was taking me to Melbourne the following weekend for my birthday!! But hey, working with a tight deadline is nothing new to me. I'm pretty sure I do my best work when I'm stressed out to the max with literally minutes to go before I need to wear something. I've been known to be doing the last little bit of hand stitching in the car on the way to a night out!! And the cape coat was going to be so perfect to wear in Melbourne, so elegant and chic when worn with jeans and my striped Breton shirt.

Spotted in the Wild: The Cape Coat in Melbourne

FABRIC:
On my last visit to Spotlight I had come across the most beautiful ice blue fine herringbone wool blend suiting. It took a lot of self control not to buy a couple metres of it then and there but self control reigned supreme and I promised myself that if, in the next few weeks, I found something to make with it I would buy it. Well, shortly after I found a picture of the Sass & Bide Snowbird Cape and the rest is history. 




Closeup - The most beautiful fabric

As mentioned before the fabric has a very fine pale ice blue herrringbone pattern through it. Its a medium weight wool blend with beautiful drape, perfect for a cape. I chose the most beautiful charmeuse ice blue fabric for the lining. I think it almost cost me as much as the wool fabric but considering the lining was going to be visible I chose to splurge and get something nice. *Best Decision Ever!* sewing both of these fabrics was a dream!!


Getting ready to cut!!

Waistcoat:
Using the McCall's pattern as the basis for the waistcoat part of the jacket, I restyled the front panels to resemble something like a tuxedo jacket front, freestyling the design lines until I was happy with the end result. My original inspiration featured a straight collar that tapered down into the line of the waistcoat front. At first I thought I could get away with leaving out the collar but as the muslin came together it became obvious that it needed something to mark where the waistcoat ended and the cape started. After numerous YouTube videos on drafting a collar and as many muslin attempts I ended up just drafting a rectangular piece of fabric and stabilised it with interfacing. The end result is passable but for future reference I wouldn't mind knowing how to get a more professional look.

Cape:
Using the Vogue 1322 pattern for the basis of the cape I removed the centre back seam by cutting the piece on the fold for a more streamlined effect. I also hacked away at the front pattern piece until I got the desired shape (I know, I know probably not the right way to do things). I had forgotten how much I hate working with patterns from the 'Big Four', we are so spoilt with patterns from companies like Papercut Patterns and Sewaholic that are so well drafted they are pretty much guaranteed to fit amazingly. I forgot how much ease these Vogue patterns have!! I followed the measurement guide on the pattern envelope and dutifully cut out a Large (nothing boosts your confidence more than something telling you you're a Large size, NOT!!) and ended up with something that resembled the oversized padded shoulders of a rugby player... not super flattering and not really the look I'm after on a sleek cape coat. I ended up unpicking my seams and cutting the size Small instead (thankfully I was still in the muslin stage and could ruthlessly unpick at lightning speed without worrying about destroying my fabric). The end result?? A much better fit with the shoulder seams where they should be... So lesson for next time, cut a size or two less than what the pattern tells you or else just stick to the independent pattern companies! So much less hassle!!

Once I was out of the muslin stage things started to really speed up *read: lose track of time*. The best part about the muslin process is having the opportunity to really hack away at the design and iron out all the little issues that inevitably crop up. It makes for a speedier, more accurate end result. I think the final stage of sewing the actual final cape coat took about 9 hours from cutting to the last little bit of hand stitching!!

Its finished!!

The end result? I don't think I've ever been so proud of something I made!! It fits me beautifully and is such a pleasure to wear. I feel like a million dollars every time I put it on and the compliments I've received!! Walking around Melbourne I was stopped a couple of times by women wanting to know where I had bought it from!! Looking at my original inspiration there are a couple of things that I've changed but the intention was never to copy it exactly, just use it as my inspiration.
Just for those interested I've broken down the cost and time I've spent to see how much money I've *saved* if I had bought the original.

Original Sass & Bide Snowbird Cape - RRP $700
My Cape Coat: $79.50
Fabric cost: $40 for the wool fabric $15 charmeuse lining (charmeuse was on sale to $5metre)
$22 for Vogue 1322 pattern
$2.50 matching thread
McCall's pattern, interfacing, calico, needles etc from my stash

Hours: approx 10hours for planning, muslin etc and 9 hours to complete the final cape coat from cutting to finish.

Completed: Vogue 8511

Do you ever have it where you've been investing a lot of time and effort and head space to one particular item of clothing and once that's done you just want something fast and easy to sew? *also known as instant gratification* Well after the epic cape coat creation I was in desperate need of this. I decided to have a hunt through my Work In Progress box (also known as WIP) and see what I could find and came across this half finished dress.

Thinking back, it ended up in the WIP box due to a small error whilst sewing together the bodice but 5 mins with the quick-unpick and we were off. This would be the third time I'm making this particular pattern, I am in love with the boat neck collar and the tulip-style skirt. I also think the fabric was purchased on my trip to Canada some five years ago!! The bodice features princess seams and is lined while the skirt has some pretty cool pleats going on. I love the retro feel of this dress and I'm pretty sure this is not the last I'll see of this pattern!! Maybe next time I'll try a 3/4 sleeved version, perfect for winter... hmmmm :-)