Cape Easy

I bought this pattern, Vogue 7974, a few years ago, and now it's out of print. There are plenty like this out there. I like the trend this autumn to wear capes. They're simple and easy over a suit jacket or sweater when it's not so very cold. I like that it is a simple cape, but it has a collar. I thought of making a cape with slits in the front, through which you put your arms, but I like this style better, because it seems less constricting, as long as you don't mind your cape flipping up when you move your arms.

I used wool from Mr. Kashi in NYC when I was there for a work trip back on September 1 of this year. (Lucky me, my company opened an office in NYC so I can go up there for work (it's two hours away from where I live) and make pit stops to buy fabric and such. No more 'special' trips needed just to buy supplies! ) Smokey, pictured below is playing quality inspector, and is reading a tag marked "Tessuti" Italy. Could it be real Tessuti fabric? Maybe. Anyway, it is super quality, tweedy but soft. I like it and Smokey agrees.
Smokey also checked the pattern.
The pattern envelope told me I needed 3 1/8 yard to make this garment. No way you need that much. I cut mine from a mere 2 1/4 yards, and had enough left over for a cat-size blanket (if you can call a serged-edge trapezoid 2 feet by 1 foot at the other end a blanket).

Smokey is checking out my pressing tools. It was fun to work with wool! I haven't sewn in wool for a long time. I forgot how malleable wool is. It's easier to sew than most any other fabric in my opinion.
Smokey loves playing next to the sewing maching. Snowy also got in on the action.

When the time came to put in closures, I opted for snaps (that's what the pattern says, it gives a nice unbroken line). Smokey lent me his talent for accurate measurements.


My cape is unlined, which is fine. I finished the hems with my groovy blind hemming machine. Made quick work of what would have been an onerous hand hemming job. Actually, if I didn't have my blind hemmer, I'd have just put in machine stitched hems.

All my raw edges were encased in 4-thread serging. I used Pam Erny's light tailoring interfacing for the collar and front edge. Nice stuff. So now, I'm set for the light breezes and slight chill we have in the air here. The brooches on my cape were old - one (the one with the black stone in the center) I bought in 1987. The bigger white one, I think I bought in the early 1990s. Both to wear with blouses at work. I used to fasten the center front of a blouse with those pins. The smaller one is from either my mother-in-law, Carol, or my grandmother Eleanor. I can't remember...but I like how it goes with the other ones, and also lends a bit of flair to my cape.