Making a Cape (It's not Weird)

 At the start of last year, a company called American Duchess released a free pattern based on an original 1910 wrap cape. It has pleated wrap bit at the front that tie or clip at the back and a collar.  Maybe it was the pandemic, or maybe it was just the need for a wrap cape in the modern world, whatever the reason, sewing people everywhere started making these capes. 

Image from American Duchess

I did see quite a few of these (#ADCapeCult) at the time, but shelved the idea of sewing one myself because Brisbane winter doesn't usually call for a cape. Besides which, I've never sewn something classed as "outer wear" and figured it was not really for me. 

Enter June 2021, and the month of crazy business, which happened to include two winter weddings, one of which was in Sydney. Weddings are the kind of event that a fancy cape would not feel out of place at. And a winter wedding meant that a cape was a justifiable item to make simply for warmth. I went back and forth for a while, not knowing what to make a cape from, and not sure if I had the time, but then just realised that I really wanted to give it a go, and if not now, then when? 

I asked the Brisbane Spoolettes for advice on fabrics and heard that wool cashmere was the way to go. Pandemic in full swing again, and I didn't have time to actually go to the shops, I feared buying online, when my friend who owns Sewing Adventures, the sewing studio offered to let me have a look at some she had recently brought to see what I thought. 

The fabric was beautiful, so I went home and very nearly ordered the musk, but ended up going a safe pewter (kind of black, but not solid), to suit the formal nature of the weddings and for re-wearability. I also ordered some shiny lining fabric at the same time, thinking that was the right thing to do. More on that later. 

Given that I had never sewn a cape before, and I wanted to make sure it was 100% wearable to some fancy weddings (not the least of which was my very own sisters!), I first made a practice run out of some random fabric that I think Aunty Sue from Sydney gave me. Good thing I did, because the fit in the shoulders was off. Don't let my excited smile fool you, there is lots to do ahead. 

Lots of research about what other people had done to solve similar issues and I unpicked and adjusted to try again. 

More changes to be made and a third try on the rough draft and I was finally ready to cut into the real fabric. What a marathon this cape was turning out to be. Cutting the real fabric however, turned out to be way more complicated than I expected. The shiny lining fabric shifted and moved like crazy, and because everything was without seam allowance, I used chalk to mark the sewing lines. This chalk kind of stayed on the shifty shiny stuff, but dusted straight off the black wool cashmere, so I had to "trace" the lines by hand sewing guide lines over them. 

When I started sewing, things were going smoothly on the wool cashmere, but went quickly downhill on the shiny lining fabric. It was so shifty it was a nightmare to sew, and then the edges started fraying like crazy, no matter what I did. I ended up cutting strips of interfacing and ironing them on to keep the edges in place, which covered up almost all of my chalk sewing lines and then when I went to sew it together with the outer fabric, it was so shifty that I had to hand baste the entire thing in before machine sewing it together. 

SO MUCH EXTRA WORK!!!

I was cursing the cape by this point, for the silly shiny shifty lining fabric, but also because I was on such a time crunch, because I'd left the sewing of it to a week before the first wedding. Never again will I buy shiny lining fabric. Cotton lining is much simpler to work with and will be my preference from here on out. 

At last, however, I had a cape. A swishy, warm fabulous cape. And let me tell you, it was indeed fabulous to wear. 

I don't have any great photos of the cape from the wedding in Sydney, but I was so thankful for the warmth that night. Sydney was a little bit like a test run to see if it really was ok to wear out in public, and it was! Hooray! So the next week, I wore this cape very proudly to my sister's wedding in Brisbane. 

Feeling so fantastic. 

I also added a small welt pocket in the lining of the wrap section so that I would have somewhere to put my phone and keys. So sneaky. Such a perk of sewing your own cape. Sorry I have no photos to show you. But it is awesome. Trust me. 

Steve's Shirt

I have always sewn stuff by pretty much making things up as I go. I learnt the basics from mum, and then at high school, but everything else is self taught and hacking it together. This doesn't usually bother me, but for a long time now I've had a real avoidance of button holes and zips, which really limits the kind of things you can sew, especially if you are sewing for yourself. 

When the sewing studio in my area advertised a men's button up shirt class, I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn to sew the right way. As an added bonus, I'd also get a button up shirt for Steve to wear. It had long been my theory that Steve chose not to wear button up shirts because the only ones he had were just boring work type shirts, and his geeky/funny slogan T-shirts are just generally more fun. I thought I could solve the boring button up shirt problem by sewing a button up shirt for him in a fun fabric so he might be more inclined to wear it. 

So I took the plunge. It was a little bit like a birthday present to myself, back at the end of March there (so long ago now!) Unfortunately, there were a few COVID scares in the weeks before, so we ended up having to look for fabric online. Still, we came out with this great Jocelyn Proust print that is pretty cool. 

I went to the sewing studio and enjoyed sewing with other like minded people. There was someone there to help guide us through, but the instructions of the Troop Shirt from Tadah Patterns were very explicit and had great illustrations, so it was easy to read ahead myself. One of the biggest things I learnt was that I could absolutely sew something really swish and professional if I actually take the time to do all the steps. Who knew!

I also learnt that Sally the Sewing Machine is still no good at button holes, but that I actually have the skills to work around that, and can sew a decent button hole regardless. The other students and even the teacher were scratching their heads at what Sally was doing when it came to button holes, but I made it work. 

Steve was pretty chuffed with his shirt, and so was I. It was everything I wanted it to be, and I'm ready to make more. Too bad life has been very busy since April and I've barely had time to read let alone sew. Hopefully soon though, because we have a great arrow fabric picked out for the next one. 

Prep Area Painting

 As with the Tuckshop Mural, this was not my idea and I didn't really do anything except turn up and paint, but it still feels great to be a part of, and leave this little bit of the school brighter than when we arrived. 

I give you, the Prep Area, which was previously orange brick, one wall painted orange. Very uninspiring all round. 

Now it is bright, colourful and fun. 

And reflective of learning ideals. 

I took a photo of Rachel in front of this last week, because she was student of the week for demonstrating Care for Learning in her classroom. It made me very glad it was there, and that I had helped to get it there. Yay for community and people who get things done.

Me Made May

As suspected, the hardest thing about Me Made May was actually taking photos of myself in each outfit. That said, I do feel I managed to wear my self-made things more this month, and being intentional about it really did get me thinking about what I actually wear, and what I would like to make more of. It has made the Make Nine challenge look much more appealing if I think of strategically planning the making of what fabric or patterns I have on hand so that I actually wear the outcome.

Not that my self-made wardrobe is lacking, or that the reason I couldn't wear self-made every day in May was only because of that, but it's been eye opening none the less. Part of the trouble with May in Brisbane is that it's getting a lot cooler here, rather than the flip experienced in the Northern Hemisphere, and as I have no experience sewing jeans or outwear, my self-made options were limited. 

Still, I'm glad I did it. There are absolutely things in my wardrobe that I didn't even consider wearing, even with the weather. Like this dragonfly dress. I'm just never going to reach for it. Sigh. Time to give it new life with someone else. 

One thing I did reach for was this top that I'd made three years ago now. I really love it. It's got different style, lots of colour and I can wear it to work (which I did a lot of in the first few weeks of May!) I would love to have a couple more of these in my cupboard. What I noticed about this one though was that it's actually starting to fall apart. Mostly the tie, because I didn't know what I was doing when I blindly stitched a silk tie to a cotton shirt. The shirt itself is still good, so I think the best option is to replace the tie, and make another. Then I'll have two! 

The other thing I found were my dresses are absolutely my go to for most days, even the ones that are so faded I can't really wear them out of the house any more. This Sushi Dress, which I didn't even get a photo of me wearing, from four years ago is still my favourite. I suppose the contribution of four years of hard wear means it's so soft to wear now, so it's super comfy, even if it's faded. 

This dress, which is made from a table cloth my parents brought back from their travels, is faring better, but I wear it nearly as much. I love the colour and fit. I feel I can wear it with my connies, as well as with heals. Sophie took this photo for me as we were leaving jujitsu one afternoon early in May. Photo skills coming along nicely! 

I also wore this dress, which I never blogged about after I made it. But less so. I think because it has no sleeves, but possibly also because the colours are much more muted. I also think I never blogged about it because this is the best photo that I have of it, which is the first time I wore it in Bundaberg two years ago. The wind was doing crazy things with my hair that day. 

The last me-made things I wore in May, which again, I didn't get a photo of, was actually very unexpected. I had two days of teaching Japanese at the girls school, so I wore yukata both days. The first day, I wore this yukata, pictured here being worn by my friend Amy when we went to a koto concert last year. 

I actually made this yukata in 2004, the year I lived in Japan, so it's nearly 20 years old. I hand sewed every stitch and it's still holding up! 

And that's a wrap for Me Made May for me. I hope what I've learnt about my wardrobe is somewhat applicable for the future, and helps me to consider what I'm making before I make it. What I loved about it, was the fun and fantastic feeling that it is to wear clothes I've made myself, so even though it's often more expensive and quite tricky to make your own clothes, I'm glad I take the time to do it.