Do I Really Need a Cape?

Wow, it's been a long time since I have sewn anything! It seems like there is always something else pulling me away, now that the holiday season is in full swing. But, this weekend I was finally able to carve out a few minutes for myself and work on a project that I have been thinking about for a while.

Over the summer, my friend Laurie picked up this fantastic cape from Anthropologie while I was visiting her in Portland. I happily flounced around the hotel in it, but like fool did not immediately take myself up the street to Anthropologie and purchase one for myself. And now, they do not have this cape available any longer:


Fortunately, McCall's 5764 is a good substitute, and Hancock's had them on sale for $1.99 last weekend:


I also picked up a plaid suiting at 30% off. I decided to not do a coating, because I wanted the cape to have the nice drape of the Anthropologie cape, and all the coating available was very heavy and stiff. But, all the suiting was very thin, and would not be very warm. So, I purchased (also on sale) some nice cotton flannel for interlining. I also decided to line the cape, even though it did not call for it in the instructions. The fabric is a brown, beige, black and rust color with a little bit of gold thread, and the lining matches the rust color:


Today I spent most of the time in the sewing room doing prep-work, and attaching the interlining. I hand-basted the flannel to the fashion fabric, so that I could treat the two pieces as one:

All of the handwork is done, and tomorrow I should be able to finish up the machine sewing. My friend Monica is coming over (who also collects sewing machines...my husband is afraid, very afraid!) and she is bringing HER cape and we are going to work on them together. Hopefully I will have a finished product to show soon!