Project: Storybook Cape

I'm a huge fan of the Grosgrain blog. Kathleen is an amazingly talented seamstress, designer, and photographer. I don't know how she does it. All I know is that I'm lucky enough to have a kid just a few months younger than hers so if she keeps posting patterns like this one that fit her kid, then I'm all set with cuteness.

This cape was incredibly easy to make. I'd like to say it took longer to cut out the slippery velour than it did to make the entire cape but I screwed up (what, again, really? no.). Something that should have been simple, of course, took me a couple extra hours.

So I chose this incredibly soft dark chocolate brown velour to pair with the super bright turquoise fine wale corduroy. Kathleen said not to choose stiff fabrics so I was worried about the corduroy but it was perfect to give some needed weight to that crazy velour.

Zadie came with me to the fabric store to pick everything out and she was dying over the velour. When we got home she was draping the yardage over herself like a kimono and would pile herself dramatically on top of it on the floor all while shouting, "Soft! Soft!" So I hurried to cut out my pattern pieces and stitched her up a little soft of her own with what was left over. "The soft" has now joined the entourage in the crib (Mila, blankie, Elph the elephant).

What I did wrong: Because I used such a slippery fabric, the two layers weren't holding together very well. So I decided to tack them together at the top and bottom of the sleeve holes with a horizontal stitch. I did this before sewing the bottom hem so I couldn't turn it inside out to make a blind hem, I had to pin it together and topstitch the entire thing. With velour, you need to pin every inch or it goes wild. I like to pin and I love to topstitch (as I've said before). But ugh. Then I had to rip out a few sections where it got all bunchy bunchy and re-stitch.

The end result is amazing. Zadie loves it and we can't wait for Spring when this becomes a permanent fixture in the outerwear collection. Check out Grosgrain for all the giveaways and help out her friend win the wedding of her dreams.

For more information about Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Cape

I made my niece Gracie a fabulous cape using this pattern I found on the Martha Stewart website thanks to my amazing crafty friend Nikole who made an even more amazing cape for her daughter for Halloween last year from the same tutorial (hopefully Nikole will agree to be interviewed for Project: Project sometime soon).

Gracie is the girliest of girly girls and just turned 5. So for Christmas I put together a bin of dress up clothes for her since I had heard she was the only girl in the neighborhood without one. I picked up a few things here and there but that box just seemed empty (even though it was overflowing with tulle). I decided a cape was in order and set out to make it happen.

The directions were pretty easy to follow but I did have some problems. The Red Riding Hood cape pattern calls for 28" of fabric but FOLDED. So that means that you must have yardage that is at least 56" wide (so from a 60" bolt). The silver satiny stuff that I bought was 60" and it worked out just fine. Then I started to cut the pink and realized that it was from a 45" bolt. So even if I were to cut the pattern and create a seam, I wouldn't have had enough fabric. Keep that in mind if you want to make a cape from this pattern -- and really do your math if you want to make one of the longer ones.

But what a happy accident. I pieced together a panel from some of my favorite and most girly of girly girl prints to extend it. If I had remembered to add seam allowances to my cuts, this would have been simple. Ha!

I used some grosgrain ribbon to make the tie and topstitched all the edges because I'm crazy and I love to topstitch. I think it turned out great and Gracie loves her special cape -- and it's reversible (if only I had a steamer).

For more information about Project: Project, read this post.