A cape to make Sherlock Holmes jealous...

So here we are, a kooky winter cover up to make those cold mornings and long winter nights more bearable. I chose to make this using green tartan suiting material but if you wanted it to take you through to darkest January you may want to hunt out a thicker wool instead. You could also line it with some contrasting fabric to make it a bit warmer. Now without further ado, lets get on with it! I have to give credit to P.S. I made this! for giving me the inspiration. My cape is slightly different but the website is marvelous for inspiration and top crafty tips.

Cost:

• I found this material for £4.40 per metre and I used a metre and a half to make the cape. You could use a metre or even half a metre if you were particularly petite or wanted a short cape. I'm 5'7" and a metre and a half comes to just below my derriere, so if you wanted a really long one I'm sure two metres would suffice.

• I raided my Nan's trusty sewing tin for the buttons and found three rather glorious ones. If you aren't lucky enough to have your Nan's trusty button tin to hand then fear not! Ebay has some great buttons and they can be picked up in most haberdashery shops. I'd recommend large buttons both for aesthetics and ease.

You will need:  

• One and a half metres of fabric. 
• A tape measure
• Dressmakers chalk/pencil
• Pins
• Dressmaker scissors
• Ordinary scissors
• Matching thread
•  Press studs
• Hand sewing needles
• Sewing machine (Optional but much easier!)

 How to:    

 First things first, iron your fabric! The last thing you want is to cut out your cape and find a crease has caused the whole thing to become off centre. Fold your fabric in half horizontally with the wrong side showing so you have a shoulder seam at the top and, using your tape measure, find the middle point of the fabric. 

Take a hat and place it over the middle point of your fabric. This forms the neckline of the cape. Make sure that half of the hat is on the fabric. By this I mean place the hat on the fabric with it's midway point resting on the fold at the top. You can free hand this or be super anal like me and measure the hat. I will be honest and say that I could have made this cape in much less time if I could have controlled my mad, measuring fetish...

When you have the neckline measured find it's midpoint and measure a 4" wide strip down the front of the material. It is much easier to think of this in terms of squares when using checked material so for the sake of ease, if it only measures 3 and a half inches but can be measured as four small squares then I would recommend that rather than driving yourself mental trying to keep the 4" width all the way down the front of the cape. As you can (faintly...) see above my centre piece measured 6 small green squares across.

Cut out this middle strip and follow up to the neckline. Make sure you only cut through one side!

When you have cut all the fabric out you will end up with a flap at the top for the neckline. Cut this off in a straight line. 

You should end up with one complete back piece and a rough approximation of a 'Y' shape missing from the front. 

Now you need to hem all the raw edges.Pin around the edges before you start sewing. I had to do a 1" hem because I mistakenly started cutting the strip out following the wrong line. This is an occassion where dressmakers chalk may be better because it is easier to rub off the material. A half inch hem would be wide enough, it is down to you how wide you want your hems to be.

The only complaint I have about this material is that it continues to fray. If you can, do a double turn on the edges which have the worst fraying. If not it will continue to fray down to the seam which isn't the end of the world but if you want a neat finish it may get on your nerves. This is also a good time to give you a top tip which has made my life much easier. When you are measuring hems use the edge of a straight surface, such as the table you are cutting on. This helps you to keep that final edge level because you may find that the rough edge you have turned is not level all the way across, ignore this it is a result of a less than steady hand. The only edge to worry about is the one which will show on the right side of the fabric. This tip doesn't take the place of a tape measure and patience but it will make the process easier!

Once you have the hem pinned in place you can start sewing. I used my trusty sewing machine for the job but if you had the time and patience you could do it by hand. I would recommend sewing around the front first and sewing the neckline in one piece before moving onto the sides.

When you are happy with your seams turn the cape the right way out and try it on then decide where you would like the buttons. You could just put one at the top to hold it in place or do what I did and have three equally spaced down the front. Due to the volume of material it can get a bit flappy in the wind so I would advise having at least a couple on there.  To avoid having to make buttonholes I sewed press studs onto the inside and buttons on the outside for decoration.

Et voila! You have a one of a kind, truly scrumptious cape!