MY SEWING PROJECTS – Wool cape with leather collar

I’m on a 1960s roll there’s no doubt about it. So, here we have it, inspired by Diana Rigg from the Avengers, a cape in swinging 60s leather and tan.

The fabric is a beautiful loose weave wool with a lovely texture to it. The side vents, pocket details and collar are a very soft leatherette. Its very easy to work with (except for the fact that you can’t really iron it.) Both the wool and the faux leather are from Fabworks Mill Shop – they have a lot of beautiful, quality wools and now sell online.

I used a very basic free cape pattern from Pinterest (sorry – can’t remember which one but it was a very simple shape without the collar and pockets). I cut it out twice, once in the wool and once in a gorgeous crazy satin polka dot for the lining. I put an extra couple of inches on either side of the front opening (wool fabric only) so I could fold it inside later on.

The collar took a bit of getting right. It was quite difficult to get it to sit flat. I had to put it on and take if off three times. Again it was just a free template I found on the internet.

The vents for your arms are just a posh buttonhole technique done in a giant size. Here is a good tutorial for welt pockets which are very similar looking.

You have to experiment with the length a bit. If it’s too long it looks frumpy and if it’s too short it looks a bit little girly.

And finally the oversized button. I didn’t make a button hole for this. I just used it to cover a giant popper at the neckline.