Wardrobe Wednesday: All Hallows Cape

Not long ago Professor Pincushion posted a wonderful tutorial on how to draft a cape pattern. I wanted to play along and on All Hallows I got busy in the early morning hours before the sun was up.

I drafted my cape pattern.  I wanted something small since this was my first draft.

Then I drafted the hood pattern. This hood is very roomy.

After cutting my cape pieces, I set the embroidery machine to stitching some fun designs. This design is from Urban Threads Embroidery. The set is called Gothic Nouveau and I bought it when it was first released in October. Urban Threads has hand embroidery versions of many of their designs, so don't let the lack of an embroidery machine hold you back from checking out their wonderful designs.

In hindsight I can tell you that these designs are too close to the front hem and not close enough to the bottom hem. I really need to print out my designs before setting up for placement. Not a disaster, but a learning moment.

The second learning moment came when I realized that I had cut and seamed two half capes to make a full-circle cape. The pattern designed by Professor Pincushion is for a half-circle cape. My choices to correct this error were few. I went with the one that I thought was the least painful and that let me keep my full-circle cape. I drafted a yoke to fill in the gap.

I decided to use a contrasting fabric, mostly because if I was going to make a mistake I was going to use it as a design element. Overall, I think it wasn't a disaster. I did learn a little something. More importantly, I learned how I can modify the pattern further.

I used another Urban Threads design from the same set for either side of the hood. Again, the design is too close to the front edge. Good placement from the top edge.

Here is the hood after seaming but before I finished the front edge. If I didn't need that hem it would have been perfect.

My finished cape! I wore it all day on All Hallows. It wasn't warm enough for outside, but it was good indoors. I have so many ideas on how to change this pattern. I want to modify it to make it easier to embroider. I want to modify the hood so it has a center panel that will change the shape of that leading edge. I want to make a longer version. So many possibilities!

Have you made something from a pattern you drafted yourself? I would love to hear about it.