Capes Are NOT Just For Batman.

I am in LOVE.

It took me a few dates, But I am In love!

With Frenchy's.  Its a ubercool Thrift store, that is actually selective as to what gets put in the bins.  My last visit I found a DNKY jacket.

DONNA KAREN!  With this sage green lining and cream and brown herringbone wool.  unfortunately it was too big on my and I had to put it back.  Sad face!


Why is this Uberexciting to me?  Well because I've always thought about using my fashion design background and creating something sustainable.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE LOVE LOVE yards and yards of fabric, with its clean untouched surface waiting for me to make it into something exotic and beautiful, but for the past 5 years have lived in places that are the black hole of fabric lovers.  I've had to become creative and think outside the box in order to find my fabrics.  I've always admired the designers who take already made garments and turn them into something fun and unique, but in order to do that one has to have a readily available supply of second hand garments.  Which until now has been next to impossible.

Now I have Frenchy's!

I've since learned (and this was a major DUH moment) that sheets work fabulous for muslins and at 2 bucks a pop, thats ALOT of fabric. 

On my recent trip I found a 100% worsted wool charcoal grey pleated skirt.  It was calf length and  gathered into a waist band in the back and huge box pleats in the front.  LOTS of fabric.  I have been thinking that when I create my Reenacting clothing that I don't really put a whole lot of thought into the accessories and one of those accessories I over look is the cape.  I thought this skirt would be perfect for a cape! 

BUT it couldn't be just a plain old boring cape, I had to make it fun. And modern.  So I could wear it all the time.

I decided I was gonna base the look off of my friends cape at Sewaholic, her's is from a groovy 60's vintage pattern.  I wanted the seams to go down over the bust and have an opening for my arms to come out of.  In the back I wanted it pleated like a Watteau Gown from the 18th century.  The best of both worlds.  Something I could wear with my historic clothing and my modern stuff.

Back with the pleats.  Its inside out.

Front, inside out

The shoulder, inside out.  I had already sewn the shoulder seam but it didn't lay properly so I had to take it out and baste it in so it layed better .  You can see the back had to come up quite a bit.

I draped the skirt on Mrs. Squishypants and formed the pattern.  The back of the skirt became the front of the cape, and the front of the skirt became the back. 

Needs a final press.

I love how the pleats face towards the CB, creating a fan with the folds.

The funnest thing about this cape!  The bias bound seam allowances in a funky ink and yellow flower patterned cotton.

I opted for a mandarin collar and I bias bound the seam allowances in a fun pink and yellow cotton that used to be a girls sundress in it's previous life.  I hand sewed bar tacks at the top of each pleat and the opening in the princess seams for the hands.  I also did a spaced back stitch along the center front and the collar to hold it in place.  The hem was a herringbone hem stitch.  It will be closed with hook and hand sewn eyes for now until I find a wonderful cloak clasp. 

I love the finishing details.
It just MAKES the cape.

Creating the Casaquin

Well I made the necessary adjustments to the pattern, created the lining pattern pieces and and currently cutting out the interlining from a cotton sheet.  I chose to interline the silk as it it very delicate and since there was the possibility of stress on the seams I wanted extra reinforcement for the silk.  I also wanted to give the silk more structure and body as the lining is going to be linen, which is normally has a soft drape

Hopefully next time I will have pictures of the jacket being constructed.

Cheers!

Casaquin Anyone?!?!?

 I was given a dupioni silk copper suit jacket and skirt that is 10 zillion times to big for me.  Mrs. C Originally made it for a client of her's but the client didn't want it so it was passed on to me!

Whoo HOO!

I have hung onto this suit for a least a few years and finally found a used for it.  There really is alot of fabric in this suit and skirt so there was no point in throwing it away if I could salvage it.  Besides It's silk and silk is expensive.  Especially GOOD silk.  You can tell alot about the quality of the dupioni by the amount of slubs in the fabric.  Really textured and slubby (the ridges and bumps) the cheaper the fabric.  This is because the manufacturer is using the short, imperfect (not smooth) strands of the silk.

For the past two days I have been working on an 18th century Casaquin. First  I draped a pattern then drafted one.....


I started a a drape on Mrs. Squishypants and it was going smoothly, too smoothly....lol!  Once i had the drape I transfered it to pattern paper and drafted a two piece sleeve to go with it.  It looked okay when I made a muslin but the fit was off.  I dug into my shoulder and wasn't very comfy.  So I tried for hours to readjust the armhole shape to get it to work.  I gave up.  As a pattern drafter, I couldn't get the shape from the drape to translate onto the pattern since I didn't have the bust line or the Arm Hole Diameter to work with. 

So I started from scratch and used a pattern this time.  Although draping is faster and works wonders with bias material, it wasn't the right application for a fitted jacket.

Basic Block  Size 8 front and back No seam allowances

I used my basic block and traced it (without seam allowances) onto a piece of white cotton sheeting.  I then used that block to drape over Mrs. S (who was is stays) to get the right fit.

Front

Back

From then on it was fairly straight forward to get the design lines drawn and a pattern made.

closing and transfering darts front

Back closing and moving darts

extending the shoulder seam to the back

working draft no seam allowances

fitting the front pattern

fitting the back pattern.

I ended up transferring the dart out of the back into the center back which helped the princess line in the back lay flat. 

After all the little changes where made to the pattern, I added seam allowances and put the bottom on and added pleats....Stay tuned!