Charity Shop Vintage Finds, Granny Chic, Sewing and Baking with Giddy Aunt Lola

Friday 27 May 2016

How to Make a Cape, Just Like the Great British Sewing Bee




Are you hooked on watching The Great British Sewing Bee?  Of course you are! I loved this weeks makes and I think I could actually have done a reasonable job with the projects in the show. Given twice the time and without the nosey cameras and the lovely Patrick asking questions in the middle of a tricky stitchy moment, that is. 
Firstly, I am cape-woman.  I have made a fair few capes in my time. I wrote about my very first cape making adventure in this post featuring a Little Red Riding Hood style cape for my Curly Girl. Absolutely my favourite cape which is sadly too small for her now. It took a couple of days of solid cutting out and sewing as it was probably the first proper sewing pattern I had followed. The cape was from a lovely book, Oliver and S, Little Things to Sew


Oooh, and there was this super Easy Frozen Dress Up Anna Cape that I somehow managed to squeeze out of one metre of fabric; amazing what some furry trim and pom poms can do for an otherwise basic cape.  


The cape I have made most often is a Harry Potter style black cape.  A really easy cape that makes a great gift if you get hold of a Hogwarts house badge from t'internet and line the cape with the corresponding house colours. The pattern for both of these capes is based on a very simple pattern in the book, Growing Up Sew Liberated.



You can find the Maisie cape PDF pattern for sale on Etsy here (image from My Childhood Treasures. 

A basic cape is a really quick sew when you need a super easy fancy dress costume or something for World Book Day.  Harry Potter, Frozen, Super Hero, Fairy, Princess, Little Red etc can easily be done with a simple cape.  From sparkly shiny fabric to florals and velvet, there are options for both boys and girls. There are so many free tutorials out there; just Google 'free template cape tutorial' and you'll be inundated.  You can really bling up your cape with a contrasting lining or add some appliqué



I'm really keen to make myself a grown up wool cape with sleeves. I like the whole cape coat thing, like in this Lemon Pie Cape Coat from Waffle Patterns (image from Waffle Patterns, Etsy).  I'd like something tweedy and country looking though. That would be very Sherlock!


Great British Sewing Bee Book
I couldn't wait to get the new GBSB Book and guess what?  It has a cape pattern and tutorial in it, hurrah!  Review of the book, From Stitch to Style, to follow.

If you missed the cape-tastic blog posts featured in this post, you can find them here...

Riding Hood Cape

Frozen Anna Cape

Harry Potter Cape

TTFN. Galx



Linking up with Craft Frenzy Friday!




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4 comments

  1. I'm loving sewing bee (of course) the capes they did were so wildly varying weren't they? I've never made a cape other than for fancy dress but it is tempting!

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    1. You should definitely make a cape! Loved this weeks sewing bee too - shame it's only on for a few weeks x

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  2. I scarcely dare admit on here but I am hopeless at sewing - however, I have made a cape in my time.... I enjoy watching the Sewing Bee partly because it reassures me to see them get it wrong!

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    Replies
    1. I love the sewing bee so much - it's the highlight of my year!

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Hi, thanks for taking the time to comment. GAL x

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