Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Sweetest Package to Date - Part 2


Yesterday I started telling you all about the package that I sent to my friend for her new baby girl. Yesterday's cookies and burp cloths have nothing on today's baby cape!

To be honest, I never would have thought to make a cape for a baby. I'd asked my friend if there was anything in particular she'd want me to make for her daughter and she requested a cape.

I'd looked online to find a pattern, but most of them were for one year olds and up. I finally came across this tutorial and using some old kimono-style shirts of K's I drafted a pattern.


I figured it was going to be big, but better big than small. Also, since she is just a baby, I thought it would act more as a blanket to wrap around her for this winter and work as an actual cape for next year.


I knew I wanted the cape to be girly, but I didn't want it over the top. I also wanted it to seem a but sophisticated - it was, after all, going to be a cape.

I had a super soft, light cotton that I really loved, yet didn't have much of a use for as of yet. I love the paisley and the colors. I thought it would be perfect for the lining - soft yet classy. I went to the fabric store and found this powder blue polka dotted thin wale corduroy. OMG, did I fall in love with it. It is girly, but not crazy. I wanted a little bit more though to add a bit of excitement, so I bought this lace pompon to add all around as a trim.

Once my pattern was drawn and cut, I cut out all of my pieces.


The first real step was to quilt the lining. I drew the lines in fabric in and sewed around. The lining kept shifting - now I know to cut the lining a bit bigger and then trim at the end.


Once that was done, I assembled the lining and then the outside, then put them together.


Next I attached the trim.



And I finished with the button closure at the front. I sewed buttonholes onto each side, but only one is functional. (I have no idea why, but I forgot to take a second photo of the finished cape, so you will have to look back up at the top to see the button bit - I think it'd be weird to have the same photo in the same post twice. Sorry!)

If I didn't have to quilt the lining, this whole project would have been extremely fast to do. If I do it again, I think I'd try to buy pre-quilted fabric because with that it would likely take just an hour of so to complete.

That being said, I love how this turned out! I love the lining and outside corduroy together, as well as the pompons that add that bit of girly whimsy to the item.

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