McCall 8501: My 1935 cape

oh goody, oh goody, oh goody! I am super excited to show you all pictures of my finished 1935 cape!

I started this cape in December using McCall 8501:

You can see some of the design features from the cover.  It is basically a faux jacket (i.e. there is only a jacket front piece) attached to a cape.

I got the fabric in one of those bizarre charity shop experiences.  I am super happy I did--because it is a wonderful blue and grey checked tweed (I got 3.5 meters) AND I got the grey lining from the same fabric store!  How perfect is that?  Here's a close-up of the fabric:

This was my first time interlining AND lining anything! It was a great learning experience.  I think the cape took longer than I thought it would because I hemmed the cape, put in the lining and attached the collar all by hand!

Here's a close-up of the jacket front.  I used a belt pattern piece from another 1930's pattern.  I got the belt buckle for really cheap on ebay UK.  The buttons you may recognize--I used the exact same ones but in brown for my 1933 EvaDress outfit (there is a limited supply of vintage looking buttons at my local fabric store!):

I absolutely adore the way capes drape.  It is such a lovely feeling walking down the street with a cape...I don't know why but it feels very classic!

I matched the checks on the jacket front but not on the shoulder seams.  Tasia just did an amazing post on matching plaid!  Luckily, my plaid is muted enough that it's not really noticeable if it doesn't match perfectly.  And the back is in one piece (which makes it really nice for plaid)...

And capes are fun for twirling:

How amazingly beautiful is this alley/lane?  It's called a 'close' and there are tons of them off the royal mile in Edinburgh.  This is one of my favorites...it's called the 'Advocate's Close':

There are probably 30 different ones off the Royal Mile!  They are amazing...you walk through a small tunnel:

And come out on the other side!  It reminds of a place that Sherlock Holmes would be solving mysteries some dark night in the fog :-)  OR where batman might hang out:

This cape fits within the Sewing Through the Decades Challenge:

I'm making a blouse/top/jacket from each year from 1931 to 1949!  So far I've done 1933, 1935, 1940 and 1943.

Here's a photo out on the Royal Mile:

I was thinking it would be fun to slowly do a tour around Edinburgh through my outfit posts!  What do you think?

 

 It's such a fantastic city...