The Dreamstress

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The Capelet of Yay

I’m teaching a course on making the 1930s capelet that Elise gave me at Made Marion starting this Friday (are you signed up?), so of course I’ve been making prototypes of the capelet to make sure that I’ve got every possible bug figured out in different kinds of fabric.

And oh my gosh, and I so excited. I love this capelet.

The first version I made (shown here) is in silk velvet lined in silk twill – the trickiest, most evilest combination possible. And even so, it whips up so easily and beautifully.

And it’s so versatile! I wear it loose and stole-y, or tied in a bow in front.

In can also be wrapped around the neck and hooked, forming a very elegant scarf – perfect over a coat in winter, or for dressing up the ubiquitous (and, lets face it – just a little boring) merino tops of NZ winter wear.

The elegant part:

The gathered cape back. It just looks so beautiful on, and so beautiful in movement and lifts the cape from a simple drape into a clever, cunning, sophisticated garment. I love it!

The cape does other stuff too. It hooks in back so that you can wear it as a front wrap (when I make it in jersey I’m going to make it tie-able)

So yeah, basically it’s just awesome.

And if you are in Wellington you can learn to make it right away, and if you aren’t in Wellington I’m working on getting a pattern up and available!

All of these photos were taken by the fabulous Mrs C at Made on Marion, where I’m teaching the class (and also beginning sewing and the tap pants class – aren’t the tap pants adorable?) and so much other fun stuff. The cape is on display there at the moment, so I can’t wear it every single minute of the day right now. Boo.

But I do have the other prototypes to wear and cuddle up in! I’ll show you those soon. And a few more detail and construction pictures of this capelet (so you can drool over the gold velvet as much as every other person has).

Just the facts, Ma’am:

Fabric: 2m of silk-rayon velvet in golden yellow for the outer, 1.5 m of silk twill for the lining (wider width = less fabric).

Pattern: Self-drafted based on the late 1930s cape-stole

Year: Late 1930s

Notions: None

Hours: 6. Silk velvet takes a lot of basting!

Will you make this again? Yes! This cape only gets better – it can be worn in so many ways, goes from formal evening to super casual (I’m going to make it up in jersey!) and I love it.

Any changes? Nope. It’s just perfect. Though I am working on alternative versions.

Total cost: Somewhere around NZ$45 (US$35ish). The silk velvet was very pricey, so was the silk twill lining.

And the inside?: Well, it’s completely bag lined and technically reversible – so you can’t get any more perfect!

Rate the Dress: Sigismund III Vasa in leopard fur

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week most of you loved the 1870s dress with its fabulous pleating and embroidered garland. You loved it so much that I kept getting lost in counting the 10s and having to go back to the last number that wasn’t a 10 to see if that was 5 10s in a row, or 6! Despite all the love, the amount of voters means it is getting harder and harder to get a perfect 10 – Vignon’s frock came in at an excellent 9 out of 10. Close!

I’m feeling history deprived. I’ve been doing too much hands-on stuff and not enough research. So today’s Rate the Dress is all about me wanting to look stuff up.

Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and briefly King of Sweden, was one of Poland’s most controversial rulers. On the one hand, his reign coincided with an period of wealth, power, and cultural influence for Poland and Lithuania, and on the other he has been accused of setting in motion a downward spiral in the region as he focused on trying to regain the throne of Sweden to the detriment of his Eastern European thrones.

Sigismund’s wardrobe may prove to be equally divisive. He is wearing an outfit both outrageous and refined, mixing sever black, elaborate but subtle detailing, snow-leopard lining and a stiff lace ruff. His outfit also a mix of cultures: a tall fez-like hat, a European ruff, a scimitar, and a doublet patterned in designs that look intriguingly like Chinese calligraphy.

Sigismund III Vasa by Martin Kober, circa 1590 via Wikimedia Commons

Does Sigismund’s outfit manage to balance all of its elements successfully, or, like the king himself, is it unable to maintain an equilibrium between the east and the west, between the last elements of the Medieval and the first elements of modernity?

Rate the dress on a scale of 1 to 10 (and be sure to comment on the post itself, not on the image if you click through for a larger view, because I won’t remember to see and count your votes if they aren’t linked directly to the post)

Sunglasses and stays – Baroque & Rococo Out-takes part II

Published by The Dreamstress

The Grandeur & Frivolity programme for Radio NZ is starts today, there is a little video with a Baroque dancer, and Mandi’s fabulous images are on their website, so to celebrate, here are a few more of my out-takes.