Sewing Project: The Winter Cape

My daughter needed a fancy winter coat and there was no reason to buy one. Winter coats only get worn a few times a year by my kids and a fancy winter coat? Even less so. I thought I’d look for a used coat or perhaps sew one.

But, on a Goodwill Clearance Center (code name: “The Bins” because everything is piled into bins and sold by the pound) trip with girlfriends, I found an old, discarded dress and thought…

Why sew a winter coat when you can sew a winter cape?

This cape was made out of an old prom dress (well, I’m calling it a prom dress but it was a long-sleeve-fancy-to-the-ground dress) that I found at “the bins” where you can purchase clothing and other junk goods by the pound.  The fancy dress cost less than $2 and the cape took about an hour to sew.

The top of the cape is cut from the waste of the dress.  The dress tapered in at the waist.  Using a rotary cutter, I removed the waistband and back seam.  The back seam is what became the front of the cape.

It is polyester made to look velvet-y.

It is not lined.  I just added new seams all around.

The bow is pieced together from the sleeves.

I had to sew a little bag to go with the cape.  Couldn’t let those scraps go to waste!  The bag is lined but the cape is not.

I love to find new uses for items no longer used for their original purpose.  This was an easy project and kept another garment out of the landfill.

Important note:  The dress was washed and dried FIRST, before I began cutting it up!

Do you like to re-purpose old items? Have you sewn a cape before?

Go Gingham related links:

How to turn jeans into capris – easier than you think!
How to make skinny jeans from wide leg jeans – make your own “jeggings”
Easy steps to remove pesky tags from clothing
Want to learn to sew? Start here with easy cloth napkins
How to take apart a skirt – use your seam ripper on this project!
Mitered cloth napkins made from an old skirt
How to sew a Harry Potter cape complete with wand pocket