le mani d'oro

The canvas for the painter's creation is done. I cut and started sewing it yesterday before cooking a delicious dinner.

Well I am not bribing here.

My friend Manon said that the osso-buco I cooked yesterday was the best one she tasted in her life. Well THAT is compliment. It is certainly a great motivation for cooking other dinners for her and her fiancé. A lovely couple DH and I appreciate greatly.

But this is another story...  As I specified in my previous post, the cape is cut in a medium weight cotton and lycra fabric. I was very easy to work with. I finished the front edges with a narrow hem of about 0.8 cm turned twice and the hem is finished with the same method but I doubled the width. for the ties I cut one very long piece of fabric on selvage of 4cm wide. It is folded in two, pressed and then you bring both edges on the centre fold and you sandwich the edges inside by folding the ties in two again. Clear as mud ?

If my explanations are terrible because of English is not my mother tongue, here are pictures that must be worth a hundred words of not a thousand.

Step one: press flat the piece of fabric

Step two: press it in two

Step three: press one half towards centre

Step four: the the second half towards centre

Step five: sandwich both edges inside by folding it in two again.

Step six: use your edge foot the sew very close to the edge of the tie

Step seven: press again and tada !  Yes you all knew that, but just in case.

I added a collar to the original pattern (go to my previous post to see the Nina Ricci Pattern). The collar was drafted with the intention of giving a dramatic effect instead of a cutey look. This is done by having the upper corner going outward with a 30 degree angle (more or less). Ho! with this close up I see that I have threads to cut again ;-)


The shaping on the shoulder is done with a dart. The original dart was giving a strange shape to the cape. There were two distinct peaks sticking out of Daisy's (my dress form) shoulders. Needless to say, that the effect was not the one I looked for.

I elongated the darts of 2.5 cm and curved the end inward. Now it looks nice in my opinion.


This cape has 2.7 meters of hem. I was long to fold and sew and there is no way I would have done it by hand....  though I love hand stitching.

In my last post, I presented a knit dress made from a Jalie pattern. The dress was sewn for and worn by Florence, a sweet young woman I am friends with. The pictures were taken by here boy friend Brian Ypperciel.

In their professional life, Brian and Florence work in the fashion industry ; her as stylist for Canadian magazines and him as fashion photographer for magazines and commercial brands.

You can see their work on Facebook : Brian Ypperciel
Florence O. Durand

Or on their web site:  http://www.brianypperciel.com/  or http://www.florenceodurand.com/

Outside of all the contracts they do solo or together, they often organize creative shoots in collaboration with friends of theirs, like body painters, hair or makeup artists etc.

For the next creative shoot, they asked me to sew a cape, a black cape. For the moment, I cannot show you the inspiration for the shoot. But, let say that this picture could be related to the project. No real feathers...  you will see.

The cape will be made in medium weight silky cotton-Lycra mix though the stretch part is not important for this project. I am using one of my vintage Nina Ricci pattern as a base. The cape will be painted afterwards by a local artist.

This Nina Ricci cape is semi-circular and unlined. All edges (neck, front and hem) are finished with a facing. The inside edge of the facing is cleanly turned in and sewn in place through all layers.



I am not certain that I will need sew on the facing since the cape will be used only for one shooting. I think I might just sew a narrow hem all around the edges. I will see how it goes. One thing is certain, I will add a collar as they asked for one and ties for the closure.

Here are two examples of creative shooting Brian and Florence have done together. Florence created the head piece featured in the picture on the left.


The model on the right picture is Sophie Touchet a Gatineau, Canada born model who has started an international career two years ago. She modelled for big designers and magazines. In 2014 she did 43 fashion shows...  Difficult life style in my point of view.

For more of their work, you can click here: Vogue Portefolio

 I am very much exited about this project. I will post a picture after the March 24 shooting. I should be able to post in early April. I might do a making of, if they allow me to.

Just a little note to introduce my new Lucchese's boots. I am so in love with them. They are very comfortable

Dress: Wool double knit in Vogue 7898
Cape: Vogue 7110 (OOP for at least 15 years ;-)
Boot: Lucchese's English riding boot
Hat: A good friend found it in a flea market in Paris 
Belt: Muse Belts on Etsy

Belt from Muse Belt on ETSY

Step one
Cut length wise a piece of fabric that is 80 cm wide by 1m80 long. If the selvage is nice, leave it as it will become your front cap hem.
See step one here

Please not that you can modify proportion as you wish or make it squarer.


Step two
Fold your piece of fabric cross length wise so that half of you cape measures 80cm wide by 90 cm long.
Sew the raw edge side together from the bottom toward centre fold leaving a 35cm opening. You seam should then be 55cm long. It represents you center back seam and the fold now becomes your centre front.
See step two here

Step three
Narrow hem by hand the neck opening and remaining raw edges (that is now the bottom back) and wear it.
See step three here