Halloweeny Stuff

I don't really think of myself as someone who sews, mainly because my mom is a "real" seamstress, who can do things like tailoring and wedding dress alterations, and who once made a satin evening gown for a young woman who was competing for Miss Michigan. (I might have the contest wrong, but I remember the deep pink satin distinctly.)

Me, I'm more of a fabric butcher. I've made two hooded cloaks for my husband and our son, but the last one was four years ago. When our son first wore it outdoors, I remember it dragged on the snow. Now it's about knee length!

Fortunately, I wrote myself directions on the pattern. It says, "Before cutting use string and chalk from point of fold to mark cloak length," with a diagram of how to lay out the fabric.

Thank you so much, past self. A hoodless, unlined half-circle cape is pretty easy: the weird-shaped cut at the top right of the first photo is the back neck, the shoulder seam, and the front neck. I ran up the shoulder seams, faced the neck, and stitched a casing for a loop of elastic.

All that's left is @#$%^% miles of hem. I, ah, sort of inadvertently made one for myself, too: after I cut out the first one, I got the idea that it was too short. So I rushed off to the store before school got out, bought another five bucks worth of black costume veiling, and cut out a much longer one.

After I picked the child up from school, I discovered that the first one was "perfect," according to said child. He wore it, unhemmed, to last night's fall carnival at the library, and came home with this: