Day Project: Boudoir 'Make-Up' Cape

I remember flipping through one of my early 30s catalogs and seeing something I thought was the most practical thing this side of the Mississippi.


Ingenious! I always throw a towel over my chest when I need to put on my powder. It's heavy, hot and so non stylish. Where has my mind been? For the longest time I've wanted to make this, was even going to add some embroidery to give it a bit of flair, but I never found fabric that I wanted to use for the project. I was going to use the fabric I'm using on my knot dress, but I wanted to make sure I had enough for the dress and thus abstained. 

Then on one of my outings to the 'buy it by the pound' fabric attic, I came across this nice sized piece of seersucker. Turns out it's a polly blend, so I won't be using it in any clothing project. Well, the piece was large enough, and I've got oodles of time. Let's do this!


The fabric is about 38" wide. That was good enough. First thing I did was make the front longer than the back (boob compensation). I folded the piece in half, then drew a curve for the bottom. 


I cut that, then cut a neck opening. I then unfolded the piece, and refolded it long ways to make a deeper cut in the neck for the back of the cape, so it's about an inch lower. 


While it was still on that fold, I cut straight up the center front, measured two facing pieces, overlocked the entire project, and sewed it all together.


For a bit of flair, I decided to trim the neck (no facing piece, I KNOW!) with rick-rack. No real reason other than finishing. I also trimmed the entire edge in the rick-rack. Homey, yet polished.



From there it was button time! I didn't want to waste any sets of buttons on something that is most likely going to be tossed in the wash at any given chance, so I went in my bag of singles and pulled out three that were about the same size. 


Stitched those puppies on and presto! I have my make-up cape. For a project that cost me pennies, literally, I think I'm going to get some serious use out of this.

Have a great Friday all!

8 comments:

  1. Fabulous!!! What a great idea!

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  2. That seems like a fantastic idea, and it came out so cute! Of course the original with the embroidery (I'm only guessing) seems perfectly silly and over the top for such an item, but yours is perfect in the real world, I'm-going-to-blow-a-gasket-if-I-smudge-makeup-on-my-nice-clothes-again way. Love it!

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  3. Wonderful little top. Although i don't wear much makeup to need one, something like this would be invaluable to me (and my wardrobe) at dinner time.

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  4. What a great idea. Every woman needs one of these.

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  5. What a great idea! I need to make one of these. I am always splashing foundation on my shirt.

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  6. Thanks ladies!
    The original one with the embroidery is totally over the top, I think that's why I like it so much! :D

    The thing is, you only really need one of these, so I don't know if Ill make an embroidered one, but there's nothing stopping me!

    ReplyDelete
  7. How fabulous! I will certainly be making myself one of these! I can see how handy it will be to have it for makeup application and hair dying!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How cute and fun! I saw an edwardian one in a museum with little scotties embroidered on it last October. Very practical indeed.

    ReplyDelete

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