I'd been given a bag of material to sew up for the kids at Mitchell's Playcentre.
In the stash was a lovely transparent black gauze, sprinkled with silver stars - just perfect for a cape - it could be anything from a superhero to a wizard to a fairy princess.
The fabric was lovely, but it frayed like the dickens, and I didn't want big hems, as they just catch and get pulled.
So, I cut off a rectangle 70 cm long, retaining the selvages as the edges - so I didn't have to hem them; and worked out how to do a narrow rolled hem using the overlocker. Big sucess - I'll certainly do this again.
For the collar, I cut a rectangle of gold satin (silver would have been better, but I was using what I had to hand), and marked out the centre 38 cm. to attach the cloak (I did a rough and ready measurement, using a very unco-operative Mitchell as a model).
I didn't want it to come too far over the shoulders, as I find that full
cloaks get in the way of all the other activities the kids are doing
(paint, climbing, etc.)
Then I broke out the ruffler foot - haven't used this since I was making square dancing petticoats, more years ago than I care to remember. Had to rip out the first attempt, as the gather was too tight, and the seaming off centre. But the second attempt was pretty darn good. I could have gathered a little less closely to the edge, but not worth re-doing.
The edges frayed while I was working. Next time, I'd do the rolled hem on the to-be-gathered hem as well, just to stabilize it.
I folded the collar right sides together, and stitched the ends and bottom along to the gathered cloak. Then clipped, turned and pressed. Because the gauze was so hard to handle, I hand stitched the collar over the gathered cloak. Then top-stitched all around the collar. Finally I stitched velcro to the overlapping edges of the collar (I use double sided tape to stick the velcro in place, then stitch).
I didn't want to over-think - just get something made quickly for the kids to play with; and I think this has really worked well. Just like cooking. Simple materials, made up quickly, with no fuss - though it does help to have the equipment to hand.
