Happy Thanksgiving, all! As the Thanksgiving holiday clearly opens the doors wide to the Christmas season, I’m now going to be in full gift-making mode. I mentioned in my last post that I bought five Itch To Stitch patterns in her recent anniversary sale. This one — the Cape Cod Capelet — I thought would make a wonderful gift, because it requires almost no fitting. I’m not going to say for whom this is intended, but it’s not me!

That’s not going to stop me from modelling it, of course. I’m definitely going to make one for myself in the New Year.

I’m wearing my Itch To Stitch Mountain View Pullon Jeans for a head-to-toe single-designer outfit.

This capelet is such a fun and easy make. Even the neckband was easy — and I never say that! It did take a very long time to hem. The pinning took a long time, and then the sewing took a long time. I couldn’t do it all once. It sat on the ironing board for several days so I could pin a few inches every time I walked by.

This is becoming my signature hem: the long, wavy hem. I also used it in my Grainline Morris Blazer and can’t imagine that blazer without it!

The fabric is from a source that’s new to me: Mill End Store in Milwaukie (Oregon). The store is absolutely enormous, so socially distancing was no problem. I spent three hours there and probably saw 1/10th of the fabrics. This soft and beautiful blue designer fabric was the last of the bolt. It was 1-1/2 yards, which is 1/4 yard shy of the fabric required to make the size I made, a medium. This is how genius Itch To Stitch patterns are: I was 1/4 yard short and had to make the neckband in two pieces.

This meant I had two seams on the neckband instead of one. I couldn’t have one on the back neck and one on the front neck — that would look terrible. So I rotated the neckband a quarter-turn and positioned the seams over each shoulder. If it meant I could use this gorgeous fabric, I was not going to complain.

To finish the cape, you’re directed to stitch-in-the-ditch down the last few inches of the seam to the hem, securing the top and bottom of the circle together. I made a small goof here and was only looking at the top when I lined it up. From the bottom, it’s not so much stitched-in-the-ditch as far-to-one-side-of-the-ditch.

Hopefully the capelet’s recipient is not someone who likes to raise their arms a lot. Another highly recommended make from Itch To Stitch! -rp