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Tuesday, March 4

Vintage Cape Restyle

I love taking a piece of clothing that isn't quite my style and turning it into something I love to wear.  Plus, it's fun to practice those sewing skills, even though sometimes you just don't have the time (or energy) to start something from scratch.
My sweet friend Lauren sent me some pieces from her vintage clothing stash, and I immediately fell in love with the print on this pretty cape.  I first contemplated turning the whole thing into a dress or skirt, but decided to stick with the cape and just change it up a bit.  Here is my before picture:

As you can see, it's quite lovely in its original state.  It hung down past my knees, though, and the arm slits came down to low.  So, here is what I altered:

-I started with the arm slits.  I used a seam ripper to open them up higher so they would sit at a comfortable place on my arm.  Then I hand stitched the stopping point closed so it wouldn't continue ripping up.
-I marked about where I would want the cape to hit on my hips and measured down from the collar/neck so everything was even and cut off the excess.
-Since this pattern reminded me so much of cute little houses, I cut out black triangles and stitched them to random rectangles on the cape.
-I hemmed up the bottom and I was all done!

I'm thinking it would be really cute to embroider little windows and chimneys on the houses, too!  This was a pretty simple project and it turned something I would never wear into something I LOVE to wear!


27 comments:

  1. This looks great! I love the added triangles!

    -Courtney

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  2. AmaIng revamp !!! Can't wait to see the rest !!

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  3. Wow! What an amazing job you've done. If I saw this in a store, I'd snatch it up immediately!

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  4. Good thing that you decided not to turn it into something else because the cape looks awesome! Very nicely done.
    www.weshareinterest.net

    Pam xx

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  5. This is such a great makeover, my favorite thing to do is turning vintage into something new! I definitely think you should do little window/ chimney embroideries too! :)
    xo Hannah
    thebraidedbandit.blogspot.com
    thebraidedbandit.etsy.com

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  6. Very, very cute! What are you doing with the extra fabric from shortening it?

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  7. you are so creative and i love the cape and its alterations. definitely show an update if you add doors and windows ;)

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  8. this is so cool! love those triangles you added!

    xxoo,
    nikki

    www.dreaminneon.blogspot.com

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  9. Love this idea! Off to the thrift store totally inspired!

    http://thewhoa-nellies.com

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  10. Oh wow! What a transformation! It looks amazing katie! x

    holljc.blogspot.co.uk

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  11. Such a great find and an even greater revamp! Love it!

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  12. "Little pink houses for you and me....ooooh yeah!" Cute cape now!! John Cougar Mellencamp would totally approve.

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  13. I love the way you transformed this into something more modern!

    http://howtomakehome.blogspot.com

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  14. I love how you improved it, so cute! -Hanna Lei

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  15. this is so adorable <3

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  16. i love it <3

    http://lacajitadeaeris.blogspot.com/

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  17. Oh my goodness, I remember wearing a cape like this first time they were in fashion! Definitely add the windows & chimneys!

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  18. What fun! Shortening the cape makes it much more wearable and modern.

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  19. Shortening the vintage cape makes it much more wearable and modern. Well done!

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  20. So cute! I love how much more modern it looks just by shortening the length!

    xoxo
    Taylor

    www.welcomehometaylor.com

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  21. Love this! Such a great transformation! I really need to make the effort to alter the pile of clothes I have put by for similar projects! xo

    tinygreycat.blogspot.com

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