Twin Capes from a Single Skirt

I spotted this gem at a thrift store -- a size 4 Evan Piccone pleated gold lame skirt. I’m not sure what year it's from (I’m guessing the late 80s), but it was old enough to sport a “Made in the USA” label. The lame had a beautiful patina to it, with a deep, rich sheen. It seemed like a good candidate for a magic cape of some sort. And even though it had a VERY tiny waist (22”!), I was actually able to cobble not one, but two lovely capes from it.

I removed the waistband and the zipper, split the skirt into two pieces, and taped down the pleats so they would survive the transplant (masking tape is your friend in situations such as these). It was such an efficient operation that all that was left of the skirt after I made the capes were a few tiny bits of lame.

Cape #1 – Twilight cape with black velvet trim
For the first cape, I decided to use the waistband of the skirt as a neck band. Since the waist of the skirt was so tiny, I knew only one cape would be getting this treatment.

I loved the look of the medium-blue taffeta as the lining, and the iridescent trim with hints of blue really tied them together nicely. But I felt it was missing something. That’s when I noticed a length of wide black velvet ribbon stashed in my trim basket. Perfect.

After adding a black frog closure at the neck, it was ready for action. It reminds me of some kind of invisibility cape with its dark, shimmery movement. As soon as she saw it, my toddler daughter grabbed the cape, squealed and danced around the room with it. She tried to escape with her new found treasure, but I chased her down. This cape is a little too long for her. She’ll be getting something a little shorter so there’s less danger of her tripping over it. My little pixie must have a cape of her own!

Cape #2 – The Rose cloak
There is something so striking about the mixture of gold and deep rose. As a child, I had a Barbie doll coat that was gold lame lined with rose, and I think that subconsciously influenced me. I didn’t want to make a clone of the Twilight cape, plus I had already used up all the waistband material for cape #1, so I had to get a little creative with this design. I decided on a cloak with a velvet drawstring closure, and a collar that showed off the gorgeous lining material. This cape was going to be more about fairy-tale flash than concealment! I loved the addition of an antique-looking trim on the other cape, so I tracked down a trim for this cloak as well. This time, I placed the trim on the inside edge of the cloak, since it would show at the collar that way, and because of the way the cloak hangs from the body.

Getting the pleated outer cloak to lay just right on top of the non-pleated inner lining was a bit of a challenge, but in the end the Rose cloak turned out much more fabulous than I even thought it would. And, it turns out, it's fully reversible (bonus!). I think it might actually be prettier on the inside. Who knew?!

Both of these capes are available for sale at Nymbol’s Secret Garden in Langley, Washington (on Whidbey Island). If you are interested in them, you can contact me via email for more details. And I’m always happy to share what I know, so if you’re interested in more information on any of the techniques I’ve used, I’d love to hear from you.

Have fun today!

Melinda