The Inverness Cape Of Doom

The following entry is another one I wrote back in late November last year when I was making my planned Inverness Cape.

I didn't quite get around to finishing and posting it, and it has hung around ever since!

By the end of this posting you’ll understand just why I didn’t complete writing it . . .

Now that I’ve cut the pattern for the Inverness Cape, and done a couple of rounds of calico tests, I can finally start work on a wearable version.

It just so happens I have some chocolate brown moleskin kicking around, left over from a project that didn’t come off (I bought it before discovering the Malabar fabric with the intention of making my then MkII Tennant Coat from it).

The plan is to use it to make the brown version seen in Carnival Of Monsters  (see right) and Frontier In Space.

It has a burnt orange lining, so this is essential all I need to buy to make it happen.

For once luck is on my side, and within the first couple of Soho shops I look in I find just the right colour and shade of lining I need.

Inverness Cape - cutting the pattern

The following entry is one I wrote back in early November last year when I was cutting the pattern on the cape.

I didn't quite get around to finishing and posting it, and it has hung around ever since!

I'm a little shocked that it was almost a year ago,
but here goes.

Now I have cut what is known as a Block for the Inverness Cape, (see right) I now need to work it up into a usable pattern.

This is relatively easy to do, with the right tools, and a bit of careful thought.

The pattern is made by laying a sheet of tracing pattern paper over the block and tracing out and thus separating each of the three main shapes.
The block is drawn to the net size, that is to say the finished sewn size, so does not take into account seam allowances, which I need to add.

First I have traced the back panel (see left).

I do this using a special tool I have been introduced to at my college course: a seam grader. This is (a rather expensive) piece of plastic, which has two straight edges at right angles, and some French curve shapes opposite, including some internal ones (see below). These can be used to shape the curved lines needed for the pattern, such as around the collar, quickly and easily.

Inverness Resurrection

I’ve been somewhat tied up over the past few weeks clearing a backlog of commissions for a variety of jobs and clients. As a result some of the pet projects I had been working on over the months have taken a bit of a backseat.

Anyway, when I am preparing each job I do, I have a cargo box in which I keep all the relevant fabrics; sundries such as buttons, zips and interfacings; and pattern samples. In clearing out some of the completed boxes I came across one which had ended up literally at the bottom of the pile right at the back - its label read INVERNESS CAPE.

That made me a little annoyed with myself, as I had already cut the block for it, and worked up a practical pattern. I had also gotten it to the first toile stage, though I hadn't had the chance to write that up and post it in this blog.

Well, it’s about time I did - and took it to the next stage of actually making the thing, since I had already sourced the fabrics I wanted to use as well as the correct frog fastening and lining.

Check back soon as I’ll finally get this project kick-started and back on the tailor’s mannequin!