Draping the cape

I didn’t make it to the Gaultier exhibit today, electing instead to work on the Celtic Braid Coat.  After much fussing, I managed to get the cape edges sewn, turned right side out, and pressed.  There is still a lot of understitching, trimming, etc. to be done before the cape is complete, but at least it now looks like a cape!  Previously it looked like a shapeless bag, so this is a great improvement.

And of course I had to throw it up on the dress  form:

I wasn’t sure if that was too much red, so I tried it with just plain black:

I haven’t really decided about this yet – the top photo, with the Celtic Braid panel, feels a little too busy to me, but the bottom photo feels a bit too plain, and lacks focus.  The panel really emphasizes the stripe and brings the focus onto the fabric.  So unless I think of something better, I’ll go with the panel in the final version.

Off to bed!  Tomorrow I’ll start understitching the cape lining.  Once that’s done, I’ll finish redesigning the vest, so I can finally cut and sew that leather!