Sort of DIY inverness cape

**Dileasgubas** · 26th January 15, 10:16 AM

inv cape.jpegSo today it is -23C / -11F, which is not ideal kilt weather. However, since Burns was born in January, a solution was necessary. This is what I came up with last year, which has proven to be quite workable:- I found a pattern for a historical Inverness cape on the internet: $40- I bought some 13oz melton cloth (rifle green, quite dark) from a historic uniform supplier: $120- A friend provided some big brass antique coat buttons: free- I sat down with a tailor and modified the pattern for "Winter" conditions: lengthened the coat to cover the knees, added a bigger collar to cover ears and face when turned up, made the cape larger and longer to cover more of front, added deeper pockets as hand warmers. We came up with this:With four layers of wool covering the body and two layers coving to the knees, the garment is quite warm in addition to being fairly wind and waterproof. It is, however, heavy. In the image (not stellar), I am wearing heavy green lewis hose and ghillies to complete the outfit, and would have added a scarf, bonnet and gloves before heading outside. Lessons learned would be to consider a lighter wool for all but the most severe weather requirements, and to consider making it a bit shorter to allow the kilt to peek out from underneath. The final requirement would be an understanding tailor with whom to work - the project took a couple of days and several tries before we got it right. The collar, hand stitched through six layers of wool (collar, cape and coat) was one example of why getting a patient tailor would be useful - it took strong hands and one heck of a big needle.

Hope this helps.

**Pipersson** · 26th January 15, 02:30 PM

Looks splendid! Congrats!

**MNlad** · 26th January 15, 03:22 PM

Looks very warm, functional, and fantastic. Great color choice.

**Stitchwiz** · 26th January 15, 05:06 PM

Beautifully made too! Well done! Your tailor is another keeper.

Looks warm enough for your frigid area. My son was saying the ice on the Rideau Canal was over 2' thick when it opened for public skating a little while ago!