Way back in my hippy days I made an 'ordinary' cape - they were quite the fashion then, with hand slits in the middle of the fronts and found it was most impractical, so I refashioned it to have armholes and put on a shorter fuller cape just secured to the main part at the neck.

I made the short cape of the same material but put in an interlining and lining to keep the rain out.

However, I soon had to sew the short cape down at the back of the shoulders as it was inclined to fly up and over my head in the swirling winds generated by the high rise flats (appartments) I had to walk through to get to the Polytechnic.

Sheesh - that dates it.

The design is very practical otherwise, and if making a similar item now I would probably create it with a double lined back and separate open sleeves so it was more coat than cloak like.