Button Evolution Part 3 2018 Or A Stitch in Time Part 5?

I wasn’t too sure what name to give this blog as it deals with the Summer Cape and Toggles. I will let you decided which series of blogs it belongs with.

Summer Cape Gap Width Problem

I have a bit of a Gap Width problem with my Summer Cape. This is a result of two problems. One is that I have put on weight a bit of weight since it was originally made. The second problem is that with it being reclaimed yarn it has a tendency to stretch.

Unfortunately the belt I made to pull the edges together is no longer sufficient and I am going to come up with something else.

I-Cord and Loop

In order to combat the increasing gap and it falling off my shoulders I have decided to add fastenings to it. Luckily I have some of the cotton I used to knit the edging left.

I wasn’t quite sure exactly how much cord I needed. Therefore I knitted a test piece of approximately 7cm.I then sewed the tail ends together to make a Loop.

Toggle Sewn

I used the edge of the brown and grey as a marker and sewed on one of the Toggles I had taken off the Green Winter Cape.

Loop Sewn

Using the same marking point I sewed on a Loop on the underside of the opposite edging.

Pin Markers

Next I measured roughly 6 cm between each Toggle and marked the place with a pin. I then sewed each Toggle and Loop in place.

The Toggles were fine but the Loops looked awful. Therefore I unpicked them and reattached on the Front.

Toggles and Loops Finished?

I now have six Toggles and Loops in place. As you can see I haven’t put them all the way down. I am going to try it like this and see how I get along.

If I need more fastenings I will have to soak the other Toggles first. This is because most of them have dye marks from being on the Winter Cape. – Watch this space.

Button Evolution 2018 Part 2

Button Evolution 2018 Part 2

In the last blog I showed how I had altered the Green Winter Cape’s Hood fastenings over time. Now the Body of the Cape needed altering.

Cape Body - Pale Toggles

This is how the Cape is as present. I had previously removed the Buttons and changed to Pale Wooden Toggles.

Toggle by Toggle

 

There was wasn’t much space between the Button Holes. This coupled with the fact that the new Toggles were slightly larger made this change difficult. Therefore instead of removing all the Pale Toggles in one go I tried a different approach.

This time I altered the Toggles one by one. This meant lining up the New Toggles was easier with the previous ones still fastened. I had to sew the Dark Toggles slightly further to the Hemline to adjust for length

In addition to this I had to very carefully cut the Button Holes to make them longer. Rather than using scissors I used a stitch un-picker so I could gently tease the fabric. I also kept stretching the Button Hole to increase the width.

Cape Body - Outer Finished

The outer fastenings were now complete. I now needed to turn my attention to the interior. The inside of the Cape had never originally had any fastenings. However I had to add some as the wind blew through.

Old Interior Fastenings

I have already removed the old Toggles. Next I had to remove the Loops. Previously I had sewn on Loops that were elastic. I realised afterwards that this was a mistake as strong winds had stretched them.

I-Cord

I had to really search through my sewing box until I found a Green that would blend in. I made an I-cord roughly 7 cm long knitted in Green Wool

Loop

Once I had the cord sewed together both ends to make a Loop. I used the excess tail of the wool to do this.

Interior Toggle Finished?

I then had to sew both Loop and Toggle in place. This is a test fastening. I may have to alter it but I won’t be able to tell until I have worn it. Then if it is satisfactory I will add additional Toggles.

Button Evolution 2018 Part 1

Button Evolution 2018 Part 1

For many years I have had a Winter Cape in Green Cloth. I did not make this myself it was made by a friend Sascha Semmler. He asked what kind of Cape I wanted and I said one suitable for the British Winter.

Winter Cape 2011

Copyright Unknown Tourist 2011

This photograph was taken at Stonehenge Winter Solstice 2011. We had met a couple of reporters who I vaguely seem to remember were European possibly French. They were very interested in all our outfits. This is a cropped group photograph so you can see the Cape better.

This Cape was made in two parts - the main Cape Body and a separate Hood. This gave me the option of using the Cape without the Hood when it wasn’t quite so cold.

Evolution of Buttons

In the Solstice photograph you can see that it is fitted with medieval type buttons. After wearing it in cold weather I found although the buttons were beautiful I had real trouble trying to do them up and undo them whilst wearing gloves.

Green Winter Cape Hood

I needed to replace the buttons with something I could use easier. As I was at the time doing re-enactment shows I need something suitable both practical and historical. I hit upon the idea of using Wooden Toggles. This shows the Hood as present.

Although the Toggles were practical I was never entirely happy with them. I found some made of wood but they were far too Pale for my liking. Unfortunately I had to use what I could find due to time restraints.

Pale Toggles Removed

Now all these years later I have finally decided to change them once again. First of all I removed all the old Toggles from the Hood.

After taking the Toggles off I had quite a great deal of thread left on the material as you can see in the photograph above. I removed this very carefully as I did not want to damage the cloth. There were the tiniest of raised marks left afterwards. I used these as markers as where to place the new Dark Wooden Toggles

Green Winter Cape Hood Finished

This is how the Hood looks now I have completely replaced the Pale Toggles. Next I will tackle the Body of the Cape