the hi kitty cape

Emily does not like to wear jackets.  She will argue with you forever that her dress has long sleeves, its not that cold, and her tee shirt is warm.   That is until you are somewhere without said jacket then she is freezing, miserable and wants to share.  However, a few years ago she got a poncho from a toddler clothing swap that I participated in and loved the thing.  She would even ask to wear it on days when I would have let her out of the house with nothing.  Sadly, she out grew it and strangely enough I had trouble finding a pattern for exactly what I wanted.  I searched for tutorial last year but nothing struck my fancy until Simplicity released their holiday patterns.  Then I saw Simplicity 1706, which as it turns out is a cape pattern, and was smitten.  Perhaps the reason I could not find  tutorial for what I wanted was because I was calling it by the wrong name but who knows I thought capes had arm holes and ponchos did not but perhaps something else distinguishes one from the other.

I made view A out of some lovely Hello Kitty fleece that I picked up with the pattern.  It was on sale and as tempted as I was but just about anything else I knew that her preference would be pink Hello Kitty with polk a dots.  I mean really those are three things she loves all it the same fabric and it was for the only kind of outer wear that she will tolerate.

The pattern was easy to sew.  I do think it runs smaller then your typical big 3 though.  I made her a M 5/6 thinking it would be a bit big and it fits her quite well.  I altered the sewing order a tiny bit and cut the back ruffle into two pieces so that I could sew the back seam as a unit after attaching the ruffle.  I also added a button closure to the front. 

Another nice thing about this pattern is that the body of all three views is a different piece so I could easily make another size in a year or two without having to re buy the pattern.  Views A and B share the hood but it was very easy to fold down the large line.  I think if I make it in a year or two I will do View C though.  I loved the attached scarf but the little bugger is still under 45lbs which means she is still in a five point harness in the car and that seemed like it would get in the way a bit too much.