What’s more valuable than a Caped Crusader? An artist… I spiraled into a 6-day funk and not a single Caped Crusader came to my rescue. 
It’s been rough, dear Readers. After one too many close calls I felt my success rate was on the decline and so were my spirits. I questioned my sewing, my taste and my use of time. After avoiding my sewing room for days, a friend convinced me to take my own advice and finish the cape I’m wearing. 
I’ve owned this Vogue pattern since the day I saw Renee’s cape (Miss Celle’s Pants) nearly two years ago. I took nothing about the pattern into consideration like I generally do, such as ‘What will this pattern look like on me? How will this pattern fit me? ’ I simply wanted a cape like Renee’s for a recent outdoor event I was co-hosting.
I studied the pattern instructions and maintained organization through each step. When I reached the anticipated stage to try on the cape, everything about it seemed wrong sending me into an undesirable state of mind, and my sewing came to a screeching halt.
Has this ever happened to you?
Inspirational quotes made me nauseous, and Hubs felt helpless. The event passed, my cape remained unfinished, and I felt like a failure.
Monday, my friend Becky came over to use my serger and encouraged me to finish the cape. After all, I publicly vowed to finish all of my sewing projects.
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I credit the HBO YoungArts MasterClass series for getting me back on track! As I began my hand sewing I watched three recorded shows from the series and saw:
- Violinist Joshua Bell advise his students to perform as much music and as many pieces as humanly possible which quickly translated to sew as many types of garments as I could.
- Broadway royalty Patti Lupone remind her students not to be afraid to fail. “You never learn from successes because you want to repeat them.”
- Renowned artist, James Rosenquist share his story of losing his home, archives and all belongings to a freak forest fire in Florida
Before I knew it the cape was finished.
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Here’s the skinny 
The cute pattern is out of print but still available through Vogue Patterns. Several renditions can be seen on the PR website. The cape is unlined with no provisions for petite alterations. Assuming the pattern ran large, I made an XS (4 – 6) unfortunately skipping the muslin. The muslin would have shown me that the pockets are a little low. 
The muslin would have shown me the collar is too tall to button and wear as seen in the illustration above. 
It would have shown me that the cape is too long, and the overall fit is more like a loose coat on me. 
I also might have altered my fabric choice from this fantastic brown and white wool knit from Mood Fabrics - to something a little lighter weight. Following the pattern instructions I cut the facings from the fashion fabric which made the cape very heavy.
The upside is the garment has great movement,
and is quite warm! Taking the lead from other sewists, I opted for snaps as closures and sewed the buttons on for decorative purposes.
Thankfully I’ve emerged from the dark hole. I even want to sew the pattern again with a few alterations, but more importantly come the life lessons that we can apply to each endeavor we pursue.
In my case - sew more, learn more and be more 
Best wishes, everyone!
Next up – a lovely guest post from RTW Faster, Julie Starr.