The "Say It Ain't So" Cloak

So my fabric from PR NYC day was burning a hole in my... um... sewing room? That should have been my clue, my foreboding.

I was patient in Metro. I was on a mission for the perfect wool coating for my fabu long duster- visions of it dancing in my head like sugar plums. I searched the walls. I searched the corners. I searched the floor. I crawled behind rolls and chairs- and I think there may have even been a desk under there- but I didn't find perfect. I found close-enough. (I know, in Metro??!!- there's the first "Say it ain't so!").

So I revised the vision. I found the perfect shade of almost blue for the lining to match the close-enough wool. I waited while other fabric was sliced and diced, while Patricio fielded the shouted requests of the PRs. I asked for 4 yards of the wool. The artful reach of Mr. Kashi began its pull- one and .... that was it. Just barely 2 yards... Oh, Kashi, I just spent 2 hours revising weeks worth of planning in my head, and now? Now you tell me just barely 2 yards? (There's "say it ain't so" number 2). What about my luxuriously long duster? One look into those puppy dog eyes, beseaching me not to force that meager length back onto the roll, and I agreed to take the barely there, close-enough wool. I guessed I could make it a short coat.

But a short coat wouldn't do. I was now obsessed. What could it be? I checked my jacket patterns, and came up with Butterick 4419.
I would have to supplement some contrasting fabric for the hood, but I figured the style would play up the wool nicely. I cut the lining. I cut the hood. I pieced together 9 yards of scrap for the piping (!). I cut the... oh no. The fabric was 2 inches short. (Say it ain't so!). Not only was it 2 inches short, I had no give for matching up the plaids. (hear it again?)

But on I trudged. And when it was all done, I tried it on and went







yuck.*









This style may have been all me 15 years ago, but it's just not me now. Sigh. Say it ain't so.
*ETA: yuck for how it looked on me, but not for the cape itself- it came out awesome. I've already gifted it to a very cool lady for whom I think this is perfect.