Black silk marabou hooded cape - Part One

So my last sewing vacation day I worked a little bit on the late 1790's dress, but I mainly wanted to start a new project!

So of course I chose something that is 1) impractical and 2) have been planning for awhile...a black on black silk cape with black marabou feathers, using the same pattern I drafted for my earlier pink silk & white marabou feather hooded cape.

It was SUCH fun to make and silly me wanted a second cape almost immediately (and I have always always always loved the antique black silk mourning capes and mourning shawls), so I decided, hey, it's hot & humid D.C. area summer, but ok, sure, why not, I'll go ahead and work on my black silk hooded cape that I've been dying to make and probably won't get to wear or need for ages, because why not?! :)

I purchased the black silk taffeta in the L.A. fashion district a couple of years ago (now that I'm using it, I'll need some more black silk taffeta for another future planned project), and picked up the black linen from 96th District Fabrics at Fort Fred this past April, in preparation for this project! And I have some more black marabou feather boas on the way.

I cut the main cape piece on the fold, one of the fashion fabric (black silk taffeta) and one on the lining (black linen). Then I cut the cape hood piece, one of the fashion fabric and one of the lining. Then it's ready to start sewing together!

Here's laying out the cape main shape pattern to cut (on the fold):

Cutting the main cape on the fold

And here's laying out the cape hood pattern to cut (also on the fold):

Cutting the cape hood on the fold

And here's the black silk cape hood pinned together, ready to sew:

Black Silk taffeta cape hood pinned and ready to sew

Here's the black silk main cape pinned together, ready to sew:

Black silk taffeta cape pinned and ready to sew (folded in half)

So far I cut it all out, pinned it together and then machine sewed a small seam allowance on the main cape and sewed it together to the lining. And so ENDS my sewing vacation! I was back at work on Thursday. And hopefully this weekend a bit of sewing and progress on this cape!