Sewaholic Cypress Cape

I’m back from my trip to Hot Springs National Park. Unfortunately, it didn’t rain so I never got to use my newest creation while I was there – hence we get some moldy-backyard-fence-photos of my Cypress Cape.

The Sewaholic Cypress Cape is essentially a gussied up rain poncho but it has some nice features that made me want to sew it – semi-circle sleeves for range of movement, those awesome back pleats, pockets, and options for fun piping in the body and hood seams.

Fabric is the same as my Prefontaine Shorts – a supplex nylon in Pewter from Rockywoods.com. It’s the perfect fabric for this pattern – lightweight, breathable but water resistant (rain just beads up and rolls off), drapey and with a slight texture.

Best of all – it’s cheap! Only $6/yd which is a big deal ’cause this pattern uses FOUR YARDS. And they ain’t kidding about that amount. Yes, I had some fabric left over but those big, awkward, semi-circle pieces make cutting the fabric efficiently a challenge. You need those four yards.

The flat-lined piping is some “safety yellow” from the Joann utility fabric section (it matches my shoe laces!).

I made an executive decision to nix the velcro on the zipper flap. The only velcro I could find locally was black and I didn’t like the look of it exposed next to the gray fabric if I wore the cape unzipped. If it’s not windy the flap stays flat anyway and if it’s both raining and super windy out, well, I shouldn’t be running around in hurricanes, should I?

My only complaints in this design are the hood and the pockets. The pockets are unnecessarily fussy and the hood facing wants to flop out even though it’s understitched.

This brings me to some notes I took while assembling. This pattern is labeled as “advanced” and there were some things I wish I had considered before beginning.

Cypress Cape Sewing Notes

1. If your fabric is very light weight, support the welt pocket opening with some stay tape when you attach the pocket bag.
   • Better yet – skip the pockets. If you’re already wearing a bag or have pockets on your clothes, the cape itself is roomy enough you can just stick your mit up under the hem and reach your phone from your pants pocket.
   • If you must have pockets, might I suggest converting them to inseam pockets. The seam will support the pocket weight without the need to cut an entirely new hole in the fabric. You can even sew the pocket flaps in that seam as well. Save you lots of time and hassle…
2. The cape looks roomy but if you know you need to make an FBA with Sewaholic patterns (as they are designed for a pear shape with an A-cup) make the FBA with this pattern, too. Only the back and the sleeves are roomy – the panels under the sleeves and the front sections are snug to the body.
3. Flat fell every seam possible to help flatten those seams allowances, especially if you’re adding piping.
4. Often times you’ll be sewing through several layers of fabric so pin carefully and check your stitching as you go, especially around the curved neckline.
5. Tack the hood facing to the hood along the two seams at the top of the head (you can stitch in the ditch or sew along the topstitching). Unless you want stitching to show, this is the only area where you can secure the facing – it does want to flop out, even though it is under-stitched and attached at the neckline.
   • You know what – scratch all that – just fully line the hood and be done with it.
6. As you are sewing the front zippered sections to the facings and the neckline, pay attention to the direction your zipper teeth are pointing. In order to correctly create the folded flap that covers the zipper, those teeth need to point out a certain way, and it may not always be the direction you think they ought to go. Look very closely at the instruction illustrations for help. (This was a common note in the few reviews that I read – that the zipper section is confusing.)
7. This is the kind of pattern where it is important to follow the order of assembly exactly, otherwise you might get confused when it comes to tricky bits like the welt pockets or making the zipper flaps attach to the hood. Don’t skip around or you may end up accidentally sewing on your velcro bits too late and have random square stitching show up on the visible outer layer of the garment…

In the end I think it’s worth all the head scratching and work. Plus, what other item of handmade clothing is going to make you feel like a flying squirrel?!?

While it doesn’t rain much here in Texas I plan to use this garment on future hiking trips to more rainy locales. It’s a piece I can keep in my wardrobe for many years – the kind of thing I’ll be glad I have when I really need it. That makes all the sewing struggle worth it and I’ll rarely ever find an off-the-rack rain poncho as stylish as this.