Shoulder capelet dress

[BrendaP]

With the heat wave continuing it seems to be the right time to think about the autumn/winter wardrobe and a special occasion dress.  At the recent royal wedding the one dress which caught my eye was that worn by Earl Spencer's wife.
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I like that it has long sleeves, though I don't do straight skirts!  I am undecided though whether it is an integral part of the dress or two separate garments.  The only patterns I can find are
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Butterick 6479  and
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Vogue 1579
both of which appear to be integral to sleeveless dresses.

There are a few cape patterns around, including the two I've shown, with shaped shoulders rather than a circular poncho shape, which could be adapted to that front crossover.

My question is, would it be better to make it as a one piece garment or to make a separate capelet?

[Greybird]

I'd make it separate to be more useful and I think the Vogue one is the nicer and more unusual of the two.

[Holly Berry]

The Vogue dress was made up on The Sewing Quarter, with the demonstrator making it as a separate cape.

There is also a review on Sew Direct, where the reviewer also made as a separate cape.

[wrenkins]

Definitely two. Always leave yourself as many options as possible. 
I'm not sure about the Vogue one though, lovely as it is. There doesn't seem to be any way of removing it without hauling it over your, hairdo/hat/specs!

[Sewingforfun]

I can't conceive of sewing with wool at the moment, but anyway...  Have you seen Vogue 9266? It's a knock off of Melania's inauguration outfit and  has a similar crossover cape to the one you liked. I'm not sure it's still in print, but there seem to be a fair few copies on amazon, ebay, etc.
http://www.edelweisspatterns.com/blog/?p=6005

[BrendaP]

I think I did see the vogue Melania look-alike whist searching, but it's a jacket with sleeves, not a cape/capelet.  It also fastens the men's way, as did Melania's) though of course that would be easy enough to put right.

[BrendaP]

I'd definitely make it separate https://www.lekala.co/catalog/bolero/pattern/4614#model

That's another take of the Melania jacket and like hers is also fastening left over right.

[BrendaP]

Thinking about it it does make sense to make two separate garments; much more versatile.

[BrendaP]

I would find it awkward to fasten - and I'd always be aware of it being "wrong".  But as I said, not difficult to reverse.

I've found a freebie basic capelet pattern which I'll have a play around with.  If not I'll maybe go for the Vogue rather than the Butterick; partly because it's for wovens, the Butterick says 35% stretch, and partly because a dress pattern with a waist seam is more versatile.

https://www.burdastyle.com/projects/vintage-style-capelet

[Lizzy777]

The Vogue dress was made up on The Sewing Quarter, with the demonstrator making it as a separate cape.

There is also a review on Sew Direct, where the reviewer also made as a separate cape.

I saw this being made on the Sewing Quarter too. The guest was the lady who was involved with the sewing bee in the background. Can't remember her name but she is very accomplished and experienced. I think she has been on twice with the same pattern. I can't remember her name atm or roughly when it was on the Sewing Quarter but will have a look tomorrow. She made it with the caplet attached and with it separate if I remember correctly?

lizzy

[Pearl]

You can watch her (Claire-Louise Hardie) making it on YouTube if you search Sewing Quarter 30th March.  I think it's the 2nd and 4th hours. 

[Manuela]

@BrendaP - I'd take any dress pattern I like (preferably a TNT pattern) and a cute capelet pattern.
StyleArc's Greta pattern awould fit the description, you could always play around with the neckline




https://www.stylearc.com/shop/sewing-patterns/greta-cape/

[datcat23]

StyleArc recently sent out a teaser facebook post, that hints that they will soon be releasing a dress with a capelet.  Perhaps haunt over that way for the pattern, to see if it suits.

[BrendaP]

The freebie Burdastyle pattern was hopeless.  
I found a bit of lightweight denim and made a toile but it really didn't fit!

Thank you for the suggestions.  The Stylearc pattern is really designed as a jacket and it suggests thick fabrics like faux fur, so I doubt the fit would be that good over just a dress, and would need a lot of fiddling with to get the sort of neckline I'm looking for.  I'm not a big fan of .pdf patterns either.

So I've watched the Sewing Quarter video and I have just ordered the Vogue pattern, which will give the option of being attached to the dress or could easily be made as a separate garment.