The “Frankly My Dear, I Don’t Give A …” vintage 60s capelet

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Remember the bound buttonhole I mentioned in my last post?   Well, my project for this week's challenge at The Sew Weekly has been posted so I can now share it with you!

Just look at that lovely bound buttonhole!

 It belongs to my new 60s era velvet capelet. 

She's named "frankly my dear, I don't give a ..." in honor of Scarlett O’Hara’s curtain dress.

Um, Sharon? You do know this isn't a dress, right? And that it's not green?

Yes, yes, I know. 

But, it IS cotton velvet and it DID begin  life as a bedroom curtain.  Pretty resourceful, huh?  Just like good ole' Scarlett.

The idea came to me when I was hemming a new pair of bedroom curtains.  After seven years I decided it was time for a bedroom redo that involved more than just painting the walls.  As I tossed the old cotton velvet curtains in the washer to prepare them for the donation bin I took a hard look at them and realized there was a lot of usable fabric there!  Why donate something I would normally purchase from a thrift store?

The pattern I used is vintage Simplicity 5416, copyright 1964.   Since my copy is a small - and an early sixties small at that - I cut it a smidge larger. I also lengthened it four inches in lieu of an FBA.

Oh! And what's that you see? Could it be...

Why yes. It is indeed animal print lining.

This capelet itself was quick to sew.  In fact, that one bound buttonhole took more time to do than the rest of the capelet. 

Of course that could be because I took photos of the entire  process so I could share a bound button tutorial with you.

The best part of this entire refashion was the look on hubby's face when he realized I had turned our bedroom curtains into a capelet.

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