Winter Wonderland Cape

I have been beavering away this week, putting the finishing touches on my Winter Wonderland Cape. I am so pleased with the end result - a beautifully thick, warm winter cape with a pixie style hood, and it's magical winter scene.


On the left side is a little girl wrapped up in her pink hooded coat, skirt and woolly scarf, having a wonderful time ice skating on the frozen lake. She admires the twinkling Christmas tree...


A happy snowman takes pride of place outside her house (she knows it is her house because it has a pink door!) which is covered with a dusting of snow - there are even snowflakes still falling!


The scene is entirely hand cut from small left over pieces of felt, and hand stitched on with hundreds of tiny, tiny stitches. The winter scene itself took over 10 hours simply to cut out and stitch on.

It is lined in a soft brushed cotton, with a pretty floral pattern. The entire cape is actually reversible, so you can also wear the floral side out, perhaps on one of those chilly spring days. It fastens with an over sized happy yellow button.


The blue fabric is 100% pure New Zealand wool and was reclaimed from a pair of woollen trousers in perfect condition, manufactured at the Wanganui Woolen Mill.

The Wanganui Woolen Mill is a historic icon in New Zealand. I understand it opened around 1920 when the wool industry in NZ was very strong, and finally closed it's doors in the 80's. These trousers have quite a history, at the very least the fabric must be nearly 30 years old making this garment a piece of NZ history!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I found this pair, which such a gorgeous blue colour and in virtually new condition. Such a find, and I was honoured to recreate a beautiful heirloom garment which can be passed from one generation to the next.

I will be listing this heirloom cape in my shop tomorrow, hopefully it will find a lovely new home!