loving your costume series for this imensly – fearlessstateofmind backup

samhawke:

The Musketeers costumes – Cape 1/1

The official musketeer cape is a half circle cape made of six panels of leather (so much leather!) and a wide collar. It is below knee length, measured from the side of the neck and down over the shoulder. It seems longer because the front and back hang lower due to the way it is secured. The rope holding the cape on is fastened in front, usually just before the opposite arm, the excess left to hang. The ends are knotted to prevent further fraying. The collar is a one piece collar lined with more leather. There is a neck facing on the inside of the cape, curving down a couple of inches in the middle.

There is a centre seam all the way up the back, but the shoulder seams attaching the front panels are short, closed further with two brass fleur-de-lis buttons. The side panel inserts are secured only with buttons, eleven for each long edge of the side panel (twenty-two per panel). There are five more buttons on the folded front edges of the cape. This adds up to fifty-eight buttons in total for the whole cape. The buttonholes are bound with thread.