Cape fabric dilemma!

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  • I've been working on a cape with a hooded cowl. Everything has gone well. I made custom bias tape with some patterned cotton fabric to help feed through the stretchy fabric I've been using for the main pieces since it gives the cape a nice flowy effect. My problem came up when I attached the bias tape to the bottom. I wanted a bit more decor along the bottom trim thus I made the bias tape an 1 1/2" thick as opposed to the 1'4" that I had done for the rest of it. This took away the nice movement of the cape though since the cotton is much more stiff than the stretchy fabric I used for the main piece. Is there anything I can use to loosen up the cotton trim or should I remove it and make the trim a 1/4" like the rest of it?

    PS, I don't have a picture of the character as this is a custom character design but I can provide pictures of my cape and what I have thus far.

    Thanks for reading! Any help is appreciated.

  • Remove and replace. You'l still get some stiffening at the hem though, since your garment fabric is knit (stretchy) and your bias tape is woven (bias-stretchy, which isn't much). To minimize this, make sure your bias tape is truly on the bias and use the narrowest strip you can feasibly manage.

  • [QUOTE=Mangochutney;5056342]Remove and replace. You'l still get some stiffening at the hem though, since your garment fabric is knit (stretchy) and your bias tape is woven (bias-stretchy, which isn't much). To minimize this, make sure your bias tape is truly on the bias and use the narrowest strip you can feasibly manage.[/QUOTE]

    That makes sense. I'll do that, thanks. C: