[coming-up-roses]

Hello ladies,

First of all thank you for all the wonderful photos on the flickr page-it’s so inspiring!

For a while I have wanted to make a Red Riding Hood Cape for my daughter who turns two on Monday. Recently I saw a photo of the cape on a younger girl and noticed that the arm openings were too low for her despite her mother having altered the pattern to fit better. Since my girl is still young for the recommended age, I wondered if I could just leave the arm openings away? That way it wouldn’t matter if the cape were a bit big. Do you think that would work?? I am afraid of shifting the arm openings up and then having it not fit..and even if I could make it work now it might not fit anymore when she is older.

Sorry for the rambling but I’m a bit stuck.

Thank you! Marjolijn

[Sarvi]

Do you plan for it to be a garment as well? Or only for dress up play? I think if it’s meant to really be a functioning garment to keep her warm in cool weather, you might want to keep the arm openings (for example, for ease of buckling her into a car seat or stroller). I made it for my 3 year old and also thought it looked like the openings were low, near the elbow, and I wanted them to be up by the shoulder. But I left them as they were and once I saw her wearing it I saw the logic of the placement — it’s not worn like a coat that is buttoned down the front — only a tie holds it closed, and it’s roomy, so there is plenty of ease for moving her arms and lifting them straight up, for example.

If you think she’ll be wearing it mostly for play, then I think you could do whatever was easiest for you — it’s not a tightly fitted garment anyhow, so I don’t think it would cause too many problems.

Has anybody made it in the smaller size? Thoughts?

[coming-up-roses]

Hi Sarvi, I think it will probably be more for dress up use. I live in Germany and it is usually pretty cold here so a non-button coat is unpractical for outside. Does your daughter always put her arms through the openings or are they kind of like slits that you sometimes stick your hands through? If so I may just leave them off. Then again, she’s pretty big for her age and wears a size 3T in the other Oliver+s patterns so the arm openings may be ok..it would just be a shame to make it and then not have it fit…hmmm….

[Nicole]

I want to make this soon so I am very interested in this question.

I think you could omit them but I wouldn’t bother to. I don’t think they flap open and they are quite a nice design feature.

Then she have them if she wants to use them.

~Nicole~

[Sarvi]

Nicole’s exactly right, they’re there if she wants to use them but when she doesn’t use them, they’re just a slit. In fact you wouldn’t really know they’re there unless she’s putting her hands through.

In practice, she more often wears it more as a superhero cape, pushing it back over her shoulders when she wants to wave her arms around a lot (not sure why Captain Hook has taken over this piece of wardrobe!) and then because of the curved shape of the shoulders, it tends to naturally fall forward a bit more.

If you’re worried about it not fitting in the sense of it being constricting or too tight through the shoulders, that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

This is just my observation of one kid, though, would love to hear from other folks about how their kids use it.

[meleliza]

I see it as more of a light jacket for in between weather. I actually made it in linen once for a school auction. My neighbor modeled it for me and she was 3 at the time, neither big nor small for her age and it fit wonderfully. Perfect for early spring.

[with love Heidi]

I haven’t made this yet, but I would like to this year. A few years ago I made my friend’s then 7 year old boy a similar cape it had no armholes but only opened down the front. He wore it everywhere, including camping, and had no problems negotiating the lack of armholes.

[coming-up-roses]

Ok, thank you for all your help- I think I’ll try the armholes and just let her “superhero” it for a while if they are still too low. I just have to finish the two bear carriers I’m making at the moment and then it’s my next project. Nicole and Heidi- I can’t wait to see your versions on the flickr site!