Awhile back I said that I might post about how I made the capes for Sam's Party, and I thought I'd finally do it! They were fun and really quite easy to put together. I consider myself a beginner when it comes to sewing. Seriously, I think I have to read the instructions pretty much every time I have to thread the machine or fill a bobbin with thread. So, I really do think anyone could figure this out. :)
As you probably noticed, there are two different sizes of capes in the photo -- baby-sized, and toddler/preschool-sized. I'll be going through the steps of making Sam's baby-sized cape, but if you want a larger one, just add on a few inches to the length and width. Also, I'll apologize in advance for the less than stellar photos . . . having a 1 and almost 3-year-old means I do most of my sewing at night, and therefore didn't have any nice, natural light to take pictures by. Nor do I own a fancy-schmancy camera . . . someone want to get me one of those? :)
First of all -- here's a list of supplies you'll need:
2 pieces of fabric - approx. 2/3 of a yard of each
thread
Velcro
craft felt
fabric glue
rotary cutter (makes it so much easier, but scissors could work, too.)
cutting mat
Before we begin, I wanted to show you how the measurements worked out for the two different types of capes in the images below. Sam's baby cape was 14 inches long (from the base of his neck to about mid-thigh) and 18 inches wide. Ava's preschool cape was 18 inches long by 20 inches wide. For both sizes, you could add 2-4 inches to the length if you want it to come down to the knee. To do your own measurement, just measure your child from the base of the neck to wherever you want the cape to fall to, and presto! There's your cape length. :)
Now we're ready to get started! First, layer both pieces of fabric together and fold them in half. I neglected to take a picture before I cut out my cape . . . but I think you'll still get the idea. Before cutting, you'll need to trace a general outline.
As shown below, I used my daughter's old bib as a template for tracing the neckline. It was a quick and easy way to get the shape I wanted. If you don't have any old bibs laying around though, I'm sure you could just freehand it and make a shape similar to what I have here. Make sure you leave enough room for your seam allowance around the neckline! After tracing your pattern, cut out the cape shape with a rotary cutter, and probably cut around the neckline with scissors. My rotary cutter is pretty big so it was hard to go around the small neckline curve with it.
Now, before sewing the cape together, add your little superhero's logo! I decided to make my logos out of felt because I didn't want the edges to fray out and I don't know how to applique. :) If you're a sewing pro, you could definitely use fabric and fusible webbing and applique something on.
You can pretty much do anything for your logo . . . the possibilities are endless!
Letter A with a small felt heart. H as a Hydrogen atom. :) (design by Adam!)
V with a little felt butterfly I embroidered.
If you're nervous about free-handing the logo/letters, you could print out a large letter and trace it, or find different shapes online to print out and then trace onto your felt.
Once you've settled on your design, cut it out and position it on your cape. Use just a bit of fabric glue to tack it down so it won't move when you're sewing around it. Or, I suppose you could just glue it down really well and not sew around it at all! I zigzagged around all of mine.
Here's what that looks like up close . . .
Somewhat straight . . . ha.
I used a smaller zigzag on Sam's logo, but I think I used a larger one on pretty much all the others (which you can see in some of the logo photos above).
Tip: smaller zigzag works much better on curves, larger zigzag is great for straight lines. The S had lots of curves, obviously :) -- so the small zigzag was much easier to use.
Now you're ready to sew your two pieces of fabric together!
Place your two pieces right sides together and sew away! There's really no need to pin it together. I never had any trouble with things getting out of place. (Anyone else hate pinning?) hee hee :)
One tip though -- start sewing around the collar of your cape first so that there's no chance of that part getting out of alignment.
When stitching around a tight curve, it may be easier to go slowly and take breaks to lift your presser foot and turn the fabric from time to time. It was much better for me, but my machine is old and doesn't feed the fabric all that well, so maybe it wouldn't be so difficult on a newer machine. :)
After you've sewn everything together, snip around the small curves so that they will lay nicely when turned right-side out.
And . . . I hope you remembered to leave a hole in the bottom to turn the cape through! I forgot on at least half (probably more) of the ones I made for the party. :) My seam-ripper is my friend.
Once it's turned, you'll have to carefully iron your seams before topstitching.
Try to iron the edges closely enough so that you can just barely see all of the stitches from the inside . . . does that make sense? Hopefully this photo will help a bit.
See the stitches showing along the edge? Once it's all ironed out, you're ready to add your topstitching. You don't need much of a seam allowance here. I let my fabric run right along the edge of the space in the middle of the presser foot.
Next -- Velcro! Cut out a little oval and stitch it on. Maybe your machine will stitch it on for you, but mine refuses to do such a difficult task, so I had to do it by hand. Velcro is pokey. Ouch.
Look!!! You're done!
It'll probably be past midnight by the time you finish, but since you're so excited, go ahead -- wake up your baby and make him try it on whilst in his footie jammies. Awww . . . cute! Super Sam to the rescue!
Just kidding -- I waited until he woke up in the morning. :)
If you make a cape for your little one, I'd love to hear about it! :)
Also, feedback on this tutorial would be appreciated! Did everything make sense to you? Does anything need to be clarified? Let me know!
