Superhero cape

Firstly - did you miss me? I think it is funny that I blogged every single day in October (part of Blogtoberfest) and then crashed and burned, blogging just once since! Whoops. I will say that I have been flat out preparing for my major markets.

My then 3yo son wearing the first superhero cape I made. Photo by Lee Bird Photography

Now I want to share a little handmade gift I made for my 3yo nephew a few weeks ago. His big brother has one which he has been stealing so it was time for his own superhero cape. I've been told he loves it so much he is taking it to bed!

I made this superhero cape using a free pattern from The Longthread. It suits 2-5 year olds (my 7yo has requested a new bigger one!). Quick and easy to put together with scope to personalised. 

One cotton side with a star

For my nephews I made it reversible with a star on one side and his initial - s - for the other using a horrible, shiny, slippery dance-wear satin!! The applique is a little hard but use fusing (Heat Bond), go slowly and it is fine. I don't want to ever sew any dance costumes but if you sew this together with cotton or poplin on the reverse it is fine.

I made a couple of changes to the pattern (I have made quite a few of these now!). For this one I put the velcro horizontally rather than vertically making it more adjustable around the neck. I also sewed a stitch line along the folded down collar part to keep it down. I find it just sits better and stops it from flipping up.

I'm so lucky to be able to put in a distress call to my bestie to take some photos of the girly version I made for her daughter. On one of our playdates I noticed she was wrapping a crochet blanket around her neck for a princess cape. Now that just wouldn't do. Next birthday she received this gorgeous pink version.

Photo by Mel Riddell Photographer

Here she is at age four wearing her princess/magician/superhero/knight/queen/king etc cape. I love the imagination of children and this is just perfect for them to be able to role play and do whatever they want. Oh and she is also wearing a Lil Pip peasant dress! Thank you Mel xxx
 

A more stylised S this time!

So if you are looking for a quick and easy (less than one hour!) sewing project for Christmas or birthday presents, this one is top of my list!

Pattern: free pattern from The Longthread

Fabric: The dance satin and poplin spots for both are from Lincraft 

Difficulty (1-10 scale with 1 being easy and 10 hard): It isn't a hard project, you just need lots of pins with the satin as it is slippery stuff! So 4?

Time: Less than an hour