Play: DIY No Sew Superhero Capes

This post comes from our ever-so-crafty friend, Amy. Amy is a mom of two boys, who are so incredibly adorable. I think this costume fits Amy- she is a superhero mom! 

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My son Mike just turned four.  He LOVES superheroes.  It does not matter which one.  More than anything, he loves pretending to be a superhero.  So we decided to throw him a superhero birthday party.  I started looking online for ideas and came across a bunch of pages of people making capes as favors for the kids.  In my excitement at how awesome this seemed, I decided that I could do this!  About an hour later I realized that I can’t sew.  I found about 5 different versions of no-sew capes that I liked and took the easiest steps from each and made my own plans.  After some trial and error and with 9 yards of red fleece leftover, I ended up with capes for all the kids at the party, all of Mike’s cousins, myself, my husband and our two dogs.

Supplies:

·       60” wide Fleece Fabric (I used red fleece, $2.49/yard online)

o   2 yards of fabric yields 6 capes

o   You can use other fabric but fleece does not require hemming so it’s super easy to use

·       7/8” Grosgrain Ribbon (I used royal blue, $4/7 yard spool at ACMoore)

o   1 yard per cape

o   You can use a different width but I wouldn’t go smaller

·       Felt Sheets for Shields (I used royal blue, $0.29/sheet at ACMoore)

o   1 piece yields 2 shields

o   Individual sheets were cheaper and easier than getting a yard of fabric

·       Felt Sheets for Letters (I used yellow, $0.29/sheet at ACMoore)

o   1 piece yields about 6 letters depending on the letter

o   Individual sheets were cheaper and easier than getting a yard of fabric

·       Spray Craft Adhesive (one large can $8 at ACMoore)

o   I used Elmers Craft Bond Spray Adhesive

o   Be prepared to get sticky

·       Sharpie marker (I used a red one I had)

·       Scissors (a good pair makes this so much easier)

·       Ruler/Measuring Tape/T-Square (something to measure with)

Step 1 – Cutting your fabric

·       Cut your fabric into 24” x 30” pieces

·       If your fabric should be about 60” wide, you can cut it fairly easily

o   Measure down 24” and cut so you have a piece of fabric that is 60” x 24”

o   Take the 60” x 24” piece and cut it in half so you have a 30” x 24” piece

Step 2 – cutting into cape shape

·       For a person under 5:

o   Fold the fabric in half so it is 15” across the top and 24” down the side with the fold

·       For a person over 5:

o   Fold the fabric in half so it is 12” across the top and 30” down the side with the fold

·       Starting in the lower right corner, cut on a diagonal towards the top.

o   I took off about 6” at the top for my “under 5” capes

o   I took off about 3” at the top for my “over 5” capes

Step 3 – cutting holes for the ribbon

·       At the top of the cape, fold over about 1” of fabric

·       Take your scissors and cut slits into the fold

·       Be careful to not cut all the way through the fold

·       I put slits about every inch.  It doesn’t need to be perfectly spaced

  

Step 4 – Making the shields:

·       Using a sharpie, draw your shapes onto your felt sheets.

o   You can freehand, print a template or use a ruler

o   Mine looked like this:    

·       Cut out the shapes

 Step 5 – Making the letters:

·       Print out the letters in the desired font and size

o   I used Futura Md BT in a 375 point font

o   I typed up the letters in Word and printed them out

o   Here’s what my M and D looked like: 

·       Cut out the letters on plain paper

·       Trace them onto the felt

o   I used a red sharpie on the yellow felt

·       Cut out the letters

o   I cut on the outside of the red lines so there would be a little definition on the edges of the letters

Step 6 – Gluing the letters to the shields:

·       Using craft spray adhesive, spray the back of the letter

·       Place the letter onto the cut-out shield

·       Push down for about 15 seconds

·       Put something non-stick on top (I used wax paper or my flexible cutting boards) and stick a heavy book or pan on top

·       Leave it sit for at least an hour

·       I put 6 shields on a place mat, put my flexible cutting board on top of that and then a giant cook book on top of that and left them for an hour and then did another 6

·       It helps to have a big piece of scrap cardboard (I used the side of a diaper box) to spray against so the glue is not going everywhere

Step 7 – Gluing the shields to the capes:

·       Using craft spray adhesive, spray the back of the shield

·       Place the shield onto the cape

o   I used a clothespin as a ruler

o   So my shields went on about 3 inches below the slits for the ribbon

·       Push down for about 15 seconds

·       Put something non-stick on top (I used wax paper) and stick a heavy book or pan on top

·       Leave it sit for at least an hour

o   I did 3 capes at a time with three heavy books

o   After 15 minutes, I moved each cape to one big pile, with the whole sheild/letter covered by wax paper in between each cape and a giant heavy pot on the top of the pile.  I left them overnight under the pot.

·       It helps to have a big piece of scrap cardboard (I used the side of a diaper box) to spray against so the glue is not going everywhere

·       Your fingers will end up the color of your felt.  Soap and a nail brush or scrubby sponge will get the glue and felt off

I didn’t take any pictures of the drying process so just imagine a giant pile of red capes on my kitchen table

 Step 8 – Thread the ribbon

·       Cut your ribbon into 3 foot (1 yard) pieces

·       If desired, use a lighter to finish off the ends of the ribbon so they don’t fray

o   Bill did this part and he promised it was very easy

o   You don’t need to actually stick the ribbon in the flame, just get it close

·       Weave the ribbon in and out of the slits across the top of the cape

·       I liked to have the ribbon start and end on the same side of the cape but I don’t think it matters

·       I kept a pair of scissors next to me to enlarge a slit or cut an extra slit if needed

Step 9 – get ready to fly!

·       Tie the cape around your/their neck and fly off on your next adventure!

·       Mike loves that his mom and dad have their own capes too.  The dogs do not like their capes as much

·       You can easily adjust some of the steps if you don’t want to personalize the capes with a letter.  For the capes for the dogs, I skipped the shield.  You could also use fabric paint to put a shape or letter on the cape.

·       All in all, I made 28 capes.  Not counting the drying time, it took about 3 hours of cutting fleece and felt and about 1 hour of gluing.

·       I had to made multiple trips to ACMoore, but I was able to use a 50% off one item each time.  So my inability to estimate how much ribbon I would need ended up saving me some money.  The capes ended up costing about $1.65 each for the fleece, felt, ribbon and glue.

 What a great idea for a birthday party favor OR a Halloween costume! Thanks Amy!