Superheroes - DIY

Every once in a while, we are going to pop on the blog with some creative tips on how to make these Gold Hope sessions even more golden.

By Stella Reynoso

Today's creative blog teaches you how to make a superhero cape, because as we ALL know, these kids are beyond super!
Here are the materials you'll need:

• Fabric (about a yard should suffice for most kids)
• Thread
• String or ribbon to tie cape around neck
• Embellishments (ribbons, letters, beads, etc.)
• Scissors

Things that will also make your life a lot easier are:

• Sewing machine (or you can totally do it by hand if you've got time)
• Straight pins
• Iron
• Ironing board

Here are the materials that I got together.  Because I am making it for a Princess Superhero, I picked out two yards of fabric: one in a soft lavender and one in GOLD:

The first thing you'll want to do is iron out any wrinkles.  This will make pinning much easier, and increase your chances of sewing success because you're working with a completely flat surface.

After you have ironed all your fabric, you will want to sew the string/ribbon to the top of the cape.  If you're only dealing with one piece of fabric, you can just sew it along the top edge and be done.  If you're making a double-sided cape like I am, it will be a little trickier.

When sewing, you work with the “wrong side” of fabric all the time. So in this case, you will want to lay one yard of fabric face UP, pin the ribbon to the edge, then place the second yard of fabric face DOWN, like some sort of ribbon sandwich.  Costume satin is really slippery, so I pin anything and everything I can.

Once you've pinned your tying ribbon to the edge, place pins along the entire section.  Now it's time to sew!  (make sure you remove pins before you hit the sewing machine needle or you can break it – trust me, it's happened to me a LOT)

After you have sewn the top edge of the cape and the tying ribbons together, you are ready to pin the sides of the cape, like this:

Sew the left and right sides of the cape, then turn right-side-out:

Because my fabrics were different lengths, I just sewed as much as I could on the sides, then trimmed the bottom excess off, as shown:

For the very bottom edge, I rolled/folded a thick margin of fabric into the cape, then pressed it sharply to help hold it steady before sewing it shut.

Now comes the fun part!  Add whatever kind of decoration you want to!  For me, this adorable ruffle ribbon not only looked cute, but helped weigh down the fabric to give this cape some heft.

The finished product!

Here it is, hanging up on a hanger.  You can see that it will naturally gather at the shoulder once you tie the ribbon tight, so even though it looks bulky, and more like a flour sack, once those kids start playing in it, all will be forgotten but their imagination.

And now, the only thing missing from my cape is the letter “M.”  Because superheroes need sidekicks too.  ;)