maryamroses' blog: Superman cape

I was in the middle of so many unfinished projects, I hardly had time to even think about what will be next! But you know what? sometimes you don't really know whats ahead of you until you see a need for it! Somehow my daughter has been introduced to this superman idea! So you can imagine how she would use her imagination and pretend powers to turn anything to a superman cape! Table runners, my scarves, her brother's blankets, dad's shirts,... They all had a turn!

So, here I was making two superman capes for my two superkids! (Forget about my other lying around projects, this one was urgent! LOL!)

Here is the way I cut the fabric to get a large flawy circle:

First fold the fabric, then measure 18cm from the pointy edge and mark to form a nice curve. We will be cutting on this line to form the area around the neck. But don't cut it yet! Depending on the child's hight ( I made them in a 70cm (for a 4 year old) and a 50cm (for a 2 year old) hight) make a few marks on your fabric as you did for the neck line. Make sure you still use the point of your fabric as a reference, that will help you get a nice round edge. If you measure from the first curved line, its more likely to have an uneven circle.

In the image below the top point is were you should start all your measurements from, The right side is the folded edge and the left side of the photo is the open edge. So once you open it in to a single layer of fabric, you should get a nice 1/2 circle.

I have also rounded the lower front corner of the open side of the cape for a smoother look, and to make it easier for me to overlock it. If you don't have an overlocker, you can just turn it in and use a straight stitch to go over it or use a fine zigzag stitch. I have used an overlocker on rolled hem settings. Very quick and easy to go right around the cape.

Then we will need to make some sort of tie bands for the cape. I have decided to use velcro here fo a few reasons... First of all, I think velcro will be the safest around the kids necks.... You really don't want them to pull the cape when the cape is hanging to their neck with a very tight knot!

and secondly, I just wanted to avoid "Mum can you tie this for me?", Then two minutes later, " Mum can you take it off now?", 30 seconds later same story again! They can just do and undo velcro as many times as they need to with no help! Although its a bit tricky to sew than the normal two long strips of fabric, but i think I prefer the velcro!

So, to add the neck tie, we will need to measure around the neck and allow for some extra moving space around it... Then we will need to cut (on bias) two long strips with the correct measurement (depending on child) and with the width that will allow for out velcro to fit in nicely... remember to leave extra space for seam allowance. Now sew the velcro pieces as seen bellow: