Superman...I mean Spiderman Cape

So Noah walks up to me with an LTD Commodities Magazine and says, "mom, can you buy me this Spider man cape?"

"No Son, I can just make you one when we get home".

 



Words I fear to utter again. I do not know why at times I think I am suddenly able to just make anything imaginable, but I was asked all evening when I was going to make it and realized, this wasn't going to be a 5 minute project.

So first of all, we know Spiderman doesn't have a cape, but that's ok. I began looking around my house for anything red and blue and black I could use to make a cape out of. No real luck. The only thing I could find was my huge bag of strips of felt. I had the red and the blue, but I knew they were in thin strips.



I took the strips and cut them 26 inches long. Then I sewed 4 of them together so that all the seams were on one side. I also used a zig zag stitch. Why? I don't know. I thought I heard somewhere that you should use it on fabrics that have more stretch to them. Who knows if it made a difference or not. I also used my pinking shears as scissors because I thought it would give it a fun scalloped edge.





Once I got them sewed together, I cut out an opening at the top so it would fit around his neck. I just had him come to me and I pinned it and then cut it. Again with pinking shears. I also took them and rounded the bottom of the panels.

Then I made a casing with the red felt and threaded some elastic through. I debated a few different ways to make the "collar".

I didn't really want it to have to tie on, for fear of strings/strangulation (overprotective much?) and I also wanted something easy that he could throw on and off and not need help with buttons or ties. Ok, so this is probably more of the truth than the worry of strangulation, but I sound like a much better mom if I throw that in.

After I thread the the elastic through.. (twice ahem....) I stitched the ends to the felt.

Then I attached the red collar to the cape.

Now have you ever heard "a watched pot never boils"? Or how about "that's as exciting as watching paint dry"? Well I kind of had a combined experience. I didn't realize how long it took fabric paint to dry. Of course with my non-expertise in the matter, we shouldn't be surprised. I drew out the awesome spiderweb on the cape.

You just make a X over a cross and then scallop in between the lines.

In the meantime I googled Spiderman "spiders" and hand drew this fella on the felt. Since my felt was in strips, I had to cut the legs separately.

We had to go to bed with the paint drying. It obviously was going to take its time, especially in the thicker, blob-like areas.

Once it finally dried, I was able to stitch Mr. Spider to the cape.

The whole thing turned from "what was i thinking?" to "hey, not too shabby Mom!"

It was really really easy, and other than letting the paint dry, it would have been whipped up in no time.

Here he is, Mr. Spiderman himself. I think he likes it.

 

Beware: Action shots ahead....

 

And Livy wanted some camera time, so just humor me here....


It felt amazing to get behind the sewing machine again. It's so much fun to create and be proud of something you did.

A fun little photo edit and we have a SUPER HERO

Until Next time....

 

 Stay Calm.....and make some Hero Capes....:)