Super-Hero Cape! Pow! Bam! Watch Out Now!

Last Christmas I thought I would be such a cool Aunt and make superhero capes.  I made one of each of my 7 nieces and nephews, plus  two more for my kids.   I was and still am very proud of myself for this, even though most of them didn’t quite get it yet (totally didn’t care).  Someday they will be glad they have capes    I probably should have waited till they were 3 or maybe even 5.    Anywhoo…here’s how I made them!

If you can sew a straight line you can do this!! Don’t be intimated, YOU CAN DO IT! 

Here is what you will need:

A Sewing Machine

Scissors

Pins

Measuring tape

Some tissue paper/pattern paper to make pattern

Chalk

Iron

Heat-and-Bond-sewable

John Mayer on your radio/iPod/CD player

Tracing paper or a Cricut machine

Velcro

3/4 of a yard of fabric for each-front and back

You will probably want 3-4 different fabrics.  One for inside of cape, one for main part,  one solid for shape (12×12 piece of fabric), and one solid for letter (5×5 piece)

The first thing you will want to do is make a pattern.  I do this by taking a piece of tissue paper and drawing my lines with chalk.

It will look like half a cape when you are done with this step.  I make it 10 1/2 inches to the widest part of the cape and 21 inches long, but you can make it as long as you need.  Don’t feel like you have to stick to these measurements, they are just guidelines.  Adjust them to fit your child.  I made several different sizes.  I usually kept the width though, seemed to work for every body size up to age 6.  See Picture below for the neck measurements. Those also work for everyone.  Feel free to change them if you don’t like them.

Cut out pattern and pin it to fabric.  Using the edge of the pattern as the fold line.

Cut out the front and back of your cape.  You are going to want to take your 12×12 piece of fabric for your shape and your 5×5 piece for the letter and apply the Heat and Bond on the back of these fabrics.  Then cut out your star, lightning bolt, star burst, flower, etc. and letter.  I used my Cricut machine, but you could all so just trace the shape you want and cut it out yourself.

For the Cricut peel the paper for the Heat and Bond off the back, place the fabric on the cutting mat, and load it in.  You will want your settings to be:  Blade depth-3      Speed- low    Pressure- med/high   (you do not need a deep-cut blade for this)

Okay now you are going to iron on the shape and letter on to your fabric.

Now to secure it better and make it look a little more cute, you will top stitch over the shape and letter.  I used a zigzag stitch, I thought it was the easiest way to go and looked nice.

After you have finished this you can sew your back and front piece together.  Place right sides in, pin in place, and sew.  Sew from the bottom corner up around neck and down to the opposite bottom corner; leaving the bottom of the cape open so you can flip it right sides out.  Before you flip it you will want to make sure that you have clipped around the neck to help prevent puckering.

After you flip it back you will need to use an object that has a pointed and rounded tip (I used the end of a paint brush) to push the neck ends all the way out like so…

Then iron the edges of the cape.

Fold and pin the bottom of the cape.

Now, with your sewing machine, top stitch a straight stitch around the entire cape.

ALMOST DONE Just add the Velcro and your done!  Decide which flap you want on top and place the fuzzy side under that.  Place the scratchy side on the top of the bottom flap.  I put an extra long fuzzy piece on so that the cape can grow with my child.  (Hope that all made sense)

Sew the Velcro.

And you are done!  See not that hard

Now bask in the glory of what you made and how cool of a person you are.

(Shortly after making the cape for my two year old she ripped it off and stomped on it)  cool…

I am sharing my idea at…

Message or Picture Board

If you want to make these cute boards you will need:

An old bulletin board

Fabric about 4 inches taller and wider than bulletin board

Ribbon about 4-5 yards depending on size

Upholstery nail head pins/tack

Batting to fit size of bulletin board

Scissors

Staple gun

Okay, now that you’ve got the stuff here are the next steps:

1. Lay the fabric right side facing down.

2. Lay the batting down on top of fabric.

3. Lay the bulletin board on top of it also right side facing down.

4. Take your scissors and cut the fabric so it is about two inches wider than your bulletin board on every side.  Just eye ball it, it doesn’t need to be perfect.  Make sure your fabric is lined up how you want it and now you are ready to staple the fabric down.

5. Fold the fabric over on to the wood frame on the back of the canvas and staple down.  Do this all the way around, pulling the fabric tight.

SEE PICTURES FOR THE HAIR BOW HOLDER

6. Now you are going to want to place your ribbon.  You can place it how ever you want.  Here are two examples.  One is a hair bow holder and a picture board, the other just a picture holder.

You can pin down the ribbon two ways, you can staple it on the back like the hair bow holders, or use the nail heads like thumb tacks and hold it down on the front.

If you use the tacks I recommend burning the ribbon a little to keep it from fraying.

When two pieces of ribbon cross push a upholstery tack  through them, doing this will create that cushioned look and help hold the pictures in place.

Now your done!

Rag Quilt

Long long ago before my 2 1/2 year old was born, I bought this fabric.  Yesterday I finally made a quilt using this fabric.

There are several ways to make this type of quilt, but this is how I did it.

To make a Rag Quilt-

You need:

Different color cotton fabrics- 1 yard total (depending on the size you want it to be, this is baby/toddler size)

1 yard of flannel

(optional) 1 yard of another same flannel or different color if you want a different backing and/or a thicker quilt

I cut my cotton fabric into 5×5  squares and my flannel into 6×6 squares.   Place the cotton on top of the flannel, facing right side of fabrics outward.

Then I configured my pieces how I wanted the the pattern to look and started to sew!  When you sew you will be putting the pieces together with the right sides facing outward. You will want to sew at least 1/4 inch from the edge, I did 1/2 inch.

After you have sewn all your pieces together you can sew on a back piece of flannel like I did here, or just leave it.  Cut the back piece to the same size as the top.  When you sew on the back do it just as you did the squares with the right sides facing out, like if you were top stitching.

Final steps!  You will need to clip the hanging fabric down toward the seam, about 1/4 inch in.

Then you can tie your quilt, although I used buttons to tie mine together.

Finally, put the blanket in the wash, then dryer.  When dry, trim anything that has gotten too shaggy (might not need to depending on your fabric).

If you make a Rag Quilt, send me pictures!   lynnspins@gmail.com  I would love to see what you have done.

Hair Bow Holder 101

Having a little girl is just too much fun…pink stuff, glitter, hair bows!  Now where to put all those hair bows?  How about on this super easy hair bow holder.  Seriously, it is one of the fastest crafts I have ever done.  It takes about ten minutes from start to finish.

Here is what you need:

A canvas any size (also could use a wood frame, old bulletin board, piece of wood…ect)

Batting (optional)

Enough fabric to cover the canvas/ or paint

Ribbon – about 4-5 yards

Staple gun

Scissors

Lay the fabric right side facing down with the canvas on top of it also right side facing down  (if you want, lay a piece of batting the same  size of the canvas between fabric and board to get a  softer look).  Cut the fabric so it is about two inches wider than your canvas on every side.  Just eye ball it, it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Make sure your fabric is lined up how you want it and now you are ready to staple the fabric down.  Fold the fabric over on to the wood frame on the back of the canvas and staple down.  Do this all the way around.

I also added a layer of tulle/netting over the top for a little shimmer.

Then simply lay down four or five strips of ribbon, evenly spaced apart, going vertically.  Hold them in place and staple on back.

Use a piece of longer ribbon to make it hang-also staple on the back.

Now the back can look pretty crazy, if you don’t care…leave it.  If you do care, lay another piece of matching fabric over the top with the edges folded under and hot glue it in place.  Neat and tidy

Tips!  Michael’s has wood boards in the shape of hearts, surf boards, etc. that you can buy to make these or message boards with.  Sometimes you can get a pack of 5 canvases for $15.

Get Crafty!