Capes, Capes, and More Capes

Back in October, I made my good friend Marlene's son, Ben, a superhero cape and crown for his 2nd birthday (here's the post).  I just loved this gift and it was a huge hit with some of my other "Mommy" friends as well.

So, my friend Dancia (www.floradanicaphotography.com) asked if I would help her make a cape for her little guy, Roaran.  Roaran LOVES Curious George and they were planning on attending "Curious George Live" at a local area arena.  She thought it would be SO fun for him to have a special "George" cape to wear to the show and asked if I would help her make one.

I just wanted to share some pictures of our cape making experience with you.  I think super-hero capes are one of the BEST gifts to promote pretend play in small children.  So if you have any little ones in your life, I highly recommend making them their own special cape - it's quick and easy and will be well worth the time!

I used a VERY basic cape pattern piece that I had lying around from my daughters, Little Red Riding Hood costume.  I cut an exterior piece out of Curious George fabric and an interior piece from yellow flannel.

I cut two pieces of yellow ribbon, each approximately 20 inches long for the tie around the neck.

I then stitched the store-bought "George" applique piece to the exterior Curious George fabric.

I place the wrong-sides of the cape together and used my serger to sew most of the cape, but you could just as easily use a regular sewing machine (the serger just makes a faster job of things).

I then turned the cape pieces right-side out and pressed the seams.  I have to say that ironing is my favorite part of sewing.  I feel like that is where you start to see things really come together.  With each sewing project I probably spend more time ironing than I do stitching.

Then I simply stitched the opening of the cape closed & sewed on the two pieces of ribbon (I finished each edge of ribbon with fray-check).  And here's the finished cape!