Today’s idea is an EASY (and cheap!) almost no-sew (just one easy seam) Superhero Cape. You could make a bunch of these as gifts for friends or party-favors in an hour.
The inspiration for this tutorial came at the beginning of November. My 6-yr-old came home from school saying he needed a cape for “Superhero Day” at school. Because he puts up with me sewing all kinds of other “un-useful” things I figured I owed it to him to at least make a superhero cape. But since the last thing any mom wants to hear the week after Halloween is “I need a costume” I wanted to make it as simple as possible. When it worked I figured it was worth sharing and so the Lazy Mom Superhero Cape tutorial was born.
Because I don’t have a serger and I felt strongly opposed to the idea of lots of pressing and hemming something that would only be dragged heaven-knows-where I went with the worlds easiest fabric. Fleece. I let my boys each pick out their own color – this was the first time they have EVER been excited to go to the fabric store.
I used 3/4 yard. (You may want to get a yard for a longer cape on a bigger child.) Because the fleece is usually 60″ wide, you will get two capes out of each peace of yardage. (I found it on sale for $3.99 a yard. That means each cape is between $1.50-$2!)
Open up the fabric. Measure a piece of string the length of the yardage (in this case 27″) and tie the string to a marking pen. Tape the string at the center of the yardage.
Using the pen as a compass (or protractor or something) draw a large half circle.
Shorten the string to 6″ and draw a similar half circle at the top for the neck line.
Use scissors to cut on both drawn lines. Also cut on fold line (to end up with two capes. Or keep it one piece to make a cloak.) Finally, cut about 2″ off both selvage edges.
Take a selvage edge, wrap around neck and measure for length
(you want it to be loose.)
(you want it to be loose.)
Trim unnecessary end.
Mark center of selvage collar and the neck end of one of the capes.
Match centers and pin collar overlapping the neck of the cape by about 1/2″.
Sew one seam to attach collar to the cape.
Attach velcro to the ends of the collar.
And yeah, you’re done.
When I stop being lazy, I promised to sew a felt letter to the back of the capes, but I haven’t got that far yet.
In a short time, success. And I don’t worry for a half a second about what happens to this superhero accessory because I can make another one in a snap.
Can I just say here how much I enjoy 4-year-olds? Especially this one. (He’s particularly lucky because he gets Mom all to himself most days – none of my other previous 4-year-olds had it so good.) While sharing a particularly cozy, sentimental moment in front of the Christmas tree one morning he looked up at me with those charming blue eyes and responded, “Mom. I see tiny hairs in your nose.” Not the response I was anticipating.
I honestly wish I could freeze him this way forever.
32 Comments
Samantha
December 17, 2010 at 5:45 pmVery cute!
Amy - Amy's Creative Side
December 17, 2010 at 6:33 pmCute post Amy! Nose hairs and all 🙂 My kids would love these!! On my list!
Allison
December 17, 2010 at 7:02 pmthank you! my seven year old just asked me to make him a cape yesterday, and I know his brothers would love these, too.
Pam
December 17, 2010 at 8:00 pmThis is so cute! I wish I had this, oh, ten years ago. My boy is in high school now and I miss him being four years old so bad now. *sigh*
lifeinredshoes
December 17, 2010 at 8:23 pmSo {sew} cute! I have a friend whos little guy went by Fly Guy and he had a cape that had FG on it.<br />My Little Loves aren't into Super Heroes so I made them ponchos:)<br />Keep those great ideas coming!
MJ
December 17, 2010 at 11:21 pmThank you for this! I don't own a sewing machine and I've wanted to make a superhero cape for my nephew. A red one made with your tutorial will go into a Superman lunchbox for a superhero costume kit!
Tricia - A Rosy Note
December 18, 2010 at 12:49 amOh, how fun! Mine would have to be a princess cape or a wedding train or something though, since I have a girl 🙂
Aimee - Choose To Be Better
December 18, 2010 at 1:37 amWONDERFUL idea! I had my 5 year old say the same thing to me 2 weeks ago. Then she followed it up with "Can I use my scissors to cut them?" uh…no. 😉
angela
December 18, 2010 at 5:53 pmAwesome cape!<br /><br />And I LOVE 4yr olds, too. They're so fun and funny.
maggiesquiltnthreads
December 18, 2010 at 9:24 pmI love love love this idea! My son is 3 1/2 and is obsessed with superheros! I think i'm going to have to make him a cape for Christmas too 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Cathy H.
December 19, 2010 at 11:26 amThanks so much for this great idea. My twin 3 years old gransons will love it!
Alida B.
January 14, 2011 at 2:02 pmI just HAD to Thank you for this super, super easy tutorial. My little guy wants a cape so bad and I just HAVE NOT had the time to make one. This is super duper easy and I can have it done in no time. Plus I'm SEW lazy. Thanks again.I found you through google.
Summer Ryan Doyle
March 24, 2011 at 7:48 pmThank you for the great tutorial! I made 20 of them as party favors for my son's birthday.<br /><br />http://summerdoyle.blogspot.com/2011/03/superhero-capes.html<br /><br />It really was easy!
cookyousomenoodles
March 28, 2011 at 8:51 amSuper easy tute alright! But oh so super smart. I've just finished one for my 3.5 y.o. son<br /><br />http://cookyousomenoodles.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/superhero-cape/<br /><br />Thank you for sharing this lovely tutorial.
susanna internicola
June 8, 2011 at 6:50 ami just made this! it was super easy and quick! thankyou so much!! my nephews are going to love it!! i made mine out of an old bed sheet….had to hem it but it still turned out great!!
Jaimee
October 1, 2011 at 10:07 amGreat tutorial!! I'm including this in a mega Homemade Halloween Costume round up post on my blog this week : )<br />Jaimee @ craft-interrupted.blogspot.com
tjp
November 2, 2011 at 2:56 pmI loved your super easy tute. Thanks much! Here's a link to a couple I recently made:<br />http://redthreadlove.blogspot.com/2011/11/making-of-superhero.html
Mo Mom
August 26, 2012 at 9:59 amMade three yesterday so easy. I embrodered my little super heros name on them. So, insted of Bat Man, and SuperMan I had Bat Zane and Super Zane. The birthday boy loved them
futuredoll
November 29, 2012 at 6:51 amLove this-re-posted the link on my FB Fan page. Hope you get more followers! Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/collegesavingsdolls<br /><br />Sarah
Barb- NICUGypsy
December 25, 2012 at 3:14 pmHey, so adorable! Didn't know if you had seen this font- logos for all the superheros. Just enlarge, print and take it from there. For another day when you are inspired to add a logo! Thanks again.<br /><br />http://www.dafont.com/hall-of-heroes.font<br /><br />barb
amy smart
December 25, 2012 at 10:17 pmThat is so perfect! I still need to add logos to the back of these capes…
Brandi Wolf
June 26, 2013 at 10:37 pmThis is perfect! Not only am I the not-so-crafty type, I wanted to make 25 of these for my twin girls' 7th birthday party next month…definitely am not going to have time to sew that many! This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you "sew" much for sharing your "lazy day" genius!
Andrea Schlickbernd
November 29, 2013 at 12:09 pmAwesome and easy tutorial. Great blog as well. Thanks for sharing! I'm making one for my 4 year old grandson for Christmas. 🙂 And, yes, 4 year olds are amazing and I promise, it gets even better when they are your grandchildren!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.etsy.com/shop/embellishbyandrea
Leah Noonan
December 25, 2013 at 7:18 pmI'm not making a super hero cape but I am going to adapt this tutorial to make my 3&1/2 year grand daughter a princess cape. Then I'll start making capes for my preschool classroom. I have the best job ever. I get to spend everyday with 4 year olds!
Aaron
January 17, 2014 at 2:28 pmThis comment has been removed by the author.
Caroline
January 17, 2014 at 2:30 pmLove these! They look so much cozier than the silky ones and I don't have to worry about my son getting a pick or a run in this one either. Any way to adjust this for someone who doesn't own a sewing machine? My son is having a superhero party and I wanted to make some of these for party favors.
amy smart
January 20, 2014 at 4:52 pmYou could try fabric glue, and it might work well with the fleece – since you are only attaching the collar and the velcro, I think it would hold.
Maria Palito
June 3, 2014 at 12:58 pmHi Amy, <br /><br />I am MariaPalito. I just wanted to let you know that your amazing Superhero Cape DIY Tutorial was included in my post this week. I made a post called 10 {Amazing} DIY SUPERHERO PROJECTS . I hope you like it ! <br /><br />Here is a link to my post: http://blog.mariapalitousa.com/2014/06/02/10-amazing-diy-superhero-projects/<br /><br />I hope you my post bring more visitors and
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September 6, 2016 at 11:13 amThank you for this tutorial. I made a cape for my 21 month old girl for a superhero party. She loved it and I even got round to putting her initial on the back. Perfect.
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