Super Hero Cape

My son doesn't check my blog - so it's safe to post his Christmas presents on here.  But I'm getting antsy for Christmas to be over so that I can show you all what I've been making.  Everyone else checks my blog, so it's not safe till Christmas is over.

I started this cape about 9-10 months ago (made the pattern and cut out the fabric).  And then I finally got around to sewing it in the last month or so.  I just wasn't excited to sew on the plasticy pleather fabric.  I tinkered with different designs - starting out with a bunch of papers taped together to get the length and width and then made about a dozen different designs for the neck/closure section before I got something I liked and that fit him good.  It has a velcro closure at the neck and the length just brushes the ground - I figured it was a good length to start with so that it would grow with him and last longer.

Then I found a mask template online- and knew that needed to be an addition to the outfit.  I can't remember where I found the template, but I just google'd "superhero mask pattern" and looked through the options till I found one I liked.  This was my second attempt.  The first one was a horrible mess - I don't have a teflon foot for my machine and the stitching was horrible and the fabric stuck to the foot and wouldn't move.  Then I remembered reading a blog that suggested using baby powder on vinyl to help the sewing process.  I figured if it works on vinyl, it should work on this.  And it DID!  It's just really messy and I had to wait till the kiddos were asleep to do this.

I backed the mask in black felt since that gave it more stability - but after my first horrible mask, I realized it was better not to cut out the black felt in the mask shape before sewing it.  The red pleather stretched and it was better to cut after it was top stitched.