I am SO excited today because not only do I have a great guest blogger for you but a wonderful tutorial for the Tutu Drive!

Supplies: sewing basics (machine, thread, scissors, iron), Wonder Under, fabric (cotton, costume satin, pleather), velcro, knit fabric, felt for applique, 10″ of 1/8-1/4″ elastic
*Note: if you use pleather, be especially carefully ironing it since it is so synthetic. I usually will iron it on the backside or the back of whatever you are fusing it to.

Superhero CAPE:
1.) Cut out cape shape from fabric. You’ll need to determine the size based on the age/size of your child. To give you an idea, mine was for a 3 year old and it was approximately 21″ across at the bottom and 27″ from top to bottom. You will have a front and back to the cape (I used pink pleather for the front and polka dot flannel for the back). If you want you can do applique on both sides and the cape can be reversible (like one side batman, one side superman). If you’re making a superman/batman cape, you’ll want one side of the cape made out of black fabric and the other side of royal blue. If the fabric isn’t too thick, you can cut both the front and back cape pieces at the same time. I used a bib to get a general idea for the neck hole and then free handed the rest of the cape, having it gradually slope down toward the bottom and rounded at the corners. I like to fold my fabric in half length-wise, draw half the shape on the folded fabric, then cut out. This way it will be symmetrical. Or you can do this with the front and then lay it on the other fabric to cut out the back piece (shown in picture #2).2.) Cape Applique. There are tons of fun things you can do for the applique. You could do Superman or Batman…or one on each side! For this cape, I made a crown and put the child’s initial in the middle.
-With Iron, fuse wonder under to the wrong of the fabric scrap you want to use for the crown (I used silver pleather).
-Draw crown picture on wonder under side of fabric. Cut out crown.-Peel wonder under off and with iron, fuse crown to felt (or cotton, if you want). Stitch around crown, close to edge. You can use a straight-stitch, zig-zag, or blanket stitch.
-Cut crown out of felt, leaving a 1/4″ felt border around crown.
-With Iron, fuse wonder under to wrong side of scrap fabric you want to use for the child’s initial. Draw or trace letter on wonder under side. Make sure you do this backwards b/c it will be reversed. Cut letter out.-Peel wonder under off and fuse to middle of crown. Stitch around letter close to edge (I used a blanket stitch).
3.) With iron, fuse a piece of wonder under to main part of crown. Peel off wonder under and fuse crown to center of front cape piece. Stitch around crown close to edge.

*For making the reversible Superman/Batman cape, you will use the Wonder Under applique technique and you can use these graphics, printed to size, for your appliques. I used felt for my appliques and stitched around all edges with a blanket stitch.

4.) If you want to do another applique on the back side of the cape to make it reversible, do this now.

5.) Cut a 2″ piece of velcro. Sew one side of the velcro to the left side of the front cape neck piece and the other side of the velcro to the left side of the back cape neck piece. Once the cape is sewn together, one piece of velcro will be on each side of the cape to match up together.
6.) Place front and back cape pieces with right sides together. Pin. Sew around entire cape, leaving a 4″ hole at bottom to turn cape right-side out.
7.) Clip all curves, especially the neckline.
8.) Turn cape right side out, flipping it through the 4″ hole.

9.) Iron cape, especially edge. Topstitch around entire cape, making sure to sew closed the 4″ hole. Using a hot glue gun, glue on jewels to crown points. You’re done….but don’t forget about the Superhero accessories!!!

Superhero MASK:
1.) Fuse wonder under to back of mask front fabric. Draw a mask outline on paper (or if you’re confident, draw it directly on the wonder under side of the fabric) and then trace it onto back of mask fabric. Cut out (again I usually fold in half, so both sides are identical). Peel off wonder under and fuse mask to fleece or other soft fabric. I used pleather for the mask front and microfleece for the mask, which worked well b/c neither of these fabrics fray. Make sure to use a soft fabric for the back, since this will be up against the child’s face.

3.) Stitch around mask, close to the edge. Make sure that when you are at each side of the mask, you slip an end of the 10″ elastic in between the two pieces. Backstitch a few times over the elastic to secure it well. Also make sure to stitch around eye openings.
4.) Trim excess fabric from around the mask. You’re done!
Superhero WRISTLETS:
1.) Cut two pieces of knit fabric 5″ x 7″.
2.) With fabric folded in half, sew similar “dash” pattern or “spike” pattern to pleather for the other part of the wristlet. If you’re not using a thicker fabric, such as pleather, you may want to add a little interfacing or piece of fleece in the middle. You’ll want it to be about 6″ long. Cut out shape.
3.) Fold one knit fabric piece in half lengthwise. Insert the “dash” piece, so raw edges line up. Sew and serge down long edge, making sure to backstitch a few times at each end. I didn’t finish the ends of the tube b/c I wanted to make sure it would stretch appropriately over the child’s hand.
4.) Flip wristlet right side out and iron if necessary. And you’re done!!

Wow. That’s all I have to say. Wow! Those are incredible! I’m sure whomever the little superboy or supergirl is that receives these is going to LOVE IT! Thanks Lynette!!

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