At Hand Made Kids Art our goal is to increase creative thinking in all kids. Allowing time for children to play is essential in developing creative and critical thinking skills and what better way for kids to use their imagination than with a super hero cape! We will show you an easy tutorial on how to make a cape and help others at the same time.
We believe all children should be able to experience the joy of having a super hero cape to fly around in. When I first heard about Claudia’s mission with I am Super Capes I knew I wanted to help.
I Am Super Capes mission is to give children the power to use their imaginations for play no matter what hardship they may be facing. Claudia the founder of I Am Super Capes says,
“Every child deserves to be a Superhero, no matter who they are, where they live, whatever they are going through. Every child deserves the right to be a child, to have some time to be able to get away from the hardships and stress of the situation/environment they are in”.
We could not agree more that every child should have the chance to to fly! I Am Super Cape’s latest mission is to collect and donate 600 capes to the children of Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
This is where they need YOUR help!
Your mission (should you chose to accept it) is create your own cape to be donated.
Create a cape with your children or girl scout troop or church circle or do one yourself during nap time. I Am Super Capes has an easy to follow tutorial that anyone can follow.
In fact, this is a great sewing project for someone just learning. Lil B and M-Woww are bit young to do the sewing but I did include them in the decision process and they helped design our capes. I wanted them to be a part of the process and to understand how we can use our talents and time to help others. This is our first service project we have worked on together. I encourage you to join us too!
Let’s work together to help I Am Super Capes reach their goal of 600 capes. Click here for more information.
How to Make a Cape
I literally had to wipe the dust bunnies off my sewing machine. It has been several years since I last sewed, I think having 3 children in 5 years was part of the reason why but it did feel good to get the machine back out. To make the cape we followed this tutorial. Click over to read the full details and steps.
First thing was we picked out our fabric. I went with two patterned fabrics to give a modern twist to our capes. Capes don’t have to always be black! Try picking bright colors for the capes (more cheerful for the children).
Next I drew a pattern on craft paper and used it to cut my fabric. I didn’t measure just eyeballed it. If you don’t feel comfortable creating your own pattern click here for cape patterns you can print and then use to cut your fabric.
Lil B wanted to design his cape with a lighting bolt. I drew on a piece of yellow felt and then cut it out. I sewed an oval of contrasting fabric and then sewed the lighting bolt on top.
M-Woww chose stars for her cape. At first we were going to sew blue and purple stars but once we had them cut out M-Woww opted for a yellow star to stand out like the lighting bolt.
After sewing the symbols on I then proceeded to sew the two right sides of the fabric together to create the cape. Basically you sew it inside out first (for all the newbie sewers out there). Per the tutorials directions I left the bottom open so I could turn it right side out.
One thing I did different is I turned up the bottom edge so you can see the contrasting fabric from the other side along the bottom edge.
Add velcro to the neck straps (very important it is velcro for I Am Super Capes project) and that is it!
Any experienced sewer can whip one out in an hour. Working with a 5 year old and a three year old the process took a little longer but well worth it. This was a great project to teach Lil B and M-Woww about creating for others. They did put on the capes and flew around the yard so I could take a few photos but they are just as excited to package them up and send them to other little boys and girls to play with.
***Please make sure to note all capes need to have velcro around the neck in order to be sent to I Am Super Capes.
Join me in support for I AmSuper Capes.
Let’s help them reach their goal of 600 capes.
You may send finished capes to:
USA: Chantal Skipper, I Am Super capes, 3356 Flagler Circle, Midland, NC 28107
UK: Claudia Beard, I Am Super capes, Bourne View, Bourne Fields, Twyford, SO21 1NY
Please share a photo of your cape on Instagram, Twitter or the I Am Super Capes Facebook page using #iamsupercapes to help spread the word and so we can see all the fabulous capes.
If you are looking to make a cape for your own little one, you may want to check out our no-sew video tutorial. Please note, this tutorial is not recommended for the I Am Super Capes project but it may be an alternative tutorial if you are looking to make a cape for your own child.
Thank you so much for joining in. I LOVE the fabric you used!
Thank you! I love the fabric too,I thought about making myself a cape. 🙂 We had a great time creating our capes and I was so excited to see my two little ones help in the process.