WARNING: Christmas spoiler for MF’s and Ady’s family within!!

Just gotta be careful, ya know?

I took Catherine to the book fair today. It was MUCH smaller than I remember. Hee. I must have grown or something. They still have Mad Libs!! And posters! They even have a whole section of Spanish books now. So I got the kids the sequel to Click, Clack, Moo in Spanish (Jijí, Jajá, Cuac). Catherine picked out a book (she’s reading it below) and I got Seth a Spiderman comic book for the gazillion-hour car ride to Texas this weekend.

We checked out Batman comic books (big thick real books) at the library this summer and he would spend hours pouring over the pages. He still pretends that he’s Bat-Mite sometimes. Only someone who has read Batman comics would know who that is–so very random!

I am finally wrapping up Christmas presents (no pun in 10 did….*snicker*) for certain family members who live bajillions of miles away but who we will see next week for Thanksgiving. We had to do some lamination for one gift and the kids really enjoyed watching the machine even though it was as slow as molasses.

I had planned on making two of these, but only ended up making one:

The infamous reusable grocery sack (tutorial here)!! I love these!

I’m off to bed; we have lots of fun things to do tomorrow in preparation for “The Car Ride From Hell To Texas.”

I was feeding Juliet. For ten minutes. She’s a quick nurser, ten minutes isn’t very long. But when you’re stuck on the couch for that long and your 2yo is dumping out the ENTIRE box of Cheerios it seems like an eternity.

Cheerios EVERYWHERE. I had to take off my socks because they had acquired a new crunchity layer.

I know the above picture is fuzzy and grainy, but you really would be missing out if you couldn’t see the floor.

On a much lighter and happier note, I finished Seth’s hoodie yesterday. He looks super silly in this picture, but it is a good shot of the funny pockets on the front. Every other picture he has his hands in them.

In typical me style, I sewed the hood on backwards last night. I made the mistake of letting him try it on like that. He got used to the car (which is a Ford Anglia, btw) being on the front. We almost had an OCD breakdown this morning when he woke up to it being fixed. Somehow I won the Seth clothing lottery, however, and he likes it. I’m still trying to talk him into wearing pants since it is cold, and not his stupid “O and a 5 shorts.” He has three pair and that’s all he has worn all summer (Sundays? HUGE fight every week). Sigh. I don’t know what I’m going to do….make him wear knee-high socks? Thermal underwear?

Here you have it, the most popular, free sewing pattern for superhero capes on the internet. Thanks for coming and be sure to enter your photos in the Puking Pastilles Flickr Pool to win great prizes like fabric, patterns, and more!

Batman on one side and Superman on the other.

You can also make a girl version with a princess crown on one side and a Supergirl symbol on the other. I used pink and purple, but you could use your daughter’s favorite colors.

The instructions are for a Batman/Superman cape, but you could also make SuperWHY! or Obama, or whatever your little one desires.

For many superhero applique patterns, click on the link on the left side of the page.

Materials (Boy)
3/4 yard black fabric
3/4 yard red fabric
1 sheet each of red, yellow, and black felt (see picture below)
Heat n Bond Lite (fusible web)
red thread
black thread
small piece of Velcro
Download and print out superman and batman applique (PDF)

This is what the felt rack looks like at my Joann’s. Many fabric stores carry small pieces of craft felt (not wool!) that are very inexpensive. I think these were $.50 each.

If your child is older or taller, or if you just want the cape to be a lot longer than mine you might need to buy one yard of each fabric (or more).

All of the directions below can be applied to the girl cape, except use the princess crown applique instead of the batman applique. I’ve done a girl version in dark pink on one side and light pink on the other and it looks totally fantastic.

1. Measure your child from the shoulder down to the knee. This will be measurement A. You can decide how wide you would like your cape, or you can use my suggestion which is 20″.

2. Fold your fabric in half selvage to selvage. Using the picture below, mark your fabric with chalk or a fabric marker. The side measurement is A and the bottom is 10″ (or half of your desired width). **NOTE** I have a PDF version of the pattern for sale in my shop for just $5.75!

3. Cut out on your chalk lines. Place your black cape on top of your red fabric on the fold. Trace or pin and cut.

4. Using your printouts of the Superman and Batman (or princess) images, trace onto the paper side of the Heat n Bond Lite. Each image needs two pieces of felt, so for the Batman symbol trace the oval separate from the bat. For the Superman symbol, trace the triangle and the “S” separately.

5. Cut apart each shape (NOT on the lines!).

6. Iron the shapes onto the felt according to the directions on your fusible web. It only takes a few seconds to fuse the paper on.

7. Cut out each shape on the lines. Peel paper off.

8. Iron the shapes onto the right side of the cape. Batman on the black; Superman on the red.

**It is very common for red fabrics to change color with heat (temporarily!). Do not be alarmed if your red fabric has darker spots where you ironed. Once the fabric cools off it will return to its normal color.**

9. Stitch around the edges of the appliques. I like to use a regular zigzag stitch at the default width. Since felt does not fray in the wash, there is no need to cover the edges completely. However, if you are a pro with applique, a satin stitch would look very nice.

10. Pin cape pieces right sides together and stitch using a 1/2″ seam allowance. Leave a six inch opening on the bottom for turning it inside out.

11. Trim seam allowances and clip curves (clip valleys, notch mountains).

12. Turn the cape right side out and press.

13. Edgestitch around the entire cape (using black thread on the top and red thread in the bobbin).

Try the cape on your child and mark where you want the velcro to go. Stitch velcro on.

All done! One happy little boy (or girl)!

***Please do not sell items that you make from this tutorial or with my applique patterns. I offer the applique patterns for free, but they are copyrighted images, so they shouldn’t be sold. ***