Dress Up Cape tutorial

So here's my take on the No Sew Dress Up Capes.  We offered a class to make these for our Super Saturday and didn't get every many to sign up for it.  I guess my local peers don't share my passion for making new stuff out of old stuff.

Supplies:

*Old adult sized crew neck t-shirt (colored ones are most fun. So if all you have are whites, you may want to think about dying them first.  Our thrift stores have tons of giant colored t-shirts for like a buck, so don't even think about using a brand new one!!)

*Scraps of accent fabrics to make your logo (the more sparkle the better in our family’s opinion. And note that fabrics that fray less are easiest to use… like the sleeves from a different colored t-shirt you cut up for another cape? :) )

*double sided iron-on paper (I used something called Heat n Bond.  I like it in the roll, but sheets work too.)

*iron & ironing board

*scissors

*pencil

*design ideas

Instructions:
-Cut the sleeves off of the shirt.

-Cut up the side seams of the shirt.

-Unfold the shirt and refold in half down the center with the shoulder seams matching and the back of the shirt out of the way.

-Lightly draw an arc from the shoulder seam to about an inch or two below the center of the front collar’ edge.

-Cut through just the front side of the shirt, along that arc.

-Trim the under arm area so that it makes a smooth line from the shoulder to the bottom hem.

(Here's where I sort of forgot to take any more photos, but the process is a lot like this was.)

-Trace your logo shapes onto the paper side of the iron-on paper, remembering to reverse any letters. Roughly cut out your traced shapes.


-Lay the fabric scraps for the logo with the wrong side up on the ironing board. Put the iron-on paper with the textured side down on top of the appropriate fabric scrap and iron according to product instructions (usually a few seconds on a medium heat.)

-Cut fabric and paper to the correct shapes.

-Peel the paper backing off.

-Lay your shapes out on the back of the cape. (Sometimes I’ve turned the shirt/cape inside out and used the inside of the shirt if there were too much printing on the outside.) Determine which shapes are behind others and iron those down first, following the product instructions. Continue to layer and iron until you’ve got your completed design. -voila!

-At this point I’ve also used waterproof glue to adhere jewels and such.
If you wash this on dedicates, most of the iron-on will stay stuck for a few washings. If some edges come up stick them back down with waterproof fabric glue. If you know you are going to be washing it a lot, I’d sew around the edges, but then it wouldn’t be a no sew dress up cape now would it!

Here are a couple of variations we've made to get those creative gears turning...
*use the extra fabric from the front of the t-shirt to make a hood.

*We left more fabric in front to make room for a knight's crest.  (Only a really tough knight can pull off argyle, no? :) )  J absolutely LOVES all the jewels I put on the back and S can hardly keep her hands off it.

*Next up, S is pining for a Christmas angel cape.  We are going to make a slit up the back’s middle & cut the two resulting side to be shaped like wings.  I'm planning to use some of the leftover front and sleeves to make feather shapes to add dimension.  Real feathers might be nice too, but then a bird would have to die!