A Simple Superhero Cape

Earlier this week I made a little superhero cape for Will. He had been pretending like his sister's dresses were capes and would throw them over his shoulders and hold them by the sleeves. I figured maybe it was time for the real deal, although when I gave it to him it took a while for him to realize what it was and actually put it on. Anyway, this project only cost about $6 and took less than 30 minutes to make. Here's what you'll need:

 1. To begin, start by tracing the letter you want onto the paper. I used a 2" ruler to do this. Once you have it drawn, cut it out and pin to the yellow felt. Cut out. Lay the yellow letter onto the red piece of felt and pin. Cut around it to make a shape that looks nice with whatever letter you have chosen. It doesn't have to be perfect.

 2. Next, pin around all edges of the yellow letter. Sew as close to the edge as possible. Make sure you topstitch with yellow thread and use blue thread for your bobbin (it will look better on the back). Once you have stitched that, place it onto the blue fabric, making sure to center/level it. Topstitch around the edges with red thread, keeping the blue thread as your bobbin. Once the letter is securely attached, begin to work on finishing the raw edges of the cape.

 3. Take the two side edges (left and right) and fold in ¼", press. Fold the bottom edge in ¼", press. Return to the sides and fold an additional ¼", press. Then turn up the bottom 1" and press. It should look like the picture below. Pin in place and stitch around the inner edges to keep in place.

 4. Now lets finish the top. Since I had a selvage I was able to just fold it over ¾" and sew along the edge, but if you don't have a selvage, fold the raw edge ¼", press and then fold over ¾", press. Stitch the folded edge at ¹⁄₈". That way you have a casing for your ribbon or string to go through. In order to get your ribbon through, you may want to consider pining a safety pin to the edge and using that to guide you through. Once you have the string through, gather evenly on the edges of the cape (you want the leave the middle section ungathered so your letter doesn't get messed up). Once they are even and the string is even at both ends, stitch in place vertically before the gathering begins and right where the seam is at the edge of the fabric. This way the gathering stays in place and it will always look nice and even.

5. To finish, trim all threads, press any wrinkles out and make sure the edges of the ribbon or string are finished so they do not fray (sew, use fray check, heat treat it). Then you're done! Now you can make them in all sorts of colors!

Tootsie Pop Valentines

Katie and I put together these valentines for Emme to give to her friends + classmates at school. Katie found the idea over at Eighteen25 (their site has a lot of cute ideas for 3D valentines). They were pretty simple to put together, the hardest part was trying to get a 3 year old to stick her hand out exactly where it needed to be/ look at the camera simultaneously. But once we got the shot we added a message to it in Photoshop and had the image printed as a 4x6 at Costco. Then all that was left to do was mount the photos on the cardstock and cut two slits above and below her hand to put the tootsie pop through. These are quick and easy to make, and certainly one-of-a-kind.

Introducing: The Peacoat

Finally, it's done. I'll no longer have night terrors about it. I can't even begin to explain the burden that has been lifted off of my shoulders. It's hard to imagine just how much time and effort I've put into this project. In my advanced clothing construction class we had to make peacoats with notched or built-in collars. Unfortunately the pattern I wanted to use with my really cool wool didn't meet the requirements, so I had to choose a very basic pattern and very simple wool. I decided to design the ruffle. At first I had three tiers, but it ended up looking like a Betsy Johnson tutu gone wrong. So I ripped it off and created one slightly ruffled layer. Then we had to create a lining. I had no idea just how much work went into lining something. I can't imagine I'll ever do it again, but I've certainly enjoyed learning all of the tricks and techniques. I feel like I have learned so much in this class, I wish there was more, but that's it, I've reached the end of the road. I'm sad that I won't be around to take the swimsuit class, because I'd love to learn how to make them, but who knows, maybe I'll be daring enough to try one out on my own.

Disclaimer: 

I know this is a HORRIBLE picture and view, but it's the best I could do considering
I was in class and now the coat is in Florida. I promise it looks much better on!

Tiered Apron

I picked up a pattern book for aprons the other day at the Fabric Mill. It has six mix & match designs. I choose to stick with one and followed it, making a few adjustments along the way. I wasn't sure about the colors but I think it turned out pretty well.

Class project: New Testament quiet book

Ahhh... this was created before I knew/had Photoshop. It was made in iWork's Pages. Bad idea folks. Anyway, I made this for one of my religion classes as a final project (a couple years ago). It's spiral bound and laminated with hard lamination so dry erase markers can be easily wiped away. If you're interested in a PDF version of this, I'd love to share it with you... you can even just laminate it and hole punch it for a 3-ringed binder.

Flannel pillowcase

This little project was incredibly easy to make. It was actually a requirement for one of my GE's. I'd say it took me about 10 minutes to make (and cost about $3.00- fabric from JoAnn's). Just cut a rectangle on the fold and sew. Add a contrast band and finish. It's perfect for the winter time or just as a decoration. The best part is that you can make a case that fits any pillow you have and you get to choose the fabric!

Heart garland

This garland was so simple and fun to make. I cut out the paper hearts using the Edison machine at Archivers. Then I adjusted my sewing machine to make it easier to sew through multiple layers of paper. I changed the needle & stitch length and that seemed to do the trick. Lastly, I fluffed them up a little to give them more dimension.