{ Happy Sewing } … Les Monsieurs Reversible Cape

You’ve been asking for it, so, without further ado, here is the promised reversible superhero cape for your little one.

What I used:

Keep in mind, I made this cape for my five-year old son. It should work fine for a child between about 4-6 years. If making it for an older child, I might lengthen it by a few inches, and perhaps even make it a few inches wider. You will still be able to make it from a width of fabric. Keep the neck opening as is, just place the bottom corners a bit further apart & a bit lower down.

All fabrics used are from my Les Monsieurs collection in the Retro colourway:

– 1 yd Scribble Cars

– ¾ yd Racing Stripes

– 1 yd Castle Blocks

– An 8″ diameter circle of unbleached cotton

– A 7″ diameter circle of quilt batting

– An 8″ x 5″ scrap of charcoal flannel (felt would work just fine, too. This is for the hair & facial features, so dark brown or black would also work)

– A large velcro dot or a cut velcro strip approx. 1″ long.

What I did:

I used 1/2″ seam allowances everywhere.

Fold Scribble Cars fabric in half vertically (tip: Position your fold so that it runs through the centre of a column of cars. This way, your racing stripe won’t cut into any cars).

Use the following cutting guide to cut the basic cape shape. Measure & mark as indicated and connect your markings with smooth curves. The neckhole is a perfect circle, so you can use a compass or search for something you have around the house that’s the right size.

Now use this cut piece as your pattern to cut the same piece from the Castle Blocks fabric.

Cut a 3¾” wide strip from the entire length of Racing Stripes (tip: I positioned mine so that the dashed black line is centred on the strip).

Press under ½” of fabric along both long edges of strip. With wrong side of strip on right side of cape, lay the Racing Stripes strip up the centre of the Scribble Cars cape piece, using your centre fold line on the cape as a guide. Pin in place. Top stitch ⅛” from the edge along both long edges. Trim any extra length of the strip that extends beyond the cape piece.

Clip into the ½” seam allowance all the way around the unbleached cotton circle and press seam allowance to wrong side. Insert the batting circle under the pressed edges on the wrong side. Centre circle, right side up, on right side of Castle Blocks cape piece, with the top of the circle about 5″ down from the bottom of the neckline. Pin in place. Use an invisible stitch to sew in place. Using the following template as a guideline, draw hair, eyes & a mouth onto the flannel. There are no seam allowances here as the flannel or felt will not fray.

Carefully cut out & position pieces on cotton circle. With matching thread colour, stitch in place with a small running stitch. There is no need to stitch this all the way through to the cape fabric, just catch the cotton circle with the needle as you go through, then come back up.

With right sides together, pin the two cape pieces together all the way around. Starting halfway up one side, sew all the way around, stopping about 7″ from your start point (to be able to turn piece right side out). Clip all corners & curves. Turn your cape right side out. Close the opening with an invisible stitch. Press all the way around so your edges are smooth.

Position velcro so that the two cape tabs overlap. You don’t want any rough velcro edges along your little one’s neck, so be sure that there is a comfortable amount of fabric around each velcro piece. You will have one velcro piece on a Scribble Cars fabric side and the other on a Castle Blocks fabric side.

Pin them in place and top stitch all the way around each (tip: Keep in mind that the cape is reversible, and will be seen from both sides. Choose a thread colour that will disappear on the back fabric for each one. Don’t worry about the stitching being visible on the velcro, as it won’t be seen).

And there you have it. One reversible Les Monsieurs cape, ready for action!