How to Make An Easy Sew Superhero Cape

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For a few summers in a row now, our entire family goes up to a summer camp – either as a camper or to serve as a volunteer. Sometimes we need to take up costumes, so here’s how to make an easy sew superhero cape.

The first camp we go to, we’ve reached the point where only my youngest is a camper. I work in the kitchen, my eldest is on the sports crew and my middle child is helping wash dishes.  This summer was our fifth summer of being up there. My kids can’t imagine a summer without going up to camp. It is a regular part of our summer.

My eldest helps out with the sports crew – for the various sports, as well as the camp-wide games.  Each year there is a theme to the camp – this year it is superheroes.  My son was asked to bring up a number of costumes to be used in the camp-wide games – in order to add to the experience and fun of the campers.  One of the costumes, of course, had to be a superhero costume. It could be a well-known superhero, but it didn’t have to be – any kind of made-up superhero would do – as long as he looked the part.

The camp had a cool logo for the week, which I turned into a t-shirt using my Cricut. I simply cut out the logo on HTV (heat transfer vinyl) using my Cricut and applied it to a blue t-shirt that I got from Michaels.  For tips on applying HTV to shirts, check out my blog post here.

 I believe a cape is an essential wardrobe piece for any superhero.  We were pressed on time and I had to come up with something fast.  I opted for red fabric – as nothing says superhero like the colour red (plus it would go nicely with the blue t-shirt, and the logo has a bit of red in it as well. Shiny fabric would be good as it would add to the glitz of the whole idea – so I opted for lining fabric. Fabric that is typically used in the lining of clothing is thin, shiny and relatively inexpensive.

I could have shopped around at various fabric stores, but I didn’t have that time as I only had a couple of days to make this.  I found 2 yards of shiny red, lining fabric at Michaels – which is probably the most expensive place to purchase fabric, but at least I had a 50% off coupon.

Essentially, a cape is just a half circle with a neck hole cut out from it.

Not many of you probably do not know that sewing is actually one of the first crafting skills I did a lot of.  I spent years quilting and making clothes, but grew tired of it. I still sew, of course, but not as much as I crochet or play with my Cricut.

This cape, however, is not a complicated project – so if you have limited sewing skills, you can make this cape.  Can you sew a line? You can make this cape.  Your sewing doesn’t even have to be perfectly straight – no one will notice.

Supplies Needed

• 2 yards of fabrics (I used shiny red lining fabric)
• matching thread
• sewing machine
• 1-inch piece of velcro (mine was sticker velcro, but yours doesn’t have to be).
• pins
• string
• piece of chalk in a colour contrasting with your fabric.

How to Make an Easy Sew Superhero Cape

While I consider myself to have fairly decent sewing skills, I must say that my mother is an excellent seamstress. I enlisted her help in designing this cape. I knew it was to be a half-circle, but I wasn’t sure what the easiest way was to go about it.

1. First, my mother had me fold the fabric in half vertically.  Essentially, there will be 2 layers to the cape, so fold the fabric in half with the selveges matching and pin in place (lining fabric is quite slippery, so pinning makes your life much easier).
2. Now fold the fabric in half horizontally. Again, pin in place.
3. Using the chalk, make a neck hole.  There is no exact science to this, just draw a neck hole – not too wide and not too deep.
4. Next, we had to make the half-circle. In order to be a half-circle, it needs to be the distance from the neck hole, all the way around. Using a piece of string, measure how long you want the cape to be. Tie one end of that string to a pin and tie the other end to the piece of chalk.
5. Put the pin end on the centre back of the cape (on the fold). I worked on carpeting so I could just push the pin straight down.
6. Stretch out the string and grab hold of the chalk.  Similarly to a compass, use the chalk (with a taut string) to create the semi-circle. How easy is that? Don’t worry if it’s not perfect – you just need a basic outline. This picture was taken with my phone and looks pink, but as I mentioned, it is red. The other pictures here are taken with a proper camera and so the colour looks better.
   

   

7. Cut along the half circle you just made – trim off the excess.  It’s probably a good idea to pin this as well as it may shift on you.
8. Cut the neck hole out.
9. When you unfold the cape, it will look like this:
   

   

10. Now all you have to do is sew up the neck hole.  Consider the 2 pieces of fabric, right sides together (lining fabric is pretty much the same on both sides, so it doesn’t make too much of a difference). Clip the seam so that there is a bit of ease to it.
    

    

11. Sew along the bottom edge. Sew half way and then stop.  Leave a 2-3 inch gap and continue sewing. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly straight – no one is going to see this.
    

    

12. Turn the cape right side out using that hole you left at the bottom.
13. Press the cape – both the neck hole, the sides and the bottom edge.  For the opening on the bottom edge, fold the fabric under (on the inside) and press so that it looks like you sewed it.
14. Apply the velcro. The velcro that I had is sticky so I just had to press onto the cape.  If you don’t have sticky velcro you can either machine sew or hand sew it on.
    

    

15. Topstitch close to the edge, all around. I sewed right on top of the velcro – even though it was sticky, I figure it would give it a bit of extra strength.  Go down the sides (which are folded) and continue along the bottom edge. Here you’ll want to try and sew close to the edge. When you get to that opening, sew it closed and no one will never notice. Don’t worry if your sewing isn’t perfect – no one’s going to look at it that closely.
16. Press – this type of fabric wrinkles easily. Iron all the sewing parts on the edges so that it lays flat.

There you go! My mother taught me a very simple, yet effective way to make a half-circle. I can’t believe that all it took was a piece of string and a piece of chalk!

This cape got wrinkled as my son threw it into his duffle bag for camp, but that’s okay. It just added to the look.  I made this easy sew superhero cape in one evening – so can you!

Want to remember how to make this easy sew superhero cape? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.