Every time we go to the Gap outlet my son begs for one of those t-shirts with the capes Velcro-ed to the back. And it’s not just the Gap, they have them other places too. It doesn’t matter where he sees them, but he BEGS for one wherever we are. And I always same the same thing, ‘I can make that for a lot less than 30 bucks!’ We’re kinda like a broken record. Please, I can make that, Please, I can make that, Please… Get the idea?
So I finally sat down and made him one and he wore it all over town!
OK, this is super simple and can be done with old t-shirts you have around the house! My son decided he wanted Bat Man with a black t-shirt and yellow symbol and blue cape. Honestly, I didn’t know Bat Man’s cape was actually blue. Yes, my 4 four-year old son convinced me that he knew what he was talking about. I think he loved saying, ‘See, I told you so!’ when we googled images of Bat Man online!
This tutorial is a two part-er. First we did a freezer paper stencil and then we made the cape.
Supplies:
- A blank t-shirt, color corresponding to your super hero of choice.
- Fabric for the cape. About a 1/2 yard, or another adult t-shirt.
- Freezer Paper
- Your Super Hero Icon
- Fabric Paint
- Spongy Paint brush
- Xacto Knife
- Paper for making a pattern.
- Velcro
Part 1: The Freezer Paper Stencil
- Cut your image out of the freezer paper.
- Iron it on the shirt with the shiny side down (touching the t-shirt)
- Paint! Mine took a few (or more) coats of paint.
- Remove the freezer paper!
Part 2: Make the cape!
- Make the pattern. Trace the neck and shoulders. The cape will sit up along the neck of the shirt, so we want this shape along the top. Then you decide the length and width! The t-shirts I ‘knocked off’ keep the cape the same length as the t-shirt. We decided to make ours about 3 inches longer. And about 5 inches wider than the back of the shirt. After a few patterns, I ended up going straight from the shoulder to the edge of the shirt. As in no curves!
- Cut the cape.
- Hem each side of the cape.
- Cut your Velcro. I just happened to have color coordinated Velcro! How cool is that??? You don’t need it, but they do have all sorts of colored Velcro out there! Can you tell how excited I was when I found the blue? I already had the black. Ok, OK, OK! Back to the superheroes! Cut your Velcro in 1 1/2″ pieces. Position the Velcro and sew it on both the t-shirt and the cape.
5: Turn your kid into a Super Hero! Or you, if it’s for you!
So remember how I said I knew I could do it for less than 30 bucks? Well, the t-shirt was 4, the paint was 1 and the blue Velcro was 1 and I had everything else on hand. So it ended up being 6 bucks! Oh, yeah!
Which Super Hero would you be??
