HALLOWEEN FUN
Do-it-yourself cape is like 4 costumes in one
By Holly Ramer
Associated Press
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As the mother of a toddler who rockets from obsession to obsession — goodbye astronauts, hello King Arthur! — I can appreciate a dress-up costume that pulls double duty.
But why stop there, when a bit more effort yields a reversible cape able to transform him into at least four different personas? Here's a project with the potential to head off last-minute panic over a Halloween-morning change of heart and to spur imaginative play well beyond the holiday.
You can get as fancy as you want with the details, but the basic design calls for a two-sided cape with a button-on hood and embellishments that can be tailored to your child's interests. Try a superhero-king-pirate-monster combination for adventure seekers or a superhero-Red Riding Hood-princess-butterfly version for fairy-tale fans.
The instructions below will make a cape about 18 inches long that fits a 4-year-old, but they can be easily altered for a bigger child by using more fabric.
FOUR-IN-ONE CAPE
Materials:
For butterfly: 1 yard green ribbon, 3 additional buttons
THE CAPE:
1) Fold red satin selvedge edge to selvedge edge. Do the same with the black fabric, stack them on top of each other and lay them in front of you with the fold running vertically and on the left.
2) Measure and mark three points 2 1/2 inches down from the top edge: A) on the fold, B) 2 1/2 inches in from the fold, C) 5 inches in from the fold. Draw a line from the top edge of the fabric to point B. Parallel to the line you just drew, draw another line from the top edge of the fabric to point C. Draw a third line, perpendicular to the other lines, from point C to the right-hand edge of the fabric.
3) Tie a length of string to a pen or pencil and cut it to a length equal to the width of your folded fabric.
4) Hold or tape the end of the string at point A. Stretch the string taut and draw an arc radiating from that point. Repeat, this time shortening the string to 2 1/2 inches.
5) Pin the fabric together and cut along the marked lines. Unfolded, the fabric will resemble a large half-circle with a smaller half-circle cut out of the middle and two tabs which will form the neck of the cape.
6) Make the neck closure by sewing one piece of the hook-and-loop strip to the shiny side of one of the red neck tabs, about fl inch in from the edge. Sew the other piece to the black tab on the opposite side.
7) Pin the red satin on top of the black, right sides together. Sew around the entire cape, using a 1/2-inch seam allowance, leaving an opening along the bottom for turning.
8) Turn the cape right side out and slipstitch the opening. Stop here for an unadorned cape.
9) Make six button holes through both layers of the cape: one at each edge of the neck, one in the middle of the neckline, one at each corner of the cape and one in the center back of the cape. Hook-and-loop tape or snaps also could be used instead.
THE HOOD:
1) Create a pattern on newspaper. Start with a rectangle roughly 12 inches tall and 10 inches wide. Starting at the upper left corner, draw a rounded shape that connects to the lower right corner.
2) With fabric folded right sides together, cut two hood pieces out of black satin and two out of red satin.
3) For a monster hood, cut triangles out of felt by cutting three 3-inch squares in half diagonally. Baste five of them to the shiny side of one black hood piece, lining up one side of each triangle with the curved edge of the satin.
4) With right sides of black hood pieces together, sew along the curved side of the hood. Do the same for the red hood pieces.
5) With right sides together, sew the black and red hoods together along the face opening and neck, leaving an opening for turning.
6) Turn right side out and slipstitch the opening.
7) Attach three buttons to the bottom inside edge of the red hood, using the buttonholes on the cape as a placement guide.
EMBELLISHMENTS:
1) Use clip art or your own drawings to design emblems for the back of the cape, including a background layer slightly larger than the image that matches the color of the cape. For example, for a pirate cape, draw white skull-and-crossbones atop a black outline.
2) Following the instructions on the fusible web, adhere layers of the craft felt together to make the design. Or, skip this step and the next one and simply glue the felt pieces together.
3) Hand or machine stitch around the edge of the layers. Since felt won't fray, it's not necessary to cover the edge, but a satin stitch gives a more professional look.
4) Attach a button to the back of the emblem.
5) For a king or queen embellishment, attach buttons to the back of the faux fur strips, using the buttonholes at the neckline and corners of the cape as a placement guide.
6) For a butterfly, cut two pieces of ribbon 10 inches long. Sew two short ends of each ribbon to each other, creating a loop, and attach a button near the seam. Repeat for other ribbon. These loops can then be buttoned to the corners of the cape and to make wrist straps that allow the child to "flap its wings."
Cut another piece of ribbon approximately 12 inches long and again sew the short ends together. Attach a button near the seam. This loop can be slipped over one side of the cape and buttoned to the center neckline buttonhole. Arrange the ribbon so that it gathers up the back of the cape in the center back, creating two "wings" that drape down on either side.
