Homemade Children's Gift: Hooded Cape

Whether your son enjoys pretending to be a superhero or just needs a simple piece of clothing to keep him warm when a heavy coat is to much, a hooded cape is the perfect solution. Make the hooded cape yourself with a little measuring, cutting and stitching in under 2 hours. You don't need to have a ton of sewing experience, though some definitely helps, to make a cape for your child to enjoy.

Materials:
Measuring tape
Fabric
Tailor's chalk
Scissors
Iron
Sewing machine

Step 1

Measure from the back of the child's neck down to where you want the bottom of the cape to fall.

Step 2

Fold your fabric in half. Measure down the folded edge and make a mark with tailor's chalk at the length you determined for the cape. Divide the length by two and measure out from that mark half the length and make another mark.

Step 3

Draw a line with the tailor's chalk connecting the two marks. Draw another line from the top of the fabric diagonally to the second tailor's chalk mark you made. You now have a triangle marked out. Cut the triangle out through both layers of fabric. Unfold the fabric to reveal a triangle twice as large.

Step 4

Measure the height of the child's head as well as the depth, or distance from from to back. Cut two triangles that are 2 inches taller and deeper that your measurements. These two pieces will make up the hood of the cape.

Step 5

Place the two hood rectangles together with the right sides of the fabric facing each other. Sew the rectangles together along two perpendicular edges with a 1/2-inch seam allowance; leave the other two edges open.

Step 6

Refold the triangular piece in half. Cut straight across the top of the triangle, effectively removing the point, at the location where the half width of the triangle is equal to the half width of the cape's hood. To get the half width of the cape's hood lay it flat, so the two rectangles are are stacked, and measure along the bottom edge.

Step 7

Turn the hood right side out. Line the bottom edge of the hood up with the top edge of the cape with the right sides of the fabric facing each other. Sew the two pieces together with a 1/2-inch seam allowance.

Step 8

Fold the bottom edge of the cape up toward the wrong side of the fabric 1/4 inch. Iron the fold. Fold the edge up another 1/4 inch and iron that fold as well. Sew the fold with an 1/8-inch seam allowance. Repeat this process along the continuous edge -- the edge that extends from the bottom of one side of the cape to the bottom of the other side of the cape -- of the cape and hood. This creates a clean, hemmed edge all around the hooded cape.

Tips:

Use fabric paint to create a superhero logo on the back of the cape.

Use inexpensive lightweight cotton fabrics for creating a hooded cape for imaginative place. Use a heavier fabric such as fleece or flannel to create a cape to keep children warm during fall and spring when a heavy coat is too much.

Add a playful fabric trim such as ball fringe to the bottom edge of the cape.

Use ribbon to create ties for the cape if you wish for it to tie closed.