Use a Chenille Bedspread to Sew a Little Girl's Spring Capelet

Chenille bedspreads have long been a guilty pleasure of mine. I can never seem to pass one up at a yard sale, thrift store or auction. I have quite a collection of beautiful colors and some ugly ones too. I have a friend who runs a second-hand store, and she is always holding back ugly ones for me. She knows she doesn't have a prayer of selling them to anyone else but me. I think they are wonderful. I use them for a variety of Halloween and holiday crafts.

The pastel colored chenille bedspreads remind me of kids, babies and springtime. With the help of writer, Jo Brielyn, I decided to make little girl capelets to sell with my spring crafts. Jo measured her daughter, to help me get the proportions of my sample capelet correct. This capelet can be custom made to fit any size child. It can also be altered to fit an adult.

Materials Needed:

Measuring tape
Wrapping paper
Scissors
Calculator
Compass
Chenille bedspread
1-yard lining fabric
Straight pins
Rick rack
Sewing machine
Cookie cutters or clip art
Felt
Embroidery floss

Steps to Make the Capelet:

Step 1
Measure the child. With the child's arms hanging straight down at her side, measure from the tip of one elbow, up the arm, over the shoulder, across the neck to the other shoulder and down to the other elbow tip. Add 2-inches to that measurement. This is the diameter measurement for the circle shaped capelet pattern.

Step 2
Cut a square piece of wrapping paper using the diameter measurement. Wrapping paper with a grid on the back works well for this. Fold the paper in half, forming a rectangle. Fold in half again to form a square. The square will have two raw edges and two folded edges. The corner point between the two folded edges is the center of the original large square. Fold the square into a triangle, matching the two folded edges. Repeat the folds until the width of the folded paper is a couple of inches wide. Trim the raw end even. Unfold the paper and you will have a circle. This is the pattern base for the capelet.

Step 3
Measure around your child's neck. Allow the measuring tape to lay loosely around the neck, you do not want the finished project to be too tight. Divide the measurement by pi (3.14) and round up to the next highest 1/2-inch. This is the diameter of the neck opening. Using a compass, draw a circle for the neck opening in the center of the capelet pattern. Cut out the neck opening circle. Cut from the outside edge of the capelet pattern, along one fold line to the neck opening. This is the front opening of the capelet.

Step 4
Lay your chenille bedspread, right side up on your work surface. Place one layer of fabric on the chenille, right side down, for the capelet's lining. A yard should be plenty. It needs to be a cut length of fabric at least as long as your diameter measurement. Pin the capelet pattern to the two layers and cut out. Remove the pins and the pattern.

Step 5
Cut two lengths of rick rack, 12-inches long. Sandwich a length of rick rack between the chenille and the lining, with one end a 1/2-inch below the neck hole and on one side edge of the front opening. Pin the end between the layers. Repeat with the other length of rick rack on the other side edge of the front opening. Pin the chenille and lining together, around all sides of the capelet.

Step 6
Sew around the pinned edges, using a 1/2-inch seam allowance and leaving a 4-inch opening on the bottom back of the capelet. Turn the capelet right side out through the opening and press. Hand sew the 4-inch opening closed.

Step 7
Use a cookie cutter or clip art design for an applique shape. Cut your shape from felt. Blanket or whip stitch the applique to the right front of the capelet, using embroidery floss.