Batman Costumes!

Long, long ago Delsin asked me to make him a super hero cape.

Like several years ago when I made this cape reversible cape for Tristen's birthday.

I made this tutorial for the super hero cape.

Bless his heart, I have carried that to-do list around for three years now with his super hero capes nearly at the top of it.

I was going to make him a Superman cape too, and still plan to, but I didn't have the fabric in the house (it was at our storage unit) before Christmas.  So I got to thinking, "Batman had more than just a cape.  He also had a mask."

Then I got to searching the internet for a mask tutorial and came across this awesome tutorial.  I found it at The Life Of A Compulsive Crafter. 

They were a total hit too.

On Christmas morning Delsin opened his first.  He was so excited he put it on right away and immediately jumped up, put one fist out and took off running through the house.

Enoch saw him come running back and started begging him to let him try it on.

I just told Enoch to let Delsin play with his new gift and for Enoch to open a gift.  

Eventually he got to his costume and the real fun began, for me.

I was so happy to see them love their gifts.  And it really didn't take a lot of time to make.

Check out the tutorials, you'll see how easy it is.

Reversible Super Hero Cape - Tutorial

I just finished making my first project of the new year.

My sweet nephew just turned 6 years old and I think he's going to love this.

I was not sure what to get him and with Christmas going on I waited till after his birthday to get started.

I asked him what he got for his birthday and he said, "Just what I wanted!  I got a Captain America costume." 

Well that was music to my ears, because I'd been wondering if he'd like a personalized super hero cape.  Captain America doesn't wear a cape, so this might be a nice addition to his costume.  I know he has also had an affection for Batman, so I decided to make it reversible.  Here is a tutorial so that you can make one for your little super hero too.

What you will need:

- 1 yard of fabric per side, and 3 scraps of fabric for appliques.

-  Thread to match each color of fabric

-  3" of loop and 1.5" of hook

1.  The first thing I did was cut a rectangle 30" X 33".  Then I folded it in half length wise.  I rounded the bottom just a bit cutting 1 3/4 inches off the raw edge side.  Then I angled the sides by taking the raw edge and cutting a triangle.  4 1/2 " taken off of the width at the top.  Finally I cut the curve of the neck.  6" (across the top) X 4 3/4" (on the fold).

2.  Now take this shape (still folded) and place it on top of another color of fabric (folded as well).  Cut out your other side of the cape.

3.  Now you want to draw and cut your appliques.  I drew this Batman emblem directly on my fabric, on the fold, with a pencil.  I love using pencil.  They are always readily available and they erase quite nicely, in the event of a mishap.  My applique turned out to be 8" X 5".

The letter "T" for my nephew's initial is 4" X 7".  I also cut it on a fold. 

And the background for the "T" to go on I just winged it.  I'm sure you can tell.  Making sure it was big enough to fit the "T" in, and small enough to fit nicely on the back of the cape.

4.  Now it's time to sew the appliques together.  First you want to sew the "T" to the explosive looking piece using a satin stitch.  If your machine doesn't have a satin stitch then you can use your zig zag stitch on the widest setting and the shortest length setting.

- Now the explosive looking piece is sewn to the cape.

- Next sew the Batman emblem to the back of the black side of the cape.

5.  Now you want to place your cape pieces right sides together and sew around the edges.  Be sure to leave a gap so that you can turn it right side out.  Trim your corners so that they won't be bulky when you turn the cape right side out.

6.  Turn your cape right side out, press, and sew up the gap.  Continue the stitch as a top stitch all the way around the cape.  1/4" from the edge.   When doing this I use one color of thread in the bobbin to match the appropriate side of the cape, and the thread on top to match that side of the cape.  So here I have yellow thread on top and black thread in my bobbin.

7.  Now attach your hook and loop.  I cut the hook a little shorter than the loop because I don't want the risk of my nephew being scratched by the hook if he doesn't need to cover it completely when securing the cape around his neck.  I sewed black hook to the black side of the cape and yellow loop to the yellow side of the cape.

And now you are done!

How to Hem Pants - tutorial

Ever had a pair of pants that were just too long?

Almost everyone has.  Many of my friends pay to have their pants hemmed shorter.

While hemming some pants for someone else I decided to do a tutorial to hopefully help anyone out there who would like to learn how.

I'm using my sewing machine, but you can do similar stitching by hand.  In fact, until I learned how to use the hem stitch on my machine I did all my blind hemming by hand.

 A blind hem is a hem that you can't see as easily as a regular stitch, through the fabric.  

The first thing you want to do is to pin the pants up at the appropriate length.  The pants that I'm working with are quite a bit too long.  They are for a little boy.  His mother wants to keep the extra length so that they can be let out as he grows, so I am not going to cut the extra fabric off.  I am simply going to fold it up into the pants and put my hem in high enough to keep it held up.

Next you are going to kinda flip the bottom of the leg inside out.

In the above photo the existing bottom of the pants is on the right and the area that will be sewn to it is folded over on the left.  You will not be able to see this angle once the pants are hemmed.

You want to pin this so that your fabric stays looking nice and flat.  Otherwise, when you get done sewing around the pants leg you will have a gap at the end of the stitches and it will not look nice. Just take your pins out as you come to them so that you don't break your needle or bend the pins.

Now you want to choose your hem stitch.  #15 on my machine is the blind hem stitch to be used for knit fabrics or elastic.  #16 is for woven fabrics.  The pants that I am hemming are slightly stretchy so I will be using #15.  You may be able to tell by the diagram that several smaller stitches will be produced in the right side of your fabric, then one stitch will go into the folded fabric on the left. If you are doing this by hand then you are probably going to end up with a stitch that looks more like #16.

When you sew you want the one stitch that goes off to the left to only catch a single thread on the fabric.  This is what makes it a blind hem.  It's kinda difficult to do.  If the stitch is too wide it will be seen from the right side of the fabric.  If the stitch is too narrow it won't catch at all.

When you are done going all the way around check to make sure you don't have any gaps in your hem, just in case you didn't keep the fold close enough to the needle while sewing.  Then turn your pants legs right side out and admire your work.

I have a new baby!!!! And lots of new projects to blog about.

Enoch Alexander is his name, and I have made a few things for him that I will post in this blog entry.  I've done a lot of sewing since August, in fact. So I'm going to take the time to post them now.

Pictured here is my neice wearing a pillow case dress I made for her 2nd birthday.  Kai wanted a picture with her cousin too.

For Carolina's first birthday I made her a pillow case dress too, and a matching bib.  I'm not very great with the bibs.  I always make the neckline too big and so it gapes open.  I need to just use a store bought one for a pattern when I make the next one.

Daniel made Carolina's birthday cakes.  Didn't he do an awesome job?

In September I made Delsin this cute outfit.  The shirt is made from a fabric that has Batman and The Joker on it.  He had a pair of pants that still fit, but had holes in the knees, so I sewed a patch in each knee, from the inside of the pants.  That way there would be a Batman looking out of one hole and a Joker looking out of another hole.  He loves it!  He went through a phase of wanting to fix his hair like Justin Beiber.  Thankfully that is over now.  lol.

It was so hard to get the lighting right on a photo of these patches.  This was the best I could do, sorry.

These are some neck pillows that I made for my sister and brother in law.

A pillow case dress I made for Kai.  You can't see them, but it has matching pantaloons underneath.  Usually the ruffle that matches the bottom strip of fabric on the dress, is all that is visible on the pantaloons.  It is a cute outfit, and she always gets lots of compliments when she wears it.

This outfit is probably already on the blog a few years back because I made it for Kai when she was about Carolina's age.  It's a terrible photo since it's all twisted around.  Carolina is trying to do a dance video game with grandma, in this picture.

Here is Enoch's birthday suit that I made him.  A kimono with matching flannel pants.  Very snugly soft fabric.

I also made him a matching reversible blanket.

 And a sleep sack that matches the reversible side of the blanket.

 I made these next three outfits for my sister in law's grandchildren.

This is the same outfit I made for Enoch, just a different looking fabric.

Here is a maternity dress that I made for myself.  I cut my head off because of the squinting look on my face as I was facing the sun.  I wanted a picture of the sunflowers before it was too late.  I may have waited too long though.

 

I'm really proud of my latest creation.  I made this jacket for Delsin this week.  We both love it.

I've also made several diapers for Carolina and Enoch, but I forgot to take pictures of them.  Maybe I'll get around to it the next time I make a couple in a day or two.  Right now I have to go put another layer of paper mache' on a planet earth costume for Delsin.  He wants to be planet earth with his head being the moon and his fingers being the stars.  Not sure what we're gonna do for the moon part yet.  Then I want to make him a shirt out of some dinosaur flannel I have, to wear to school on Wednesday when he presents a dinosaur project to his class.  Kai wants to be a pink princess for Halloween, so I have that dress to make too.  Whew!  I need to get started.

Here's a little pattern info: