Super Hero Masks and the Pink Cape

After considering my gift offerings, I decided one more little thing would round out the gift and perhaps a mask was it. I printed off some templates and in addition to a cape, my four year old wished for a mask too.

There were many mask templates to choose from. This template looked good. I ended up printing two sets and trimmed one down a bit. I considered adding interfacing, but decided against it. I cut the two layers of felt and added 13" of elastic. I did add a tiny square of felt over the elastic edge before sewing it down. I sewed through the larger mask piece, the elastic, and the felt square. It seems secure enough. When creating the one for my daughter, I decided to add some sparkle to it with hot glue. Other embellishments at the corners would look cool too.

I've made capes before for my kids and as gifts, but somehow I hadn't ever made such a big and flowing cape.  I've often used one layer of a material that doesn't fray like knit or Lycra and didn't even finish the edges.

And maybe we have never taken our capes outside before.

The combination of the bigger cape, the outdoors and perhaps just enough wind made for the most delightful new plaything. The day before, Kessa had tried out the gifting one and had a ball. Well, once she had her own it was just the best. She raced around letting me take pictures of her and then she said she just wanted to play. I captured some of that too. Now we know, the right sizes capes are super fun. Now the ten year old has requested one...

Super Hero Birthday

We have a friend who is turning four and is very much into super heroes. This theme has so much potential for gifting. I started brainstorming cape ideas and also offered to make a birthday "4" shirt.

From my stash I had this great Marvel print that was perfect for a birthday shirt. After looking at some other birthday shirts, I saw the idea of having a comic Pow! speech bubble behind the number.  I think it looks cool. I was going to use the Marvel font for the four, but it wasn't right. I ended up using a Super Mario Bros font. 

For the cape, I thought it would be cool to have the birthday boy's first initial on the back in batman colors. My husband suggested the batman shaped bottom edge. I had intended to follow a tutorial I had found earlier this week, but when I laid everything out, the dimensions seemed too small.  I loosely used a cape I had made my daughter last winter and used the plate tracing suggestions from the blog post. 

The "V" is from a superman font and has a great look to it. The circle is from an 8" plate. 

I took a few picture to help me remember the sizing for next time. Also, the points I made along the lower edge ended up being sewn less pointy. The outside is black and the inside is blue.

  

I asked my daughter to try on the cape a couple times. She was mostly cooperative, but admitted she didn't like the colors much. I asked if she'd come outside and wear it for pictures. She had a ball running around with the big flowing cape on. I think the birthday boy will enjoy it too. In addition, she did put in a request for a pink cape. 

It's been a long time since I've had a little boy and it was fun sewing little boy things. 

Cup and Bag for Preschool

For my daughter's preschool, she needs to bring a cup for snack each day. I think that is a great idea instead of using paper cups. When my older daughter went to preschool, cups were provided and washed. But bringing every time works too. Because they will bring home dirty or at the very least wet cups, a bag needs to be provided too.

One option, of course, is to use one of the cups we already own and use a plastic bag. But then we'd have no fun project. So I sought out a new cup that might even be fun. No such luck. Due to my plastic aversion, there aren't too many cup options. We already own stainless steel tumblers, but when I saw a stainless steel mini mug with double wall construction, I decided that would be a better option for us.  And after carrying bin after after bin of fabric when relocating my fabric stash, I knew I wanted to use up some of the PUL from diaper making days.

The little bag was super easy. I had a 7" zipper on hand and the PUL. I utilized a small bit of cotton at the ends of the zipper. 

For the mug, I read a bit about using paint or permenant marker on stainless steel. I wasn't sure what might stick. Finally I saw nail polish mentioned and thought that was worth a try. I wanted to write her name fancy, but my painting skills are not the same caliber as my sewing skills. After some test runs, I settled on a flower and added sparkle nail polish as the final coat. I did write her name on the bottom with more nail polish.  I hope it all washes well!

Lanyards

I wanted a little something extra for birthday gifts for my nieces.  They are teenagers now and I thought a lanyard might be nice.

Using quilting fabric folding onto itself made this a very simple project.  I opted for no interfacing this time and we will see how they hold up.

I made a shorter version for my keys.  Because it's just fabric, it takes up little space in my pocket.  It's also a good size for looping around my bag or purse handle.

Sackpack repair

My son's backpack was still in good condition, except for where the straps came through the pack.  I remembered making hand stitched eyelets long ago and thought that would be a good fix. Fortunately I have my free motion foot for quilting and using that helped a lot.

First I took a square of heavy interfacing and a square of black bottom weight fabric. I lined them up under the holes and sewed a couple circles.

Then I trimmed the excess fabric and cut a smaller circle in the center. 

  

Back to my sewing machine, I stitched from the center hole towards the outsides like a sun around the hole a few times.   

Finally I threaded the straps through the hole. It's a much tighter fit.  Hopefully they will last all year!