Kids Superhero Barber Cape From Souvenir Capes

During a recent trip to a Six-Flags amusement park I kept seeing kids running around wearing this DC superhero capes. I found out that they were only $10 at the gift shop and I had a buy one get one free with my season pass. The entire day I kept thinking that it would be really cool to do something with these. I'm not sure when but shortly before the end of the day I had the idea to make a barber cape for my friend who is a hairdresser to use with some of her younger clients.

• 2 children's superhero capes from Six Flags (Wonder Woman)
• matching ribbon for edging (blue with gold stars)
• thread in appropriate colors (blue, white, gold)
• brass sew-on snaps
• sewing machine
• seam ripper, hand needles, scissors
• embroidery machine (optional)

The capes as they come are tapered in the shape of a triangle and are too small around the neck area to serve properly as barber capes. Even if sewn together the upper area would still be too small and not provide enough coverage over the shoulders. We need to widen the neck line to provide an overlap. To do this we will perform a little surgery on the capes.

The Wonder Woman capes that I chose for this project have white side panels with red stars. Using the seam ripper carefully rip the seam connecting the center panel to one side panel on each cape. Rip the left panel off of one and the right panel off of the other. When ripping seems be careful not to poke through the satin fabric as it is very delicate. At the end of each panel continue to rip the trim from the bottom and around the neckline, leaving the trim attached to the center panel.

Where the two outer panels were removed from the center panels the center panels will be sewn together.

Cut each side panel into 2 parts, 1/3 of the way from the top. The side panels have 9 stars each on them so there will be 3 stars on the top part and 6 on the bottom part.

Now take the bottom part and lay it out flat on your table. Take the top part from the opposite side and rotate it 180 degrees and lay it on top of the bottom part with the existing edging overlapping the bottom ripped edge. Pin this seem.

Repeat this in the opposite direction for the other side panel pieces.

On your sewing machine use a blue top thread and either a blue or white bobbin thread with a straight stitch to sew along the existing trim stitching the two pieces together.

Using blue top thread and white or blue bobbin thread, seam the two large center panels together along their ripped edges.

On your table top lay out the center panels face up and slip a side panel under the edge. Line up the top edge and adjust the position until the outer panel outside hem just slips under the edge of the center panel. (See photo.) Pin this seam. Repeat for the other side.

Sew these seams on your sewing machine using a straight stitch.

I used 2 cm wide blue ribbon with gold stars for the top hem and trim. To prepare the ribbon fold in half lengthwise and clip it at intervals and then iron it flat. Remove the clips and finish flattening the ribbon.

Slip this ribbon over the top edge and stitch along the length to form a hem.

Using a hand needle and gold thread, sew the snaps unto the neckline of the cape. Position one part of the snap on the inside of the cape and the other part about 12 inches away on the outside of the cape. Sew all four snaps in the same way right next to each other (see photo) In this way we create an adjustable neck line.

This step is really just optional and the directions will really depend on your embroidery machine instructions. However I will say that because of the nature of the fabric it is absolutely necessary to use a stabilizer when embroidering on this fabric.