The Blankie Cape {DIY}

This Christmas I decided to participate in a little gift exchange for my kiddies.

It was world wide, so its pretty exciting.

The budget was $10 a gift.

We were paired up with two boys.

One 2 and one 5.

So my mind raced to come up with a handmade goodie

{that was not a requirement, but for me always make it that much more special}.

Then I thought what little kid
superhero wouldn't like a cape, but not just a cape but a blankie cape!

What you will need to make 2 capes-

- 1 yrd a minkie fabric {which is normally $14.99 I got for 50% off}

- 2 yrd regular fabric washed for shrinkage {which was $4.99 a yrd on sale for 50% off}

- some ribbon {about 6 in}

- fabric paint and paint brush

- card stock

For my pattern I took Buggies cape and shaped it with pins into a smaller version. And then I traced it on wrapping paper and cut out for my pattern. You can easily freehand the shape, my pattern was 24 ins across at the widest point, 27 inches from the tip of the neck to the bottom and the neck was 8 ins at its widest point.

Then I cut the pattern out of the fabric and the minkie.

Taking a piece of card stock I made a letter template. Then traced it with an invisible pen.

Then painted with the fabric paint. You could use freeze paper to make a stencil or if you are super cool you can use a silhouette machine, which I clearly am not.

Once the letter is dried I added a little lighting bolt.

Before pinning the fabric inside out together, add a small piece of ribbon to one of the neck strips.

Then pin the fabric, and sewed. When you sew the ribbon part, lift it bit so it makes a loop before sewing both sides down, this is where the other neck piece will go through to hold the cape on. Leaving a small opening to pull the cape through the hole so its right side out. Then sew the hole up.

Now you will have a blankie cape!

The ribbon loop acts as the perfect way to hold the cape on, but easily pulled off.

My little model loved it.

{and yes she was dressed as strawberry shortcake, we went with it..}

It clearly will help the little kid superhero leap from a single bound...

Or twirl through their enemies...

And when they are done saving the city, they can snuggle up for some rest before the next villain comes to town...

***I apologize for the lack of pics during the pinning and sewing process, please feel free to ask any questions you may have!"***

On a serious side note:

Please send prayers and healthy thoughts our way, we need all we can get as our family

deals with a serious health concern. Thank you so much!

Halloween garland with a side of bats.

Yesterday I did a little more Halloween decorating,

you do realize that Oct 1 is NEXT weekend, right?

I made a fabric garland with scraps I had laying around.

I would show you step by step of this, but lets be honest me showing you how to cut strips of fabric and tie it to a piece of yarn does not constitute a tutorial. Just remember you are going to need more fabric strips then you think.

The other thing I did was download these bats. Trace them on some card stock and stick them on the wall, again not much in the form of a tute.

I love looking back and seeing what the kiddies looked like last year at Halloween.

It was a super easy, watch TV while you tie DIY. With what I think is a fun impact to our enterway.