Super Hero Capes for a Cause

I saw this activity in Family Fun magazine around Christmas time. But things were crazy and I knew there was no way to fit this in during December. It is, however, the perfect activity to shake those January Blues.

Family Fun has partnered with Craft Hope and Enchanted Makeovers to bring super hero capes to children living in homeless shelters. They want to empower children to believe in the hero in themselves, to believe that they can rise above their circumstances and change the course of their lives. I love this philosophy and wanted to have my elementary school class participate in this service project.

Each cape cost about $5.00 to make and took about 45 minutes to an hour. It is the perfect project to do with a cub scout troop or an Activity Days group or for family night. I know the kids in the homeless shelter will love their capes because my students WERE CRAZY ABOUT THEM!

They had to put on the capes and run around the school. They were so proud of the finished product. There is no sewing involved so it is something that anyone can do.

The Deadline to mail the capes is January 31, 2014. Here is all the information that you need about the project.
Craft Hope: Super Hero Capes
Here is a super tutorial about making the capes.
Simple Instructions for Making Your Capes. We did the iron-in emblems with our class.

We made 12 Capes. I purchased 1 yard 3/4 of each color knit fabric and was able to get four capes out of each piece. *Note this is a little different from the instructions to buy 1 yard of fabric in the tutorial above. Buying one yard would have resulted in wasted fabric as you cut the cape down to 27 inches by 30 inches.

First cut the pre-washed fabric.

Then use fabric glue to create a casing for the drawstring ribbon.

While that drys, cut your emblem out of fusible web material. Then peel off the back and iron the fusible web onto the back side of the fabric you want to use. I purchased some fat quarters for our emblem designs.

Peel off the other side of the fusible web and iron it to your cape. Gather the cape and glue the cape to the ribbon. Then attach some self-adhesive velcro fasteners.

You are done! Now watch the powers of these capes in action before you send them off with your love and good wishes for success. I can't wait to see how many capes are collected by Craft Hope. I love joining with others to make even a small difference in the world.