Super Malcolm!

Malcolm was invited to a Super Hero party at a karate studio and was instructed to dress up as his favorite super hero.  I tried my best to explain to him what a super hero was, but he was wasn't really understanding.  It didn't matter.  He had a blast and was so sweaty when I picked him up.  When I walked in, they were having a marshmallow fight; adults vs kids.

Rather than be a specific super hero, I decided that I would just make him a cape to wear. I asked him what color he would like and he told me, "Light red." Great. In my head "light red" equals pink and I was trying to decide if I should just make him a pink cape or try to talk him out of it. Since it was a friend from school who invited him, I was afraid that there might be some of the older kids from his class there who might say something that would hurt his feelings.

My mental stress was for nothing. I took him to the fabric store and told him to pick a color from the rainbow of broadcloth. He again said, "Light red," and I had him show me which one he meant. As far as I can tell, it is red, red. Maybe a little on the orange red side instead of a blue red, but no where near pink. I offered that he could choose two colors, but he only wanted red. Did I mention that this was the day before the party? Nothing like starting a project early.

I looked at several online tutorials on sewing a cape, but none were really what I was looking for. I took a little bit from a couple I read and added my own ideas. I didn't want it to tie around his neck, so I used velcro so that it will come loose if he gets caught on something or someone pulls on the cape. I wanted the neck to have a little give, so there is hidden elastic cased inside the fabric. Then I sewed ribbon on to the elastic and put the velcro on the ribbon. I rounded the corners of the velcro so that it won't poke him in the neck. I also used a longer piece of the soft side of the velcro and a small piece of the sticky velcro so that it is more adjustable.

Lastly, I wanted to put an emblem on the back of the cape. I didn't want anything too violent or aggressive, so I settled on a lightening bolt (partly because the pattern was really cheap).


The finished product.



From the front. He said that it didn't pull on his neck during the party and that he wore it the entire time. I saw him do plenty of running around and it seemed to mostly stay in place.



The back.



From the side. I didn't want it so long that he would trip on it, but I'm glad I went a little longer than the suggestions I saw to have it stop at the lower back.