It just so happens that the day before, a friend of mine shared a story about a paper-thin, washed-one-too-many-times, beloved Spiderman costume her son owns and how it caused a wardrobe malfunction at the least opportune time–with missionaries on her doorstep! It got me thinking about how I wished there were more options for boys and costumes of their heroes. There are all sorts of dresses you can make to look like Princesses or other girl characters, but boys are left with one-piece, horribly-produced, overpriced Halloween costumes that aren’t meant for the washing machine or daily wear.

So between the two, I was inspired. I’ve seen the hero shirts that have capes that velcro on them and they’re just not my style. Velcro quickly collects junk in it and loses it’s ability to stick to itself (yet manages to stick to other laundry in the washer), and it doesn’t stay on very well, no matter how new the velcro. It’s just not my favorite medium. So I decided I’d make an easy way to put the cape IN the shirt!

Why a cape? Well, because I firmly believe that everyone needs a cape.

Sofie and her best friend were so excited to help me model these! I laughed and laughed at their “tough” poses, since they can’t help but be anything but complete girls!

But they LOVED the shirts and begged me to make girl versions. I promised I would and they’re coming soon!

These shirts are great! Having the cape attached helps the little superheroes run and play to their hearts content without the chance of their cape falling off.

The Hubs kept giving me the, “NO CAPES!” from The Incredibles, but this doesn’t go around their neck and is just a bit longer than their shirt, so there’s really no chance of them getting hurt in any way.

And I know, I know, Spiderman isn’t a caped crusader. But I still firmly believe everyone needs a cape!

These shirts are extremely easy to make! If you like the logo on the chest, do a simple applique following my tutorials for applique and appliqueing curves.

Get your coordinating fabric and cut it to be a few inches longer than your shirt.

At the top, mark the neckline of the shirt on the fabric on both sides.

MEASURE THE SHOULDER SEAM. This is the key to the cape being a perfect fit. For this 5T shirt it was 4″.

Fold the fabric in half long ways, matching the marks you made for the neckline. Measure over the width of the shoulder seam.

Then cut off the excess fabric at an angle from that second mark, going down diagonally to the bottom outside corner.

Open your fabric up and you’ll have 2 matching pieces. Draw a line 1/2″ down between your 2 neckline marks to open up the middle and make 2 pieces that fit into the shoulder seam.

Put your cape pieces with right sides together and sew around the neckline, then down both sides and across the bottom. I used a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Cut the corners so they turn easier.

And make little clips in the corners at the neckline so it lays flat when turned.

Turn it right side out and press.

Now turn your shirt inside out and placing a seam ripper under the seam, rip it out. If you do it on the side where the stitching looks like triangles it’ll come right apart with ease.

Place the cape inside the shirt (that’s still inside out) the open seam, pulling it in a little to make sure it’s in there good,

then using a wide stitch, sew the seam closed.

You’ll want to replace the serged seam, so if you have a serger, go for it. If you don’t (I do, but wanted to show you this way), just go over it a few times with long, wide zigzags.

And that’s it! A permanent, washable cape.

Throw it on your favorite little hero and let them take on the world!

The post Superhero Cape Shirt tutorial appeared first on Sew Like My Mom.

The first pattern is a ruffle romper. It comes over the shoulders and buttons on the front. This one on Chloe has covered buttons that are a little hard to see in the photos.

The second is this precious dress that can be made a thousand ways! It’s got contrasting bias tape and is a quick sew.

Sofie’s favorite feature is the pockets!

And a simple button closure is the perfect detail on the back.

So, are you interested?

The post Pattern Making appeared first on Sew Like My Mom.

If you didn’t win, stay tuned for the tutorial, coming soon!

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Today starts Sew Mama Sew’s giveaway day (week)! I’m really excited to have you here and to give one of you this awesome shirt for a special little superhero in your life.

A wardrobe malfunction a friend of mine shared inspired me to create these unique shirts (tutorial to follow this week). I’ve seen plenty of superhero shirts with velcro capes, but velcro and I aren’t always friends. It’s scratchy, gets full of gunk, and after awhile it’s not quite so sticky anymore. So I decided to make a shirt that was the perfect blend of wearable costume and washable functionality for Mom but leaves plenty of high-flying imagination for your superguy. Or girl, crime needs all fighters, doesn’t it?!

The capes are attached so they won’t fall off or get lost but they’re not big enough to be heavy or get stuck in things. This is truly the most effortless cape you could ever get them!

It will blow behind your superhero as they run, fighting crime and ridding the world of injustice.

And they just look so darn cute in them!

And today I’m giving one of them to one of YOU!

All you have to do to win a custom shirt is leave me a comment telling me about the very special superhero in your life you’d give the shirt to if you won. I’m throwing in a matching mask, too!!

***Edited to add: I have GIRL superhero fabric as well! It’s a pink background and features Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Bat Girl. So don’t think this is a boy only giveaway! Let the little supergirls in your life play, too!

Details:
-Winner will receive 1 shirt and 1 mask.
-Shirt will be custom made to fit your child. Sizes range from 12m to 5T, but can go bigger if needed.
-You pick the superhero!
-Giveaway ends MAY 10 at 5:00 PST.
-Winner will be announced via email on May 12 and this post will be updated to include winner’s name.

Good luck!

The post Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! **giveaway closed** appeared first on Sew Like My Mom.

One thing that has made it easier to deal with is knowing dinner is in the freezer! I’ve done several rounds of freezer cooking since I first posted about it and I still LOVE it! I got lots of website recommendations from you guys and have fallen in love with the Crockin’ Girls. So much so that I bought their cookbook!!

I used to belong to the camp that crock pots are used for soups, stews, and all things mushy. Since starting to use my crock pot consistently, I’ve discovered there’s so much more to it than I ever imagined! In the past 6 months we’ve moved more towards as much fresh fruits and veggies in our diets as possible. But it’s still hectic to try and cook a meal with my crew, and now that I’ve got 4 kids under 5, time management is even harder to deal with and good nutrition is even more important. Add in trying to stay away from artificial anything and The Hubs prefers a low carb diet and it might seem like our options are limited. But I’m finding the opposite to be true! By getting creative, I’ve been able to come up with great entrees to go in my crock pot, and fresh sides that are easy to prepare quickly, or earlier in the day, so it still takes just a few minutes to get a healthy, homemade meal on the table.

The grocery shopping is still a little overwhelming at first. It’s not just the price, but the volume of what I’m buying, too. It’s nice, though, because my weekly shopping continues to be much smaller and easier to do quickly with 4 kids in tow.

The last few months of my pregnancy I was exhausted constantly and my feet were swollen frequently, so I would extend the number of meals I did each time to try and last us as long as possible. I decided to get the most bang for my buck and coupled a freezer prep session with a Zaycon chicken event and was able to put their amazing chicken in the recipes, cutting my cost and saving me time. I discovered quickly that chicken doesn’t need to be diced before being added to the bags, most of the time it’s easily shredded or cubed once cooked!

These are some of the recipes we’ve loved the most from the past few rounds of freezer cooking. I’ve used a lot of the Crockin’ Girls recipes from the book, so those I can’t share, but these you should definitely check out! They’re all in my Freezer Cooking board on Pinterest as well.

-Jenna’s chicken tortilla soup – This is THE BEST soup. I promise, you won’t regret this one!

-Peperoncini Beef Sandwiches
-Brown Sugar Chicken
-Hickory Smoked Brisket

-Lemon Pepper Tilapia – This has been one of the best finds so far! The Hubs is always so impressed when the fish comes out perfectly cooked and delicious. The first time I served it he asked me like 5 times, “You cooked this in the crock pot?!”

-Green Chili Pork Tacos
-Carne Asada
-Sesame Chicken (a favorite around here)
-Lasagna Soup

-Stuffed Bell Peppers
-Chicken Taco Soup
-Cool Ranch Chicken Tacos
-Cheesy Chicken Rice
-Loaded Baked Potato Soup

-Lemon Basil Chicken
-Santa Fe Chicken
-Orange Chicken
-Honey Rosemary Chicken
-BBQ Pulled Pork Chops

I have a handful of meals left before it’ll be time to stock the freezers again. Once again, I have to give high praises to this idea, and lots of huge thanks to the busy Moms who came before me and figured out these amazing recipes! I’m so happy to have a stockpile of delicious ideas to last us all summer, which will allow me to cook a hot meal without heating up the house with the oven!

The post Freezer Cooking part 2 appeared first on Sew Like My Mom.

So when one of our best friends had a party in February, I went looking for an idea of what to make him. I’d stumbled on these amazing superhero masks from Cutesy Crafts several months before and knew this would be it! In about 2 hours, I whipped up these awesome little masks!

I already had all the felt and elastic, so it was a super easy project! I used her templates and had a blast putting them together. There were a few times I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to make them the cleanest, so I’m going to share my tips.

I used 2 pieces for each mask. I cut my elastic about 13″ and sewed it to the back mask piece using coordinating thread at 3/8″ seam allowance, assuring the elastic would have 2 seams on each side and would stay put. I also left a tail inside the mask to make sure it wouldn’t unravel and get pulled out.

For some of the masks I assembled them before sewing on the other pieces. So I would pin them together and sew around the eye holes first using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Then I’d sew around the perimeter, also at a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Then I’d trim up any places the felt stuck out from the back to even up the pieces. For the Hulk, I then sewed the black hair and eyebrows, using black thread on the front and the green in my bobbin so it blended in to the back. If I’d sewn on the black before putting my mask front and back together, he’d have a green seam through his hair, or I’d have to stop halfway through sewing and change thread color.

For Spiderman, Ashley cut her pattern piece and marked on the felt as she went. But I decided to just stitch over the paper and rip it off. This made it go very fast and the lines stayed true to the pattern piece.

Also, I did just the front felt piece of Spiderman then assembled the rest, using red thread to sew around the eyes and the perimeter of the mask.

One thing I did think about when I started tracing was how to add the “wing” pieces to the masks. You’ll need to cut your mask pieces out with those shapes, too. So for Thor, for example, I cut the 2 main pieces and sewed the mask together. Then I took the grey helmet piece and sewed the details on with black thread, then placed it on top and sewed around it to attach it to the mask.

So each mask took a little bit of thought as to how to best assemble it, but the finished product was fantastic! My girls loved them and have been begging me to make more, though I have a feeling they’ll choose Doc McStuffins and Minnie Mouse over Batman and Wolverine!

The post Superhero Masks appeared first on Sew Like My Mom.