A couple of weeks ago it was that annual rite of summer for band kids:  MARCHING BAND CAMP WEEK.  If you haven’t been in a marching band . . that means long days in the August heat learning music, learning drills, marching and sweating.  To make things a little more fun this year, each day had a theme, rather like Homecoming.  Day #4 happened to be “Superhero Day”.

We’d been on vacation the week before, so hadn’t planned ahead. (Would we have anyway?  LOL).  So down to the basement for inspiration we tromped.

We found a red & silver cheer skirt, and part of an Uncle Sam outfit.  To that we added some red boot-looking spats (have I mentioned I am a sucker for “cool stuff” at thrift stores?), and blue tights.  My daughter printed out a Supergirl motif off and “laminated” it with packing tape and pinned it to the top.

But . . .we needed a red cape.

I happened to have a red robe.  I had been envisioning a Regency adaptation . . .

http://butterick.mccall.com/filebin/images/product_images/Full/B4890.jpg

See where I was going there?  But, sacrifices had to be made in the name of “Superhero Day”.

15″ Robe-to-Cape Upcycle

The first thing I did was to sew the sleeves closed.  I carefully lined them up, and sewed the arm hole shut.  Then I cut them off.  This is a non-fraying fabric so I did not need to worry about finishing any of the raw edges.

This changed the shape of the back nicely.

Then I sewed the pockets shut, and cut them off.

At this point, I wasn’t exactly happy with the shape of the back, so I took a little more fabric out of the sleeve/shoulder area.

Now it looked better in the back.

I then cut the ties off (the robe closed with a front wrap, so it had two self-fabric ties to hold it shut).  I messed with the shoulder/neck area until I liked it, and pinned the ties down, and tacked them on with a bar zig-zag.

Ta Dah!  The cape is done.  Honestly, this took about 15″ from start to finish.

Finished costume in use:

She tied for first place with Batman!  This really is a wonderfully flowy cape.  It also has just enough shape over the shoulders to help keep it in place and help keep it from sliding backwards so it is just hanging around your neck and choking you as you wear it.

Cost:  Robe: 25 cents.

I think the skirt was $3.88 (but she had already worn it last fall for “Holiday Day” during Homecoming in a 4th of July outfit), boot spats $1.88, Uncle Sam Jacket & romper $4ish (After Halloween mark down at a consignment store), plus tights.