Tutorial: Princess Cape

A few years ago, my teaching mentor showed me how to make these capes, so I made one for my niece's birthday. The cape has been a big hit at their house ever since as they use it to celebrate birthdays and other special days. A friend's little girl recently had a birthday, so I used the opportunity to make another! It is really quite easy, and if you can sew a half-straight line, you can sew this!
Here's what you'll need:
2 yards of princess-y fabric (one yard for each side)
1 package of single fold bias tape
sewing machine

Here's what the finished cape looks like. I would've had my little man model for you, but he was napping:)
Take each 1 yard piece of fabric and put right sides together, then pin in place. Sew all around the edge, leaving a gap so you'll be able to turn it right side out. Watch to make sure you sew the selvages so they won't show on your final product.
Clip all the corners, then use that gap you left to turn the entire cape right side out. Iron down and then sew all the way around with a 1/4" seam allowance. Make sure you sew that gap down!
Here's what it looks like after you've sewn it all down. A big piece of double-sided nothingness.
Now you'll make some pleats- I just eye-balled it to make sure they're somewhat even on both sides. You'll also want to check your fabric to make sure your fabric is going the right way. If not, you might have some upside-down princesses.:P
Then I pinned those pleats into place.
Then sewed it down about 5 inches from the top of the cape.
Here's where you need that bias tape. You need to just lay it out over the pleats you just sewed down and leave room on both sides to tie a bow. I cut two lengths of that.
Then I just pinned into place over my previous seam.
This part's a little tricky. I then took the other piece of bias tape, and using the same pins from before, pinned it down onto the other side of the cape. So I'm covering the same seam on both sides. Make sense? You're kind of making a cape sandwich with the bias tape.
It's a tiny bit tricky, but you'll then do a fairly large zig-zag stitch to hold that cape sandwich into place. This way you'll only have to sew that bias tape down one time. I also used the zig-zag stitch to hold the bias tape together on both straps.
Voila! You're finished. It's really such an easy project and it is sure to get a lot of use!
Here's the back view. Not the fabric I would choose if it were for me, but this little girl is going to love it!

Total cost:

2 yards of fabric $8.88 (Wal Mart)

1 package bias tape $1.44 (Wal mart)

Total cost: $10. 32