Ever wanted to be Wonder Woman? Well here’s your chance to create your own perfect Wonder Woman cape.

Mine is made from red, white and blue chinese satin (100% polyester), some red satin ribbon for the neck and 10 sew-on fabric silver stars.

I used the internet to gain inspiration for my Wonder Woman cape and once I knew what I wanted I drew the design out on paper. I opted for a half circle cape, with quarter of the circle in red and the other quarter circle divided into 9 segments – 4 blue, 4 white and 1 red.

It really helps to make a full size template / pattern too – I used some brown parcel paper for mine. As all my pattern pieces were the size I wanted my finished cape to be  I added on a seam allowance before I cut the fabric.

To make your pattern, you will need to decide how long you want your finished cape to be. As I didn’t want a join in the middle of the main red panel the length of my cape was governed by the fabric width.

With a fabric width of 160cm, drawing a semi-circle with a 150cm radius (using a piece of string and pen) enabled me to have the luxury of 10cm for seam / hem allowances.

For the neck, draw a smaller semi-circle with the string and pen. As I wanted my cape to sit on my shoulders, rather than fit snuggly round my neck, the radius of my second circle was 13cm.

Working on these measurements, this meant my finished length of cape would be 150cm – 13cm = 137cm – enough to cover the bits I wanted to hide but short enough to be able to dance the right away!

Divide your semi-circle in half (to give you a quarter of a circle) and your first pattern piece is ready. Place your pattern piece onto the wrong side of your red fabric and cut round it – remember to add in a seam allowance!

For the other half of your cape pattern / template, divide your second quarter circle pattern piece into 9 equal segments using a protractor. This should be pretty easy to do as there are 90 degrees in a quarter circle –  90 degrees gives you 9 x 10 degree segments. Cut out your pattern piece segments.

Lay your pattern segments onto the wrong side of your fabric – again remember to  add a seam allowance. Continue cutting our your fabric until you have 4 segments in white, 4 in blue and 1 in red.

Lay your pattern piece out on the floor to check you are happy with the design of your Wonder Woman cape.

It’s now time to start stitching! As I wanted the design of my Wonder Woman cape to be seen from both sides I left it unlined and used French seams to join the fabric and hide the raw edges.

If you need a quick reminder, French seam are made by first placing the wrong sides of the fabric together and stitching a seam 5mm from the edge. Next, trim your seam allowance to 3mm. In this photo below, I’m joining a blue and white segment together.

Fold your fabric so the right sides are together and press flat. Sew a seam 1cm in from the folded edge.

Your finished French seam from the right side.

And from the wrong side – the raw edges are hidden inside the fabric. I love the French seams decorative ridges – especially for cape making as it reminds me of  wings!

Once you have joined together your 9 panels, join the two quarter circles together with another French seam.

Neaten your capes red edges with a double hem.

To finish the neck, create a channel around the edge for your ribbon to go through by making a large double hem. If you need a reminder how to make a double hem, just let me know and I’ll make a post!

Thread your ribbon through the channel and lightly gather the fabric. To stop your ribbon pulling out stitch it in place along the seam where your two quarter circles (blue and red fabrics) meet.

Neaten the bottom edge of your Wonder Woman cape with a double hem. As you will be sewing across all your colour panels (red, white and blue) its best to used a clear ‘invisible’ sewing machine thread.

Hand stitch the silver stars and Voila! Your Wonder Woman cape is finished!

P.S. Don’t forget that spin!