Easy Fleece Superhero Cape

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Today is Day 5 of Read Across America Week, and my week of book inspired crafts. There is only one more left after today. Each day I have shared a book that I loved but for the last 2 days I have chosen books that are favorites of others in my family. Today's book is a book that has special meaning to me because it is a favorite of my oldest daughter, the book is a graphic novel called El Deafo.

When my now 14 year old daughter was younger she was really not a fan of reading. She was a good reader but she didn't like reading. To better understand this story you need to know that my daughter is deaf. When you first find out your child is deaf you hear lots of awful statistics including the fact that many deaf kids will never read past a fourth grade reading level. We were not really ok with accepting this for our deaf kids and wanted to help them not only become good readers, but also come to know the enjoyment that can come from reading. 

At this point she was really struggling with reading and we had been trying to help her find books that interested her but nothing clicked. She just wasn't into it. Then one day a friend of my husband's told him about the book El Deafo. He figured with 3 deaf kids we had probably heard of it but we hadn't. My husband immediately went to the library to check it out. Eliza went with him and he showed her the book and read her the first few pages. Next thing we knew Eliza had taken the book and didn't put it down until she had read it completely through 2 times. She took it to bed to read it, she read it all the next day. We would hear her laughing out loud in her room as she read the author share a story based on her experience of being a deaf girl in school. 

I 100% believe that the reason my daughter connected so much to this book is because she saw so much in the story that she could relate to. The author was a deaf women and the story was based on her experiences. Eliza, as a deaf girl, really connected to the story. I feel like finding characters and stories you can relate to is so important, finding that representation where you can see some of yourself in a book. Especially for kids that may feel like they are a little bit different than the characters that you normally see. Now my daughter loves reading. She reads all the time, more than any of my other kids, she always has a book (or 2 or 3) with her, and I feel like the biggest turning point in her starting to love reading was this book. 

In the book the main character shares some of her struggles being a deaf kid, but comes to learn that her differences make her pretty amazing and her deafness becomes her superpower. We all have unique things about us that make us pretty amazing, our own superpowers, so to play on that superpower theme I decided to make a simple (almost) now sew superhero cape. 

I actually shared a reversible superhero cape pattern years ago, and for this one I decided to use my same old pattern. It is hand drawn so it isn't the prettiest pattern, but it works. But for this version I used fleece for the cape so that I wouldn't have to sew around the edges. It was super simple to cut out and the only sewing I had to do was to stitch some velcro on the neck. The sewing part only took a couple of minutes, and the cutting out was super simple too, way less time to make than the reversible version I made previously. They are easy enough that they would be super easy to make for a superhero party as favors or something like that. Everyone can put on their cape and celebrate the things that make each of us amazing!

How to Make an Easy Fleece Superhero Cape

You will need:

• 2/3 yard fleece 
• velcro
• scissors
• Superhero cape pattern PDF
• sewing machine
• coordinating thread

Instructions:

Print the pattern PDF and tape the pieces together along the dotted lines.

Cut the cape out of fleece placing the straight edge on the fold

Cut a strip of velcro 2"-3" long  and sew to the neck pieces.