Dragon Cape Tutorial from The Knight Craft Book

This Dragon Cape tutorial is extracted from The Knight Craft Book by Laura Minter and Tia Williams, published by GMC

For those days when your little knight is feeling fearsome, this cape will transform him into a dragon in no time. The costume is really easy to whip up—even if you have hardly any experience with a sewing machine. The garment is not fitted, so the measurements don’t need to be exact. The great thing is that once you’ve made one, you could easily adapt the cape to make another costume, such as a shark with a fin, or a lion with a fluffy mane.

You will need

• 60in (1.5m) green polar fleece
• 18 x 18in (45 x 45cm) red felt
• 8 x 12in (20 x 30cm) white felt
• 1yd (1m) length of 1in (2.5cm) wide green ribbon
• 2 x black buttons, 1in (2.5cm) diameter
• Green and black sewing thread
• Sewing needle and pins
• Tailor’s chalk
• Scissors

When pinning the triangles and fabric, make sure the pins are at right angles so that they do not get caught in the sewing machine.

Step 1

Fold the green polar fleece fabric in half. Using the diagram as a guide, measure and mark out the cape pieces on the fleece, using tailor’s chalk. Cut two hood pieces, two body pieces, and one tail piece.

Step 2

Now make the spikes for the dragon’s back and head. On a piece of paper, draw out a triangle that has three equal sides of 2 1⁄2in (6cm). Use this as a template to cut 20 triangles from the red felt.

Step 3

Pin the felt triangles along the curved edge of one of the hood pieces, pointing inward. Pin the
other hood piece on top and sew together with a 1⁄2in (1cm) seam allowance, incorporating the spikes.

Step 4

Do the same for the body pieces, pinning triangles along the long side of the fabric. Line up the other body piece on top, pin, and sew as before.

Step 5

For the dragon’s teeth, cut a jagged strip from white felt about 13in (32cm) long, 1in (2.5cm) wide, with 1in (2.5cm) triangle spikes along the length. Pin this strip inside the top of the hood centred on the top seam and sew in place, 1⁄4in (6mm) from the edge of the fleece. For a neater finish, start sewing from the bottom of the hood and go all the way across to the other side. Trim the excess white felt 1⁄4in (6mm) from the stitch line.

Step 6

Lay the main body piece flat and, with right sides facing, line up the bottom edge of the hood with
the top edge of the body. Pin and sew them together with a 1⁄2in (1cm) seam allowance.

Step 7

To attach the tail, place it at the bottom of the cape facing inward, lining up the edges of the fabric.
Pin with right sides together and sew together with a 1⁄2in (1cm) seam allowance.

Step 8

Cut two 2in (5cm) diameter circles from white felt, for the eyes. Pin and sew them neatly onto either side of the face. Blanket stitch works well for this. Then, using black thread, hand sew a black button into the middle of each white circle.

Step 9

To make the ties, cut the length of green ribbon in half. Fold 1⁄2in (1cm) over twice at each end of the two pieces of ribbon, to hide the raw edges and to prevent them from fraying. Pin each piece onto the cape just underneath the join between the hood and body on the inside, one on each side of the cape. Sew them in place.

The Knight Craft Book

The Knight Craft Book is a brilliant new craft book from award winning Craft blogging pair Laura Minter and Tia Williams of Little Button Diaries. These creative mums have four children between them, and started their craft blog in 2013, sharing lots of fun ideas for projects to make for and with your kids.

The Knight Craft Book and The Princess Craft Book by Laura Minter and Tia Williams, are published by GMC (£6.99, available fromwww.thegmcgroup.com)