Soft-goods Capes: Need Help FAST!

I need to make some cloth capes to finish my NJC entry & what I'm getting looks like "LASER BLAST". How do I make good capes? They need to flow, but otherwise not be overly huge. I've pretty much got 10 days to perfect them or I just won't submit a half-assed entry.

Get a cheapo spandex/stretchy t-shirt (like UnderArmour only totally cheap) and use that. I picked up quite a few $5-10 athletic shirts and they make perfect capes -- the material is really thin, so it doesn't look bulky on figs, and with a whole t-shirt you can get a dozen capes. Best of all, you can pick from all kinds of colors (mostly black & blue.)

Make sure it's the thin stretchy type, or it'll look goofy and it won't flow like you want it. I cut my capes into half-circles, so they have a bit of wrap-around to them.

Here are some examples:














Hope that helps!

I've got some normal fabric that I'll try the half-circle pattern on. If that doesn't look atleast temporarily satisfactory I'll snag some of those shirts. How do you generally attach them?

[joemichaels70]

i've cut neck holes & just draped them (thicker fabric)
or put it between the torso halves & screwed them tight (thinner fabric)

if they're not hanging properly, a shot of sealant will make them stiffen up.

I've got some normal fabric that I'll try the half-circle pattern on. If that doesn't look atleast temporarily satisfactory I'll snag some of those shirts. How do you generally attach them?

Most are just neck-holes (cut pretty small, so there's less chance of tearing.

For Superman & Spawn, where the capes are "attached" I use a twist-tie to form the wrap-around piece at the neck (using Superglue to attach the twist-tie) - Superman's cape is attached from the back - I used an extra-large twist-tie so there's a lot of "slack" and then I taped the excess to his back with blue electrician's tape - and that keeps the cape pretty secure. Spawn's is attached with one of those clear plastic "rubber bands" that come with all the Hasbro figs (that hold the guns in place) -- it's hooked around his arms like a shoulder-holster and the cape is tucked under the part of the band that goes around the neck (the stiff twist-tie pretty much locks it in place.) Lots of times it's trial-n-error to get them to stay and look right. Moon Knight's cape just has a neck-hole, but his hood was a pain in the ass to position and make it look right without gluing or sewing it in place. You could always just glue them down, but I like to make most of my stuff removable (especially with Spawn, so I can do "commando mode" when I want.)

Good luck!

Not sure what you mean with the twist ties. Could you please post some pics?

I will tonight when I get home from work.

Thanks!

Instead of t-shirts; I recommend a trip to a fabric store or Hobby Lobby or maybe your WalMart has a fabric dept. You can get an 1/8th of a yard (6 feet long by about 2 handbreadths wide) for about 50 cents depending on the fabric you choose.

Fold the fabric in half when you cut the neck-notch so it's bilaterally even. I generally make my cut about 3/4 of an inch down and 1/3 inch across, like so. I *always* cut my capes bigger than I think I'll actually need so I can trim it to fit once I'm actually assembling it to the fig. I always seal the seams with FrayCheck, which is a watery superglue in the fabric dept, altho watered-down Elmer's glue has similar effect.

Thanks AV. I snagged a bunch of remnants, fraycheck, & fabric glue a while back. Hopefully I won't have to make another trip for a while.

Sorry for the delay - had to re-charge the batteries for the camera.

Here's how I did Supes' cape:






(the tape has since been trimmed & shaped to fit so that you can barely see it.)


The wire tie is from any toy package - I shaped it to fit over his shoulders, then glued it to the cape. I had to cut part of the cape around the neck area to look right, and Superglue will darken the material, so I used excess material to "bunch up" around the wire so as to hide the glue job. Then the extra wire is used to secure it to his back - once it's taped (or glued, depending on your preference), you can still shape the wire inside to conform to the figure.

The only reason I use T-shirts rather than bulk material from fabric stores is because it's too hard to find the thin, stretchy Spandex (the best for capes) in bulk. The only material I've found so far was the white I used for Moon Knight's cape - it was sold as "swimsuit liner" material and I got it at JoAnn's Fabrics. Haven't found any more or anything similar since. It doesn't take dye worth a crap, so I've had to look elsewhere for my colored cloth, hence the athletic shirts. This stuff doesn't fray, cuts great, and drapes perfectly over my figs, so that's why I use it rather than regular cloth.

Hope that helps!

go to walmart they have fabric buy spandex,

Or I can over night one to ya!!

KIlla

[Marauder_John]

Tell Killa what you need....he will make one that will knock your socks off!

The ONLY "cloth" items on my Joes are those made by Killuminati...his trenchcoats are absolutely amazing.

MJ

Dave,
I used Adrien's method to redo my Spartan cape. It's really easy to do . . .

Yay! I was helpful!