While we’re still thinking about puff paint, let’s go back a couple years to when I started making this Elsa costume. (You’re going to hear me say things like this a lot.) I was originally going to make it for Eliza, who was a newly-minted two-year-old. Here she is/was!
I could never get a shot of her actually looking at the camera. (Not much has changed in two years!) So, this is as good of a shot of Eliza in the dress as it gets! Anyway, I decided to make a cape to go with this super cute dress that I got at…you guessed it…Goodwill! Emma (aged 4 1/2 at the time) went to JOANN Fabric and Craft with me to get puff paint and cape material.
I held the material against Eliza’s back to test how long the cape should be. Then, I turned to Pinterest for Elsa cape design ideas and stumbled across this template. I used this template as a guide and eyeballed it to scale as I cut the basic shape on the fold of my material…on our living room floor.
I’m happy to see that my photography skills have increased by a lot in the past two years. Most of the photos I’m using for this post make me wince, but they’re all I’ve got! However, I am kind of proud of how I used the lid from my crock pot to grade the curve at the top of the cape. I would totally still do that, today!
Who wants to do a rolled hem on tricky material? Not this lady! So, I cheated. I hung the cape over the bathtub and went around the edge with Fray Check. This stuff is so cool! It’s like a very thin, runny glue. (Be careful, because it is permanent.) Fray Check dries clear and provides a thin, plastic-like coating on raw edges and prevents them from fraying! *Disclaimer* I am an Amazon Services LLC Associates Program member.
Do you like the kids’ bathtub art?
I totally used up about 2-3 bottles of this glitter paint, FYI. Pace yourself on this next step, because my hands definitely got tired!
If you thought the photos on our living room floor were, bad, brace yourself! I did the painting on our laundry room floor in the basement, with zero natural light. Sorry, you guys! Anyway, I used a yardstick to trace a triangular design on the top of the cape. Then, I outlined it and filled it in with paint.
Painting the snowflakes was the best part of this entire project! Once again, I turned to Pinterest and a Google image search to find some designs I could use. I copied and pasted the images into a Word document, played with the sizing, and printed them.
I know that I said that painting the snowflakes was the most fun part of the project. BUT, peeling the fabric off of the plastic after the paint had dried was also extremely satisfying!
These photos re-create that process.
Here is our gorgeous, painted cape! In my next post, I will show you how I finished this cape into a piece that can be easily snapped onto multiple costumes.
