Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Gifts; Kids' Edition {Superhero Cape and Mask}

My blogging friend, Kim, and some of her friends are hosting a Dare to DIY this month. You can read about it and follow along on Kim's blog Newly Woodwards. This week's challenge was to give handmade gifts. Now that is an easy topic for me. I love to give handmade, either by me or another crafter. The hard part is to post about it without giving a gift away to the recipient. :o) I am going to be posting a different gift idea the first three days of this week. Today's will be for kids, tomorrow's for the guys on your list, and then Wednesday is ladies day.

I recently whipped this superhero cape and mask set up for an order, but decided that it would make an awesome handmade gift for any child on your list. I used the cape tutorial from Nancy's Notions that can be found here. (The pattern is actually intended to be used for the Capes for Kids campaign. You can find out all about it here, but you can sew and donate capes for children living in shelters. Wouldn't it be great to make two capes, one to give as a gift and one to donate to Capes for Kids?)

Using felt, I customized the cape with the child's initial. But you could also use a symbol if you would like. I also created a felt mask with elastic to go along with the cape. This was a fairly simple project. I am sure a beginner sewer could tackle it. And what child wouldn't want a swell cape and mask this Christmas so that they can be their own superhero?
If you are looking for even more handmade gift ideas, you can check out this post from last year with a roundup of some of the handmade gifts I have featured on my blog.
And here are a few more:
Ruffled Tote
Fabric Luggage Tags
Coordinates Frame
Tea Wreath
ABC Cards
Wine Gift Bags