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In our house for months now the retro Spiderman and his Amazing Friends show has been a hit (Thank you Netflix)...this interest has lead to the falling in love with Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and Thor. Most people would think based on those names alone I am talking about a boy but they would be wrong..BabyBear my sweet little girl loves to have herself some daily Super Hero Adventures. As her family we are forever pretending we are hurt, need rescuing or are a Villain that needs to be vanquished. It is non-stop super hero action in our house...and always so much fun. BabyBear has even gone so far as to have already picked out her Halloween costume, of her ULTIMATE super hero Spiderman...we bought it a couple of nights ago and she has been wearing it since. In fact just last night PapaBear aka Incredible Hulk and her were battling it out before bed...nothing better than imagination brought to life and BabyBear is the Queen of that.
When I saw the tutorial on Cutesy Crafts for Retro Superhero masks I knew that I had to make those for BabyBear. I have now completed 4 of them...choosing the ones that she is most into at the moment. The only one I am missing from Cutesy that BabyBear would like is the Hulk and he will be made up today or tomorrow, depending on our time allowance. If you have a little one...Boy or Girl that LOVES playing superhero then these are for you and they are SEW easy to create (sew easy...lol corny, I know).
For today's tutorial you will need the following items:
Craft Felt in appropriate colors ( I used the Dollar store felt...and it holds up just fine...3 pieces for $1.25) Thread (in matching colors to your felt choices) Sewing Machine (If you are really good at hand stitching you could do this by hand) Scissors 1/4 inch Elastic Super Hero Templates (Courtesy of Cutesy Crafts and only for personal use) Card-stock (firm paper is the best for printing out the template on) Straight Pins Thin Black Permanent Marker
Since I found the Thor mask to be the most detailed mask I am going to walk you through it step by step. Start by heading over to Cutesy Crafts and print out your mask templates on to card-stock or some form of sturdy paper. Taking your Thor template cut all the way around the outside, remembering to remove the space for the eyes as well. With your paper mask all cut out you will now need to place it on to either a light brown as I used or skin colored felt, pin in place and cut out 2 of these shapes, eyes and all.
If you have little ones like I do you will find your template goes missing quite often...only to show up on the face of a BabyBear. She was too excited to wait for the cloth ones and enjoyed herself running around with the template in its place.
Now that you have the base of the mask cut out you will need to cut off the detailed part of the template from the face and eye parts. The reason for doing this is so that you can now pin it in place on some grey felt and cut out 1 helmet piece.
With all your pieces cut out and having pinned your helmet piece onto one side of the tan felt you should have something that looks like this...
Here is where you will either start with threading a needle or your machine. I use a machine where I can as I find I don't have the patience for hand stitching and get too bored too quickly when I have to do it. Either way thread in to your weapon of choice a white thread. Starting with the very center of the mask you will need to sew a line from the nose up to the top of the mask.
Then placing the side of your sewing machine foot against the middle line you just finished sewing, you will need to sew a line down from the top of the helmet, just until your needle lines up with the corner on the bottom of the helmet. This will create that diagonal line you see on my mask heading in towards the nose line. Repeat this same idea on the other side of the nose line so your mask looks even.
At this point your mask should look like it has the Triton Tridenton it. You will now need to line up your fabric in your sewing machine so that the edge of your foot meets the top edge of the mask and your needle meets the edge where your mask wings join to the top creating a corner...
Learned something new...it is easier to see where your are pointing if you look at what your filming directly and not through the camera.
Sewing a straight line towards the center, stop and turn when the side of your foot reaches the small corner before the edge dives down to a point at the nose.
The last detailed areas on the mask are the 3 lines on either side that travel up the wings. I found the easiest way to get these lines even and equal on both sides was to place the template down on top but just off centered.
This way I could see where the lines went, mark them on top and bottom and then removing the template I could now confidently fill in the missing parts. I used a permanent marker for this as I liked the way it showed up through the white thread. I feel that it gives some depth to the mask when it is complete.
With your lines all in place, you just have to follow them one at a time with your thread...always remembering as with all your mask stitching no matter how short or long to back stitch more than once so that it does not come apart when you are all done.
TaDa!! You now have the front piece of the mask complete.
It is time to join them up and add in your elastic at the same time...( You will need to measure your little hero's head first ...I used 15 inches of elastic for BabyBear but each head will be different) Taking both halves, line them up so that they match exact and pin them in to place with the elastic edge placed right up against the outer eye edge for durability.
It is up to you but I chose to sew the entire helmet part first with white thread on the top and tan thread on the bottom... once I got to the face part of the mask I kept the tan thread on the bottom and added in a tan thread to the top. This way the thread tends to blend into the felt better on different colors. Remember to not only sew all the way around the outside but to also sew all the way around the eyes sockets. This will ensure a better playing experience for your little one and less stretching of the fabric with their constant on and off play.
VOILA! ...you now have a superhero mask for your own little superhero adventurer. Be forewarned that this will most likely not be the only one you are going to make and yet it is so worth all the tiny details to see their faces light up with wearing your creation.
Meet Super Sam...he just had to get in on the action too...
I will be creating a Wonder Woman Mask in the very near future at the request of my Best Friend...so stay tuned for that tutorial and template.
Now Go Be a Kid...and rescue someone or slay a Villain today! We would love to see your mask creations so please feel free to link up below.
