When my mum recently dropped over a big bag of old fabrics I didn’t have much hope for what would be in there. But I found some gorgeous tulle and decided to get crafty!
Frankie has been really into dressing up lately, so I decided to use the tulle to make a cape. Frankie has a love for anything glittery, so of course I had to add some glitter stars to give it that magical look. Using my Cricut Maker 3 Machine and the Autopress, and some glitter gold Iron-On, I was able to create the most whimsical outfits for Frankie this Christmas!.
How to Create Your Star Designs
For this project, I needed stars. A lot of stars. The stars are really what made these pieces special, so I didn’t want to skimp on them. It was really easy to find a simple star shape on the Cricut Design Space app. I selected the star shape I wanted to use, sized it accordingly and then duplicated it to create an entire sheet of stars. Make sure you save this design as you’ll likely need to print it out a few times (I think I ended up printing 4 or 5 sheets).
Materials You’ll Need
- Cricut Maker 3 Machine
- Autopress
- Glitter Gold Iron-On Vinyl
- Weeding Tools
- Cricut Cutting Mat
- EasyPress Mat
- 2m of Tulle
- 1m of velvet ribbon
- A piece of fabric (I used a pink linen scrap I had)
How To Make A Star Cape
- The first thing I did was cut the pieces of tulle to size, I checked Frankie’s height first to determine the length I wanted.
- Then I selected and set up the star design in the Design Space app. Be sure to Mirror the image when using iron-on (I didn’t have to with the stars but it’s worth noting) and place the shiny side (clear liner) down on the mat before inserting into the machine.
- I followed the prompts in the Design Space app to cut the stars from the iron-on material.
- The next step was to use a Weeding Tool to remove the negative pieces of iron-on so just the stars remain on the clear liner. I then cut them out so they were individual stars.
- I then set up the Autopress, and used the heat guide to get the correct time and heat settings for this project. For glitter iron on that’s being placed onto polyester, it was 160 degrees for 30 seconds.
- Once the press was preheated, I laid out my fabric on the mat, and scattered the stars (shiny side up) onto the fabric.
- I then closed the Autopress and allowed it to automatically press the fabric. Once it was done I worked my way across the fabric.
- After all the fabric had been pressed, it was time to make the cape. This turned out to be so easy! I simply layered the four pieces of fabric together and then stitched a wide stitch all the way along the top. I then pulled it to gently gather it along the stitch. Once it was gathered to roughly the size of Frankie’s neckline, I did a return stitch to keep the gather in place.
- Finally, I added a necktie of velvet ribbon on the outside of the cape along the neckline.
Bonus Project: The Star Wand
To complement this little outfit, on a whim I decided to make a little wand too. I cut out two large stars onto glitter iron on, and used the Autopress to press them onto fabric. I then cut the stars out and glued them together using a glue gun, leaving a small hole on one side. I stuffed them with batting to give the star a puffy shape, and then glued a stick into the hole and the edges shut. To finish it off I added some velvet ribbon in a bow.
I’m so in love with the way these turned out, they’re just so magical looking and definitely make me feel very festive! I think following the same idea, you could also make some really cool pieces for festival outfits or even more children’s dress up pieces like a little tutu or fairy wings? The possibilities are endless.
This project is in collaboration with Cricut.
