Avon bath cape: tutorial

It’s vacation time again, time for our kids to enjoy 2 months of free time, do what they feel like (in moderation ;-)) and relax.
Time for mom to provide the girls with new bath capes, which they can easily put on after a dip in the pool or after a bath/shower.

I always use the Avon cape pattern for this, free to download for members of the Bel’Etoile patterns facebook group.
You can use the pattern for sewing capes in sizes 80 to 164 and in less than an hour you will have a freshly sewn bath cape ready 😉

For this tutorial I will sew one in stretch terry cloth fabric.
This is a lovely soft fabric that absorbs water and is comfortable to wear.

Sewing this fabric can be challenging, so I always choose to use the Three-Sole Walking Foot with Seam Guide #50 on my BERNINA 480
That walking foot ensures that the layers of fabric are transported evenly and you get a beautiful result.

BERNINA 480

The B 480 is made for all sewers and hobby tailors who love beautiful design but also sophisticated automatic features. A brilliantly simple machine.

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Three-Sole Walking Foot with Seam Guide #50

With three soles for sewing, quilting and topstitching ✓ Perfect fabric feed and even stitch formation ✓ Seam guides help you sew with precision ✓ Materials that are stretchy or tend to stick ✓

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For the finishing of the seams I use my overlocker, the BERNINA L 890

BERNINA L 890

The L 890 is perfectly suited for working with all types of fabrics, including knits as well as wovens. With One-Step BERNINA Air Threader ✓ Intuitive operation via touch screen ✓ Fast, precise & quiet ✓ Manufactured by BERNINA ✓ 100% designed and engineered in Switzerland ✓

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Ready to dive into this fast sewing adventure?

Requirements

-Avon pattern (free download in this Facebook group)
-fabric (see pattern for recommendations and requirements)
-thread
-sewing machine
-overlocker (optional)

Tutorial

1.Shoulder seams

Pin shoulder seams of front and back together, right sides facing and stitch.

Finish seams with your overlocker or use a zigzag stitch.
Press seams towards the back.

Walking foot detail. It transports both layers evenly to get a nice and clean result.

2. Preparing the hood

Pin the two mirrored hood pieces together, right sides facing.
Pin the rounded seam.

Stitch the rounded seam and finish with your overlocker or use a zigzag stitch.

Press seam and turn hood right side out.

Finish hemline of the hood with your overlocker or use a zigzag stitch.
Don’t finish the neckline of the hood (yet)

Press hemline of the hood 2cm inwards.
Stitch into place and press.

I don’t use pins when sewing simple straight seams with the three sole walking foot. The layers are perfectly kept together.

3.Attach hood to cape

Pin your hood to the cape, right sides together.
Align center back of hood to center back of neckline and pin.

Keep pinning towards the front until the hood pieces overlap each other by 1cm at center front.

Stitch hood to neckline.
Fold hood into place and finish the seam with your overlocker or use a zigzag stitch.

4.Hemming

Finish all seams, all the way around, with your overlocker or use a zigzag stitch
Press all seams 2cm inwards, all the way around.

Stitch all the way around and press.

5.Closing side seams

Place side seams of front and back pieces together, wrong sides facing.
Measure your cape from shoulder to seam and mark the center of that line using a pin.