Sew a Winter Belle Cape (+ Some Chocolatey Surprises) #KinderMom

As soon as the Halloween costumes started appearing in stores in early September, Little C knew exactly what she wanted. She saw the dress and she declared: “I’m going to be Winter Belle this year. I LOVE this sparkly Belle dress, and I want a furry cape.”

Both of my girls love princesses, especially Disney princess, and their favourite princess seems to rotate with the seasons. Last year, Little C was really into Rapunzel. This year, she’s been a little obsessed with both Sleeping Beauty and Belle.

When we found out that Kinder Surprises now had Disney princess in 2 out of 3 eggs, we went crazy! (They also have Marvel heroes ones too!)

I have the honour of being a #KinderMom this year, and we’ve been sampling and playing with all of the new Kinder Suprise eggs. So far, Little C’s favourite surprise is this sparkly little Rapunzel we found in yesterday’s egg! Head on over to the Kinder page on Facebook to see their new collections.

Little C’s Belle dress was purchased, but I made her “winter cape” in an afternoon with a little bit of fabric and a few seams. Here’s how!

Materials:

• 1 yard red minkee fabric
• scraps of white faux fur

Directions:

Using the hood of a sweater that fits your child as a guide, trace a hood shape onto the minkee fabric (folded, so you make two sides) and cut it out (make sure to leave at least 1/2″ seam allowances).

Place the hood pieces right sides together, and sew along the curved top and back edge. I used my serger, but you could use a regular stitch on a sewing machine an not have to worry about finishing it because minkee doesn’t fray.

Fold the remaining piece of minkee fabric in half vertically, and then cut out a shape as above for the main piece of the cape. Mine measured 20″ at the bottom, 12″ at the top, and was 26″ long. This size fits both my 2 year old and 4 year old daughter.

Using a desert plate or ice cream pail lid, cut a 1/4 circle shape from the top of the folded side, as shown, to create the curve that goes around the neck.

Sew the hood to the neck curve as shown. I pinned mine in place, matching the centers. If your hood is too large for the neck curve, you can trim it at the ends.

I also serged around the raw edge of the hood and top of the cape for added strength, but this isn’t necessary.

Cut a strip of faux fur about 3″ wide that will fit around the top of the cape and hood. (I had to cut two strips and join them together). Sew the strip to the edge of the cape and hood with a regular stitch – sewing both sides and ends of the strip to the minkee.

Attach a snap to the top of the cape edge, an inch or two beneath where the hood joins. You could also use a button or a hook and eye, but I love how easy snaps are to install!

Now your little princess can look like “Winter Belle” (and be warm for Canadian Halloweens too, which are always blizzardy and snowy)!

We had fun with a little “Belle” photoshoot this week in our woods (the girls want to dress the same – Baby A’s dress was made by my mom a couple of years ago for Little C). I promised the girls that they could each have a chocolatey Kinder Surprise after they hugged and smiled for the camera, and it worked like a charm!

 How can it get any cuter than this?! I love my girls. What are your kids dressing up as for Halloween?

Disclosure: I’m part of the KINDER® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.