Capes? What do you use?

[Sirens-of-Titan]

It seems that after a while all cloth capes (as well as ship's sails) fall into disrepair. Older sets such as the Royal Knights I have from the 90's have lost their flags to time and use, and while updating an old minifigure with new leg pieces, heads, arms and accessories is easy, replacing capes and flags seems very difficult to me.

I had the idea awhile back to take a Lego cape and trace it out onto a piece of fabric, cut the contours and get a brand new cape, unfortunately most fabrics do not like to cut into irregular shapes, and immediately start to brim apart.

My greatest discovery was tracing and cutting a cape out of a sheet of really really thin leather, which yielded a rally solid, and great-looking brown cape, which resists damage, and tearing over time. I tried the same with dyed leather, and got great results. (It's a bit thicker than normal capes, but looks great and lasts for a LONG time!) The only issue with this is that unlike making paper capes and flags, leather can't be printed on, and that makes it a poor candidate for flags.

My question is; what do you use to make custom capes, flags, sails and etc.? What type of material, and how do you make graphics on it, if you do?

I'm curious to find out what techniques are out there.

[SuvieD]

In the pirates forum, you should be able to find a sail making tutorial that will answer this question perfectly. You should check it out.

As for me, I always liked the little plastic capes used in castle. I wished they were still used and had a greater variety in colors.

[LuxorV]

In the pirates forum, you should be able to find a sail making tutorial that will answer this question perfectly. You should check it out.

Here you go with a handy link

[Sirens-of-Titan]

Here you go with a handy link

Much obliged :)

[Asterios]

me, i'm currently making my Capes for my crusaders out of paper so when one gets worn just cut out another one, will eventually toughen the capes up with tape on both sides to make them last longer.

but overall this is a cheap easy method, works and only costs you the price of printing paper and ink, unless a solid color, and with paper you can print what designs you like on them, heres some of mine here:

[Sir Fred]

How do you get yours capes to look so proper Asterios? Since I've been tracing old capes then cutting them out with an exacto knife on the paper for mine and they look a lot more ragged.

[LuxorV]

I think a pair of scissors will do the trick in this case . At least that's what I used for cutting these, and I think they came out quite well.

[Asterios]

How do you get yours capes to look so proper Asterios? Since I've been tracing old capes then cutting them out with an exacto knife on the paper for mine and they look a lot more ragged.

Scissors and this handy little gadget for cutting out the holes:

[Lego_Hero]

That's an awl, right? I'm not too sure on the name, but it's common use is for punching leather.

I bought yards of several colors of a very thin canvas. It's thicker than regulation capes, but thinner than most fabrics and leathers. My biggest problem is the hole. I've tried an exacto knife, manicuring scissors, and even a paper hole puncher, but the cut is always difficult. I may try an awl next.

[Asterios]

That's an awl, right? I'm not too sure on the name, but it's common use is for punching leather.

I bought yards of several colors of a very thin canvas. It's thicker than regulation capes, but thinner than most fabrics and leathers. My biggest problem is the hole. I've tried an exacto knife, manicuring scissors, and even a paper hole puncher, but the cut is always difficult. I may try an awl next.

its a leather punch (or maybe called an awl too, not sure) but its large setting is good for head holes and second to large for arm holes from what i've found out, and I love it.