Made by: Polly Carlson

Superheros are everywhere these days and the obsession only seems to get stronger. I’ve made superhero shields before with felt, but the felt pills and looks ragged over time. Oly-Fun never pills and will keep it’s bright colors and sharp appearance over time. These make for fun summer fun or great gifts.

Instructions

Step One

Choose a shield shape to match your child’s favorite superhero. Cut out two copies of the shape from your Stiffen interfacing and two copies of the shape from your Cherry Pop Oly-Fun.

Cut out rectangles for the arm holds. You’ll want them 2″ wide and long enough to go 3/4 of the way around your child’s forearm PLUS 3 inches. If in doubt, go a bit bigger. A bit big will work…to small and their arm won’t fit. Cut 2 out of stiffen and 4 out of Oly-Fun.

Cut out any decoration pieces for your shield to match your favorite superhero.

Step Two

Stiffen is fusible, but Oly-Fun can’t tolerate the heat, so we need to attach your oly-fun to the stiffen by zigzag stitching along all edges. Pin first. I found the stiffen was too stiff to put the pin through and back to the front like I usually do, so I just stuck the pin through once diagonally. Another option would be quilting clips or binder clips to hold it together.

Step Three

Sandwich your rectangles so that the Stiffen is between two layers of Oly-Fun. Pin and Zig-Zag stitch around the edges.

Step Four

Pin and stitch any designs onto the front of your shield. Oly-Fun doesn’t fray, so you can just use a regular straight stitch.

By this point, you should have four pieces that look something like this…a front to your shield, a back to your shield, and two arm holders.

Step Five

Using your child’s size as a guide pin the arm holders onto the back shield piece. You want the loops to be large enough to go around their arm, and the right distance apart so that their hand can hold one, while the other is near their elbow.

Sew approximately a 1″ square on each end of the arm loops. You want this sewed really securely, because it will be taking a lot of stress.

Now you should have two pieces…the front of the shield and the back with handles attached.

Step Six

Layer your two shield pieces together with the stiffen sides together. Pinning will be difficult, so either put pins through diagonally as best you can or use binder clips to hold layers together. Sew securely with a zigzag stitch all the way around. In fact, I sewed around the edge twice.