Captain America Shield

Clark celebrated his third birthday at the beginning of October.  I wanted to make him some gifts that would keep him entertained and promote imaginative play.  I decided to make some dress up props.  Being a three year old boy he is obsessed with super heroes.

I decided that a Super Man cape, and a Captain America shield would be fun for him.  He loves them.  I just wish that I could keep him from throwing the shield like Captain America does.

The shield is my own design, and I was in such a hurry to finish up the projects that I didn't make a full tutorial, but I'll share some basic details to help you create your own.

I used craft felt for all of the exterior material, doing so means that you don't have to finish off any edges, but it also means that it is going to show wear more.

The shield has an interior layer of peltex (a rigid interfacing often used in bags), and a layer of cardboard for rigidity.  If you were wanting to save money and use only cardboard I'd recommend three layers at a minimum.  The cardboard (single layer) has bent as the shield has been used to fight off villains. In front of the cardboard I used some shredded plastic bags for stuffing. The plastic bags help cushion the shield and give it a slightly domed appearance.

On the back of the shield I attached two bands of felt (double thickness).  The bands are used for holding the shield, and were attached prior to sewing the front and back pieces of the shield together.

The shield could obviously be made any dimensions, but my shield is 16" in diameter, and the cardboard inside is probably a half inch smaller than that.

For the front of the shield I created a printable for the center ring and star.   I then cut out a red circle that was 3" larger in diameter than the blue, and attached the blue circle.  Each underlying circle is 3" larger than the layer attached to the top. When sewing it together I started with the star and worked my way down layer by layer, by doing it this way I only ever had to sew through two layers of felt at a time.

If you want to make your own you can find my printable file here.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I'm sure that I left out some details.

Clark loves his new toys, and wants to wear all of his props at one time.  The dinosaur tail was blogged about here.