Pirate Costume

Ahoy, Matey!

What do you do when your grandson has Pirate Day at preschool the very next morning? Well, this is what I do!

I ran to Walmart just to grab up some plain black fabric for a pair of pirate shorts, I had the skeleton fabric left over from several Halloweens ago and I didn't think of the candy stripes until I went shopping. This is my pirate fabric collection now! I picked up the skull and crossbones (with glitter), the candy stripes and the solid black at Walmart.

Walmart isn't my favorite place to buy fabric because the quality is so cheap, but this is for a 3 hour preschool day so I don't need to spend much or drive further for higher quality fabric. Walmart fabric is just fine. As you can see, I scored.  

It didn't take long and I had a pair of shorts done!  I used a pajama pattern to make the shorts; I just adjusted the length and made them pointy. I didn't use a pattern for the hem, winging it worked just fine.  I did a small rolled hem on the bottom instead of leaving it to fray. I didn't know if leaving the bottom unhemmed would cause a problem with unraveling the fabric, so I hemmed it. Hemming a chevron is a bit of a challenge, but it can be done.  The waist is a simple elastic waistband. 

I also cut out a little skull and sewed it to the knee of the shorts to bring it all together. From far away it just looks like  a smudge, but it's pretty cute close up. 

The belt sash was easy. I just guessed on width and length and it came out just fine. I decided to make pointy tips rather than blunt ends.   I'm sure pirates had some of each. The candy stripe sash really added to the fun of the costume! Glad I thought of it.

The vest is the best part of the costume if you ask me.  I used a tank top pattern and just cut the front down the middle instead of cutting it along the fold of the fabric as instructed. I also tapered the neckline straight down to the middle instead of doing a scoop neck. I cut out two, one of the skull fabric and one of solid black so that the vest is lined and has a bit of a heavier vest weight to it instead of a light vest. I didn't think it would hang well if I just  hemmed it up.

I topped it off with a headband made of the skeleton fabric. They're just too cute to leave out of the costume.

As you can see, he is wearing a store-bought Tshirt. I was in a time crunch and we wanted him to be comfortable, so an old Tshirt did the trick to finish off the costume. The color was just right, but white or black or stripes would have been good too. 

Since this is a sewing blog, here is the obligatory back view photo of the costume:  Just as cute as the front!

My grandson wore it all day! He didn't take it off until pajama time and guess what he wanted to wear the next morning?  Yup! You guessed it!  His new Pirate Costume!

Birthday Twirly Skirt

A friend of mine, a really sweet generous lady, posted on Facebook that it was her daughter's 6th birthday that day.  I had a hankering to do some sewing and I'm sort of stuck on my current big project, so I thought "what a great opportunity to sew up something quick and cute!"  So, I sewed!

I quickly cut out a Redondo skirt from some Little Mermaid printed fabric and I serged the pieces together.  Next thing you know, the skirt was done!   I set a new personal speed record!  A Redondo skirt in 45 minutes!  Including cutting the 12 pieces, pressing them, and sewing them together. Also put in the elastic waistband in that time!  I hoped it would fit since I just eyeballed the size of it. 

Luckily, any length is in fashion these days, so I never really worry if it's too long or too short, but it must fit in the waist. Elastic waistbands have plenty of sizing wiggle room, but still, it can't be too big or too tight. I don't see my friend and her kids often enough, but her daughter is in between the sizes of my daughters so it wasn't too hard to guess.

This Redondo pattern is from Studio Tantrum.  Totally cute pattern!  It twirls great too!  I don't know how little girls can twirl and twirl all day long, but they do. I'd puke.

We ran the skirt over to the birthday girl and she was thrilled! She loves to twirl, she loves skirts, she loves the Little Mermaid, she loves pink and she loves glitter too! This skirt had it all!  I didn't realize I was scoring on all counts, but hey, cool!