Puffy Pirate Shirt-- Adjusting an Existing Pattern

Next up in the pirate costume series is the Puffy Pirate Shirt.

"But I don't want to be a pirate!"

Seinfeld, anyone?

For this one, we'll just be adjusting an existing peasant top to become an awesome puffy shirt.

So grab a pattern you like.  My Polky-Nots dress is a peasant top with short sleeves.  Go ahead and use that and just lengthen the sleeves, if you'd like!  Otherwise, there are a lot of great patterns/tutorials out there.

When cutting your pattern pieces out, you want to add 3 inches, straight up from where you would usually cut off the neckline.  I placed my straight edge on the sleeve piece, in the pic below, to show where you would usually make your cut.  You want to add 3 inches to both the sleeve pieces and the main/body pieces.

You also want to cut 4 facing pieces (two for the sleeves, to for the body) that are as wide as the top edge of your sleeve and body pieces and are 3" tall.  Again, if you look at the pic above, my sleeve piece is 8" (since it's folded in the pic), so my sleeve facings are 3"x8".

Sew your peasant top together as your pattern indications, sewing the curved edges together.  Also sew your facings together, using the same seam allowance.

Pin your facings, right side together, to the top of your main top.  Sew around the whole thing.

Then fold it over at the seam and press.  Also press the bottom edge under to eliminate the raw edge.  

Sew close to the edge, leaving a 1" gap through which you'll thread your elastic.  

The sew another line of stitches, this time all the way around, 1/2-inch higher than the first line of stitching.  Now you're casing is done! 

Now you can do the same thing for your sleeves, but cut 2-inch wide facings.  (It's also like this tutorial!)  Then finish your top as your pattern indicates, thread your elastic, and close up your casings!  Arrrrrrr!  You're done, matey!