Pirates Commandeer Halloween Happenings

**Tutorial links for outfits at the end!**

Our park district had a pre-Halloween event this past weekend called Halloween Happenings.

Our little pirates commandeered (nautical term) the event...

... even the littlest pirate made an appearance.

And yes, we donned pirate-y make-up and sat on pirate-y hay with pirate-y pumpkins.  This is Noelle making a hook.  Ha!

It was everything I love about Halloween (lots of cute kids in costumes, silly games and crafts and candy!) and none of the gross, yucky and scary stuff that I'm not a big fan of.  In other words, it was perfect for our kids, despite the rainy and, uh, brisk weather. 

 Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle were my favorite characters of the night.  First, because they fit with our theme. :)  Second, because check out Peter Pan.  He's a high school boy posing like Peter Pan!

For those who don't know, I taught high school, in the days before kids. :)  I love high school kids, and the fact that a high school kid will not only dress up  like Peter Pan but also play the part...  well, that just warms my heart!  Peter Pan, you rock.

And in case you think pirates are all business and no fun-- just take a look here. :)

Costume Tutorials: 
Pirate Corset Top
Puffy Pirate Shirt
Layered Pirate Skirt
Captain Ben's Pirate Shirt
Easy-Peasy Pirate Belt

Captain Ben's Pirate Shirt Tutorial

 It's been quite some time since the last pirate costume post, but I finally got around to making Captain Ben's (the oldest of the cousins) pirate-y shirt.  It's a nice simple project, so here's the quick tutorial for it!

 **Okay... so Riley is modeling the shirt.  Disclaimer: she did not grow that beard herself. :)

 

Materials:
white cotton or white linen look-alike fabric
1/4-yard white cord
a hole-punching doo-dad

Instructions:
**Use 1/2 inch seam allowance throughout**

I didn't take pics of this step, but make a basic rectangle-shaped body piece, using a well-fitting shirt.  Or, if you have the kid's measurements, make a rectangle that is 6-7 inches wides that the chest measurement.  For the length, make it however long you want it minus 1/2-inch.  Make your armhole 6 inches long by 2 inches, with that little curve at the armpit.

I did grab my camera for the sleeve step.  Fold the fabric and trace the curve of your sleeve then extend it as long as you want your sleeves (for Ben's, I went 12 inches).

When you cut the neckholes, make the one in front dip down a little lower than the back.   Here are your pieces!

Take your front body piece and cut a straight line down the center that goes three inches.

Now pin the shoulders together and sew.  Finish with a zig-zag.

Now set your machine to a tight zig-zag stitch and sew all around the neckline.  Pirates, after all, aren't always perfectly finished.  The zig-zag, however, will keep them from fraying too much. At the tip of the V, turn your stitch length to zero and do a few long zig-zags, to keep it from ever ripping all the way down the shirt.

Pin your sleeves, right sides together, onto your body pieces and sew.  Finish with a zig-zag.

Then fold the shirt, right sides together, and sew up the sides and arms.  Finish with a zig-zag.

For the "hem", I did a zig-zag stitch, just a few millimeters from the edge, to keep it from overly fraying but also allowing it to have that worn, more pirate-y look.  Do the same for the arms.

Now place marks slightly up from the bottom of the V and 1/2-inch to each side.  Make two marks, about 1.5" above that.

It'll look like this.

I have one of these tools for inserting snaps, gromets, etc, I used this to punch holes.  

Then (it's hard to see), I sewed a straight stitch around the holes, just a few millimeters from them.  

Grab your cord and weave it through.  

Ahoy, Matey!  You're ready to hit the open waters!

Easy-peasy Pirate Belt Tutorial

This one's awesome because 1) it's so simple and 2) it can instantly transform a regular white or black top into a pirate costume.  In fact, I may make one for myself, so I can dress up with the girls (with minimal effort! bonus!).  In these pics, the belt is over the Puffy Pirate Shirt.

You can use any kind of fabric, but I used felt and my striped pirate knit fabric.

Instructions:

Measure the waist of the wearer.  Subtract 2 inches from that and cut 2 rectangles of your main fabric that are that width by 5".  For this belt, my wearer's waist is 20", so my rectangles are cut 18"x5".

Round out the corners on both rectangles.

Cut a strip of your coordinating fabric that is roughly 4 times your waist measurement by 3".  This doesn't have to be exact, but you want it long enough to ruffle slightly.  You can sew two or more pieces together if need be.

Fold your strip in half and press.  Then run a gathering stitch down the raw edge.  Ruffle till it will go around your entire main rectangle with a little overlap.

Sandwich ruffle in between your two main pieces, lining up all the raw edges.  Pin.  Overlap the ends of the ruffle piece.  If you want to fold over the ends, so no raw edges are showing, do that.

Sew around the rectangle, leaving an opening to turn it through.

You'll have this.  See my pins in the top left?  Those are holding the opening closed.

Flatten that sucker out and topstitch around the edge.  

Attach your grommets at the corners of  both sides of the belt, following manufacturers instructions.

Lace ribbon or small rope through, and you're good! :)

P.S.  If you don't have grommets, you can EASILY just sew a ribbon horizontally down the center of the belt and tie the ends in the front.  That's even easier-peasier!! :)

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!

Pirate Queen Layered Skirt Tutorial

Part 2 of the Landlubbers' Guide to Pirate Wear!  For the corset top, go here! :)

When Riley chooses her clothes (which is almost every day) and when there are twirly skirts in her drawers (which is quite often), she will almost always emerge from her room, decked out in one of said skirts.

So as I was sketching out pirate costumes for all the cousins, I knew Riley would need to have a skirt... preferably a circle skirt for its amazing twirl-ability.  So here's what I ended up with.  It takes only a short amount of time (especially if you use knit that doesn't fray-- no hemming!!) and it's great for a classy, twirl-lovin' pirate.

** This tutorial is only for the overskirt and doesn't include the tulle underskirt (which is just tulle sewn onto elastic)**

Materials:
black knit fabric
pirate stripes knit fabric (got mine at Jo-Ann's)
1-inch elastic, either red or black.

Instructions:
**My measurements are for a (skinny!) 4T skirt but can very easily be adjusted!**

Essentially, you just want to follow Dana's Circle Skirt tutorial, but one of your "circles" will be a square.

Fold your striped fabric in half horizontally then vertically.  Measure 10 inches from each edge and cut a 10" square. 

For your waist circle, consult Dana' s tutorial (from the link above).  My radius was 3.5".  Round out the corner of your square.  I wish I hadn't rounded mine quite as much.  Meh.

When you open it up, it'll look like this.  Make sure you forget to crop your pictures so that people will see your iPhone and know you have street cred.  Then mention how you KNOW you didn't crop your pictures, so everyone knows that you were way too lazy to go back and do anything about it.  

Now make a circle skirt with your black knit.  I measured mine out 14" from the center.  Use the same waist measurement you used for the striped piece.

Stack your striped square on top of your circle.

Cut your elastic for your waistband (mine was 20").  Sew together and sew the seams down.

Pin your two layers together, just so they stay put.  Then sew on the elastic how Dana taught you how!  Just make sure you're sewing through both skirt layers!

Easy, right?  And it's even better if you make a tulle underskirt, so it's twirly and full!  :)