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!

Contrasting Flair Flare Sleeve Tutorial

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Here's the tutorial for these fun sleeves!  I love these sleeves.  They add just a little flair to any dress, keeping things interesting. :)
 
If you're following the A-line dress tutorial, you'll pick up right before the step where you sew the sides of the dress up.  Cut out two strips of contrasting fabric that is 3 inches x the width of your sleeves.

Sew this to the end of the sleeve, right sides together.

Fold edge of contrasting fabric over 1/4 inch and press.  (Sorry for the funky coloring in the photo!)

NOW sew up the sides of the dress and the bottoms of the sleeves.  Zig-zag to finish. You'll notice that you don't have to zig-zag all the way to the edge since you'll be folding it over.

Fold contrasting fabric over and press.

I didn't take a pic of this, but put a few pins in there to keep it in place.  Now here's the only kinda tricky part.  If your sleeve isn't wide enough, the sleeve won't fit over the arm of the machine.  That's fine; mine wasn't.  You just have to make sure that you don't catch the other side of the sleeve as you're sewing.  My best advice: take your time!!

Stitch close to the edge of the contrasting fabric.  Go all the way around the sleeve, leaving a 1/2 inch opening.

Then sew another line of stitches about 1/2 inch from that first one.  I just estimated it.  Go all the way around on this one; no need to leave an opening.  This is the casing for your elastic.

Cut two pieces of elastic that are 2 inches shorter than your original sleeve width (my sleeves were 12 inches wide, so my elastic was 10 inches).  Thread it through your casing, using a safety pin.

Then stitch the two ends of the elastic together.  I do a nice messy job. :)  It doesn't have to be pretty; it just has to hold.

 Finish stitching up your casing, and you're done!