Young Boy’s Pirate Costume

All parents have experienced that sinking feeling when their children warn them of a fancy dress event the night before it’s taking place. To make such moments less traumatic, we've designed a simple pirate outfit that can be completed in an evening. Using easy shapes and techniques, our themed trousers, waistcoat and T-shirt are achievable for novices and experienced stitchers alike.

Essentials

Fabric: striped, black (see step 1 for amounts)
Felt, black Yarn,
crochet, size 20 Elastic,
25mm Fabric pen Interfacing,
lightweight T-shirt,
white Fusible webbing

Dimensions List

To fit ages: 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Stitch trousers

For a 3-4 year old, cut two 44cm x 54cm pieces of striped fabric, (48cm x 59cm for 5-6 or 52cm x 64cm for 7-8). To create legs, cut 32cm up from the centre point of a short edge on both pieces (36cm for 5-6 or 40cm for 7-8).
On one leg, pin an 8cm square of black felt 13cm up from the bottom edge, at an angle. Using crochet yarn and large over stitches, sew around the patch. This piece will make the front of the trousers. Pin to the other section, with right sides facing.
Mark 2cm from the central cut made in step 1, with a fabric pen. Machine sew the outside leg seams, followed by the inside. At the top of the inside leg gradually taper the seam inwards, finishing at the mark made earlier. Taper outwards to finish, sewing to the end of the seam.
Trim any excess fabric, snipping as close to the stitching between the legs as possible, before pressing the seams open. Turn the top edge of the trousers over by 1cm, press, fold by another 3cm and pin all of the way around. Machine stitch the bottom folded edge to make a channel, leaving a 4cm gap.
Cut a 50cm length of elastic for ages 3-4 (54cm for ages 5-6 or 58cm for 7-8), secure one end to the channel with a safety pin. Use another safety pin to thread the elastic through, before stitching the channel closed.
To finish, turn the trousers through and cut triangle shapes from the bottoms of the legs to create raw zig zag edges.

Embellish a t-shirt

Trace the skull and crossbones template on page 82 onto fusible webbing, roughly trim, iron onto black fabric and cut out. Press a 21cm x 25cm piece of lightweight interfacing onto the inside front of a T-shirt, in the centre, 6cm down from the neckband.
Iron the skull and crossbones onto the front, being mindful to keep within the interfacing on the reverse. Use white or cream thread to machine stitch around the edges,