Homemade Girl Pirate Costumes

For the Pirate Party I made each of the girls a simple pirate costume.  They were really easy to make and they are now added to our dressing up box for more imaginative play and dressing up fun in the future.

A few weeks ago Little Chick and I had a big girls only trip on the bus to Fabricland to choose some fabric - which is all very exciting when you're about to turn 4!  I'm not a huge fan of the pirate skull and crossbones motif so we went for anchors, polka dots and stripes in red, white and navy blue.

Both the skirts were really simple to make.  For Little Chick I did a straight lined skirts with an elasticated cased waistband and there are loads of good tutorials on the web.  The fabric is 100% woven cotton.  I just measured a skirt that she currently has that fits and measured and cut the fabric to the same size adding 4 inches for the elastic casing and 1 inch for the hem (I used 1 inch elastic for the waistband).  I also used an old white bed sheet to cut some lining for the skirt and just stitched that into the elastic casing at the top and hemmed separately at the bottom.

  For Shoeshine I made a two-tiered skirt (actually I made the original skirt too short so decided to add another tier for length) I cut the bottom fabric piece almost twice the length then baste stitched the top with two rows of stitching and gathered in to fit the size of the top tier, then machine stitched together and did another elastic cased waistband at the top.  As she's smaller I used 3/4 inch elastic on the waistband and didn't line the skirt.

For the bandanas and sashes I just cut squares and strips of fabric.  They are both jersey stretch fabric which is great for tying up and also the bonus that the edges don't fray so you don't need to overcast or hem the edges.  You just cut and it's ready to go.

I also made Little Chick's top from some spare white woven cotton fabric I had (Shoeshine just wore a white long sleeve top that she already had).  This is a simple peasant style top based on this tutorial from Prudent Baby.  I then added some ruffles down the front for a piratey look.  These were just strips of fabric about 2 inches wide that I overcast the edges and then longline stitched down the middle.  I then pulled the bobbin thread to bunch up the fabric and create the ruffles.  I then simply pinned them onto the front of the top and straight stitched onto the top.

Then time for some piratey action - cutlasses at the ready!

The girls really enjoy dressing up and we made a pretend pirate ship on the bed, discovered treasure round the room and got busy having cutlass battles!  I can't wait to see what other imaginative play will spring from these dressing up costumes.

And you got to remember it's very tiring being a pirate, sailing the seven seas, finding treasure and capturing ships and you need to find your thumb!