Pirate Girl, Arrrgh!

Costume on a Shoe String: Pirate Style

Ariel was invited to a Pirate birthday party. The family asked the guests to dress in costume. Now Eric and I are not pirate people, so that meant we needed to find a costume. Luck would have it that it was too early in the season for Halloween costumes to be out. So we were now engaged in an exercise of creativity and ingenuity.

What we started with: a plain white t-shirt, frilly socks, black shorts, red material, large lace, red tulle, purple satin, and unrelated costume pattern.

What we bought: sheer dance skirt, black shoes, sequin trim, stiff white felt, and headband.

<-----I used this picture for inspiration.

How we brought our Pirate Girl to life:

1) Trimmed the bottom off the t-shirt. It was a 3T and way too long. Released the gathers in the sleeves. Sewed the large lace onto the neckline and end of loose sleeves.

2) Use Simplicity pattern #, for the vest on the monkey costume. Pinned, cut, and sewed vest and hand sewed sequin trim on the vest. (Yes, this was tedious and time consuming. And yes I stabbed myself…repeatedly).

3) Folded 4 inch wide tulle in half, and ran it through the sewing machine to make it gather and scrunch up. Glued to head band. Using a picture of skull and crossbones on the Internet, traced the image onto stiffened felt and cut two out. One for the headband, one for the belt.

4) Cut a 4 inch wide piece of purple satin 18 inches long. Folded it in half and sewed a seam. Turned it inside out and closed off the opening for the belt.

5) Sail Away:

The shirt was tucked into black shorts and the sheer skirt went over them both. The purple sash was tied around Ariel’s waist and the skull patch was safety pinned on. On went the vest. Ariel’s hair was kept down and curly. She loves headbands, so getting her to wear it was easy. Frilly socks and black shoes and our pirate girl was ready to sail the open seas!

*apparently Ariel was not in a picture taking mood, so this is all we have.