A Renaissance Pirate Shirt and a Bob the Builder Shirt

Widget has been saying for ages that for his birthday party this year he wants a Bob the Builder party.

He has plenty of dungarees, so with a hat and the right shirt he will be ready to go. I have been looking for yellow and red check for a shirt like Bob's for ages. I finally found some. Last year I bought a pattern for the Bookworm Button-Up from Blank Slate Patterns but not got around to making it. I was in the middle of sewing it up too.

While I was collecting the stuff needed for the Bob the Builder shirt, Widget was invited to a Pirate Party. Over the last couple of years Sprog has attended a few pirate parties, and each time I have made something as part of his costume, there'e been a telescope, and a sword and scabbard; A pirate vest; and a pirate captain's hat. After the last party I felt that the vest needed more than just a t-shirt under it. It needed a pirate shirt.

I spent the week telling myself I didn't need to make a shirt. This morning I woke up and started sewing the shirt. I found the fabric in my stash. I think it was originally lining for curtains. It has a great washed out look and some sun discolouration.

I used the Bookworm Button Up pattern, with a few alterations, inspired by the shirts on the TV show Outlander, which is partially set in the era when pirates were swashbuckling.
- No pockets, no button tabs on the sleeves
- A wider collar
- No interfacing
- The front and back pieces were widened at the bottom to create a looser drape.
- the front was cut on the fold rather than as two separate pieces, then a cut about 1/3rd down the front from the neckline was added. I added a placket around the cut, and left plenty of extra at each end to use as ties to keep the neckline closed.
- I pleated the fabric before cutting out the sleeves, and kept those pleats for the assembly. This is again to put in more swishy fabric to create the voluminous look.

He was the best dressed little pirate at the party. Widget it not much of a model though.

After we came home from the party I went back to the original plan, finishing the Bob the Builder shirt. I still have to put on two buttons on the cuffs, but I have a very happy little Bob the Builder. I found the shirt really easy to put together. 

Coupled with some denim dungarees, a tool belt and a hard hat, he is all set for his party in December.

A simple pirate hat

Sprog gets invited to a lot of pirate parties, previously I have made him a cardboard tube sword and scabbard, and a pirate vest. I have been talking about using the pleather scraps from the vest to make a hat for a while, so the time had arrived.

It was a very simple sew. I took a large square of pleather and folded it wrong sides together. Then I tucked the fold in on itself. You could also get this effect by folding right sides together, then folding back over the fold leaving an inch or so of the original fold in place.  I sewed perpendicular to the fold at each end.

Next I cut an approximate pirate shape to the fabric and stitched around the edge. Pleather is hard to sew on my machine when the right sides are out, as it sticks against the foot. To combat this I used masking tape down the line where I wanted to sew, sewed the line, then peeled the tape away.

Next up I cut a slit in the original fold, and tested it on Sprog's head. I repeated this till it was nearly right, then rounded off the ends of the slit. The rounding off was to make it less likely to tear, and to make it prettier.

This morning shortly before the party Sprog cried "Mummy, you gotfor the bones" (His own take on forgot). Indeed I had, or rather I wasn't going to bother until he said something. Ideally I should have put the "bones" on before sewing it up, but since I was making it up as I went along that was risky business. 

For the bones I cut a skull, lower jaw and femur bones out of the pleather which conveniently has a white backing. I also had white knit scraps I could have used, but the pleather is stiffer and will hold shape better, and the two "leather" sides stick together well making them easy to keep in place while sewing. I tacked them in place using a needle and thread, big stitches as I was in a hurry and the hat was done.

Here's my happy little pirate.

Next pirate party it will likely be the turn of the flowy pirate shirt, or the pirate trousers.

Sprog's Pirate Party

Sprog was invited to a 5th Birthday party. A pirate party. When asked he said he wanted to get Birthday Boy a telescope. After a bit of thought I figured out the best place to go and found an awesome extendable kaleidoscope in just a few minutes. With time to spare I decided to go the extra mile for the pirate dress up.

I found some cheap pleather at the local Emporium and set off home. Rather than faffing about, I decided to just use the Simple Vest pattern I used for the Paw Patrol vest. I trimmed all the edges with white bias trim, then attempted a couple of darts in the back to shape it a little, and wrapped a length of pleather around the middle for a belt.

Sprog dressed up with his stripey pirate t-shirt and a bandanna on his head. He had some hand-me-down jagged bottom dress-up pirate trousers too, then to complete the look we added the sword and scabbard I had hurriedly made for the last pirate party he went to.

In hindsight I would have extended the fronts a bit wider to make for a better coverage crossing over, and to create more of a floppy foldback collar.

He kept this outfit on all day, we went to a friends housewarming, and onto a fundraising quiz, all with him as Pirate Sprog.

Dress-up win!