A pirate’s life for me

The little one received an invitation to a pirate party and I think that I was more excited about the prospect of her dressing up that she was, well to begin with anyway.

Once she was dressed up she kept it on for three straight days, and wanted to wear it to bed, but we had to draw the line there.

All I used for the costume was a top (cream with small red spots), leggings (blue and white stripes), some red cotton fabric (red with white spots) and a parrot.

I started with the bandanna.

I cut a strip 115cm x 16cm, from the red cotton fabric and folded it right sides together then I stitched along the side to make a long thin tube.

I then cut a rough zig zag in both ends,

and turned in right side out.

This is one of the reasons that I find it so hard to throw anything away.

Both the top and the leggings that I used for this costume should have been in the charity shop months ago because they are too small.

But, once the bottom was zig zaged on the leggings they worked perfectly, and once I stitched a strip of the red spotty cotton fabric to the bottom of the top it fitted again.

For this sash I left the fabric longer than needed so that the excess can be cut with a zig zag and knotted at the side. I guessed that pirates don’t do a lot of hemming, so nether did I, I just stitched the red cotton to the bottom of the t-shirt leaving the excess to the side so it could be tied.

While talking to the little one she made it very clear that a pirate must have a parrot. After hunting though the soft toys I found a small blue, beany, parrot. Perfect. The parrot was stitched to the shoulder of the top. This worked very well and not only was I not asked to remove it within the first minute of little one putting on the costume but it even stayed in place after going through the wash.

We added a shop bought eye patch and hat, but even without, I hope you’ll agree she is most definitely a pirate, Aarrr.

Happy pirating
Shelley

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