From papa to petit pirate

Ahoy, my fellow refashionistas!

My husband is not a pirate, but he is hard on his clothes. And he wears them out in ways that can't always be mended; thankfully, the garments can usually be refashioned! Recently, he badly ripped the elbow of one of his work shirts, at the same time a pair of his khaki trousers bit the dust, with too many tears and stains to go on. 

I used both of these to make a costume for my son, who is nearly 4 and is mad about pirates, as well as trains, astronauts, diggers and dinosaurs. I'm glad he was happy with a pirate outfit, I can't imagine trying to dress him up as a backhoe!

Anyway, for the shirt, I cut off the sleeves above the elbows and simply sewed elastic in. I stretched it as I went around and zigzagged over it, this gave a nice ruffle effect. I then cut off the collar and made a wide neck opening. I sewed down the placket and then added bias tape around the neck. I trimmed the bottom hem, so that the shirt became tunic length on my son rather than a dress.

For the trousers, I cut off the two legs from my husband's khakis. I then laid them on top of each other and then following this excellent tutorial, traced a pair of trousers using one of my son's existing pairs as a guide. I managed to use the original trouser side seams and cuffs, so all I had to sew was the rise and the waistband. For the latter, I did the same thing as I'd done for the shirtsleeves, just using wider elastic. And I made a sash out of some old black jersey scraps that I had.

A vest will follow, using scraps from a skirt I'm working on for me right now.