DIY pirate costumes: easy and quick at home

The pirate party is always popular among the variety of themed holidays and birthdays. But what if you are invited to such an event with the whole family or, on the contrary, are hosting such a party at home? But you have to match the image! In this case, you can create pirate costumes quickly and step by step with your own hands for the whole family, and perhaps it won’t even be too expensive. But how much pleasure you will thereby bring to both your children and yourself and your significant other. After all, the image of a pirate is not limited to the properties of a robber; it is also a rebel, a romantic, and a brave hero. Sometimes you want to be such a character, at least in the game, but the costume should be as real as possible.

We make pirate costumes with our own hands for a carnival for the whole family

Basic details of a pirate costume:

A shirt with traces of its former beauty (cuffs and frill collar), but torn and wrinkled;
Vest or camisole;
Comfortable voluminous pants or skirt;
A sash belt or several leather belts;
Headdress - can consist of a real wide-brimmed cocked hat or a bandana (kerchief);
Shoes - as a rule, high leather boots; for women and girls it is possible to use black shoes, and for children - black shoes and sneakers.

So, let's look at all the details in order.

The shirt is usually taken in white or cream color. But the main requirement for it is that it should be spacious and comfortable.

And you can choose a dark shade - brown, black, dark blue. If you don’t find anything suitable in your wardrobe, then you can easily create a pirate shirt yourself at home. To do this, take any shirt of suitable size, place it on a piece of fabric, previously folded in half, and trace it along the contour so that the sleeves become wider and the part itself is longer. Don't forget to allow seam allowances. Now you can cut the part along the contour. In a shirt, instead of a collar, there is a neck with a slit, such a size that the head can fit through it freely. Process the neck as shown in the photo.

All that remains is to connect the side seams and sew the fluffy cuffs onto the sleeves. The bottom of the shirt can be hemmed, or, on the contrary, you can make asymmetrical cuts so that it looks like the clothes are torn. If you want to create the perfect shirt for someone, you can sew a lace frill to the front of the neckline.

Then everything depends only on your desire and imagination. For boys, it is quite possible to decorate the vest with the Jolly Roger symbol (using a sticker or embroidery). For girls, sew different decorative patches on it so that it is at least a little cute. By the way, for adults, a worthy element of a pirate costume would be a camisole or, in the absence of one, a long coat, preferably dark in color.
You can also first try to select a vest from your wardrobe. It can be purely symbolic - very short, even without fasteners and buttons, or, on the contrary, long, with many hooks and fasteners. It is desirable that it be monochromatic. A leather vest looks best. If someone is still left without a vest, we will sew one using the previous technology.
By the way, when creating a pirate costume for children, the simplest shirt option would be to take an ordinary T-shirt and sew a lace frill on it on the front. You just need to wear it with either a camisole or a vest.
For some family members, an ordinary vest or even a striped T-shirt may be quite suitable.
Take a comfortable T-shirt, fold it along the axis of symmetry and attach it to the fabric and cut out three sleeveless pieces. One for the back, two for the front. It is better to deepen the armholes of the sleeves, and make a triangular cutout on the front parts. The details of the vest will need to be finished around the edges and sewn along the sides and shoulder seams.
Pants or a skirt are the simplest element of a pirate's clothing.
All you have to do is take any old trousers, sew colorful patches on them, cut and fray the bottoms - and your pirate trousers are ready. For young pirate girls, take any old, unnecessary skirt, cut it asymmetrically at the bottom and tie it with a wide sash.

For girls, even regular leggings combined with striped leggings can be suitable.

By the way, a sash can be made from any scarf tied on a belt, preferably red. And if this is not found, it is easily made from red fabric.

The pirate hat is almost the main attribute by which a pirate costume is recognized. For the head of the family and for the little pirate, they can be made from cardboard or felt, and the female half can get by with bandanas. In the photo below you can see how to tie a simple scarf so that it turns into a real pirate headdress.

Trousers

Pirate trousers are loose and do not restrict movement. Simple pants with elastic with cuffs are suitable, which can be tucked into boots or pulled up to the knee, thereby turning them into breeches.

If you have old trousers that you don’t mind ruining, then you can easily turn them into pirate breeches by cutting them off just below the knee and making the edge uneven, in the form of rags.

Making additional accessories for a pirate costume

Additions to a pirate costume are sometimes almost more important than the attire itself. They are the ones who complete the creation of the image and, as it were, announce to everyone around them that this is a pirate in front of them. As they say, there can never be too many of them, and from all of the following you can choose either individual elements, or even use them all at once, if possible.

An eye patch is an essential detail that can be easily made from either cardboard painted black or dark fabric with an elastic band attached to it.
Jolly Roger (skull and crossbones image) - can be added to any part of clothing, most often to a hat, shirt or vest.
Purse with “gold” - on your belt you can hang a small bag made of velvet or satin, stuffed with tin or metal parts that jingle when you walk.
Weapons - pistols, sabers or daggers in the belt. You can buy toy weapons, or you can cut them out of cardboard and paint them in bright, gilded tones.
A tube, hook, and treasure maps are also easiest to make from cardboard and paper.
A lot of rings on the fingers, an earring or earrings in the ear, and a variety of baubles are suitable for decorating older pirates.
A parrot on the shoulder, a spyglass or a treasure chest are already quite complex and rarer accessories.

Types of pirates

If you are wondering how to make a pirate costume for your child, then first you need to decide which type of pirate is closer to your son: a conqueror of the seas in a vest and bandana or a dandy pirate in a snow-white blouse and cocked hat. Both of them wear a vest and are girded with a wide sash, into which a pirate sword is inserted, like into a scabbard.

Pants should be loose, possibly shortened, then they are complemented with high boots or leg warmers and boots.

What is the color palette of this suit?

Talk to your future pirate, how does he see himself?
Offer several options, starting with the cartoon “Treasure Island” where the famous characters are: Captain Flint, Blind Pew or John Silver, or maybe Captain Hook or Barmaley, or perhaps the charming lady Angelica along with Jack Sparrow? Which hero will you choose? It is worth considering that your suit should be elegant and bright, and for this use several colors.

There should be something white and 1 red element for compatibility, as well as dark colors: black, brown, blue.

Cocked hat

A cocked hat, of course, is easiest to buy in stores that sell everything for the carnival, but if we are making a pirate costume ourselves, we can sew it ourselves, it’s a little more complicated than a bandana, but quite possible.

For the hat we need felt, artificial felt is quite suitable, it is sold in any fabric stores and is inexpensive. The material consumption is approximately the same, 50 by 50 cm, but it is better to first make a pattern from paper, glue it and try it on the child.

A cocked hat is sewn in two parts - a cap that fits tightly around the head, and wide brims. To sew a simple hat, we need a circle for the top and a narrow strip for the side of the “cylinder”.

The length of the strip is equal to the circumference of the child's head plus seam allowance. The diameter of the circle for the upper part is equal to the circumference divided by 3.14, we also add 2 cm for allowances.

For wide margins, you need to outline the finished circle, adding 10-15 centimeters on all sides, depending on how large the margins you want to make. Cut out the inside of the circle, you get a “donut”. You can stitch a white, red or gold ribbon along the outer edge as an edging.

The felt does not fray, so there is no need to process the edges. Using scissors, we cut a small circle along the entire edge to make it easier to sew it to the strip of fabric and sew it on, the edges of the strip are sewn together - this is how we get a hat like a kubanka.

If the fitting showed that we were not mistaken in the sizes, we sew the brim in a circle to the bottom edge of the hat. Keep in mind that they will rise to the top, so when sewing, the piping should be on the wrong side.

When the brims are sewn, we bend them upward, form a cocked hat, and in several places we grab the brims to the hat to fix them in one position.

Style Attributes

After the pirate costume is ready, you should definitely take care of the accessories. It is the small details that will complement the picture and make the image complete. The characteristic attributes of the pirate style are:

Eye patch. Typically black. Can be made from fabric or paper.
Jolly Roger. The pirate flag is presented in black with the image of an Adam's head above the crossed bones.
Hook. It replaces the amputated part of the arm. As an element of a costume, it can be made from foil or thick paper.
Weapon. Mainly piercing and cutting: dirk, machete, rapier, cleaver, sword. And also firearms: pistols, muskets, arquebuses. In a toy store you can easily find a suitable weapon for every taste.
Wallet. A soft oblong bag with a drawstring was necessary for storing coins and small items.
Parrot. As a rule, most pirates are depicted with this bird on their shoulder. Thanks to her ability to talk, she entertained and amused the owner and the entire crew during a long sea voyage.

Wallet

Jolly Roger

Eye patch

Cocked hat

Which suit should you choose?

If the event takes place in a kindergarten, then the summer option will be more practical, since the child will not be hot.

For a boy, a simple option with a vest is suitable:

shirt or striped vest;
vest black or red;
bandana or hat;
black pants or trousers;
black or dark Czech shoes or shoes;
red belt or strip of red satin;
sword, pistols, chains, axe, dagger, hook.

When choosing trousers and a vest, we give preference to light summer fabrics; the less synthetics, the more comfortable the child is.

For a palace of culture or a school where the hall is large, a striped turtleneck or flannelette vest is also suitable, because... It’s cooler there, but if after the performance the child goes dancing around the Christmas tree, he may sweat and then it will be necessary to change his clothes.

Take a few things with you so you don't have to worry about a wet baby.

Therefore, as a reconnaissance, if possible, check whether it is warm in the hall and whether round dances are planned in the program.

How to sew a frill using handy materials?

Does your pirate dream of a shirt with a frill and puffy sleeves, like in the days of the musketeers?

Prepare: lace or ruffles, long-sleeved T-shirt, thread, needle and scissors, brooch or jewelry, hot gun.
Make a multi-tiered frill from pieces and lace. To do this, lightly treat 2 pieces of chiffon triangle with a candle so that the edges do not unravel.
Cover the entire perimeter with lace and trim it too.
Fold it into a fold and sew it at the base with a thread and a needle.
Place a similarly folded second triangle on top and apply a drop of hot glue to its inner side.
Glue the smaller triangle to the top one.
Decorate the attachment point with a brooch or button on top.
Attach the frill to a T-shirt or make it with an elastic band.
The frill is ready.

For a girl's desk, a turtleneck is also suitable, on which we will sew a frill, watch the detailed video.

Such a turtleneck is complete with a hat or bandana, complemented by a bright organza skirt and a red belt, into which pistols and daggers will be tucked, as well as wearing a spectacular vest decorated with “golden” chains, bracelets and large earrings on the hands.

So a simple pirate costume for a girl is ready with a minimum amount of things and time.

Bandana

If in the question of how to make a pirate costume for a boy, what worries you most is the headdress, then solving it is very simple. There are two options: a bandana or a pirate tricorn hat.

Making a pirate bandana is not difficult; for this you need a scarf, scarf or a square piece of fabric 50x50 cm. The bandana does not have to be black. Bright red looks very elegant and goes well with a red sash.

On the part that will be on the forehead, we apply a “Jolly Roger” design - a skull and crossed sabers or bones. To make the drawing neat, you can cut out a stencil from paper and paint it with white gouache using the stencil.