pirate outfit


Started January 2005
Finished July 2005

For the Renaissance Faire this coming summer, my friend and I decided we wanted to make pirate costumes. And not just any pirate costumes, evil pirates. (Thunder sounds) So I made a few sketches, decided to attempt to make a hat, went to JoAnns to find fabric and….. it turns out they won’t have the fabric I need for the skirt and chemise until spring. So that stopped me dead in my tracks. But spring finally came and I was able to purchase the needed fabric and complete my pirate outfit.

Patterns:
Bodice: Mcalls 4107
Chemise: Simplicity 9966 (Later I made a sleeveless chemise with no pattern, only a rectangle of fabric)
Skirts: Simplicity 9966 (I used my Dhieldmaiden skirts for this outfit, for more information on how I made them, visit the Shieldmaiden page)

Fabric:
Bodice: Black moleskin
Chemise: White cotton gauze
Underskirt: White cotton gauze tea dyed
Overskirt: Unknown brown fabric


January
I put together the bodice following the instructions exactly except to leave out the back ties (yes! no altering patterns this time!). Then I promptly almost wrecked the entire thing by slipping with the scissors and cutting about 2 inches past the seam on the back arm. But thanks to my new sewing machine that I got for Christmas, I can use the mend stitch to fix it, so hopefully all will be better. I still have to do that since I’m waiting to open the bottom seam and also fix the boning while I’m at it. (I made the side boning too long on one side and it refuses to sit flat) But that’s not going to happen until I can get up the nerve to open up my completed bodice. Hey, at least I hadn’t put the grommets in yet, otherwise the whole thing would be a much bigger disaster than it is. I have to add that to my list of things to do. Pictures soon, not much to show.

Still to come:
Chemise
2 Skirts
Finish Bodice



Here's are my only pictures of the costume so far...it's the only thing I have done.



May 30
Well it's been forever, but I finally got around to working on this costume. The bodice is now completed, the chemise is in the final stages, along with the skirt.

The design of the outfit has changed a bit, largely due to lack of finances and a bit of luck. While trying on my bodice and chemise, I was looking for a skirt that I could try on just to get an idea of what the outfit would look like. So I pulled out my brown camp skirt that I made for Eowyn's Shieldmaiden outfit but never finished because I liked the white skirt better. So I put on the brown skirt, and lo and behold, I loved how it looked! So instead of having 2 skirts, the under one black and the over one red, I am going to be using the 2 skirts that I made for my shieldmaiden outfit. The under skirt will be the white one, and I finished the brown one for the over skirt.

Both the chemise and the skirt were made from Simplicity 9966, which I altered the sleeves to make them not as poofy. (They are HUGE.)Pictures so far, I still need to put elastic in the neckline and figure out what to do with the sleeves; I'm not sure how I want the cuffs to end.



June 4
Another costume finally finished! I finished the neckline and the sleeves, which I took in a ton of the sleeve width since they were huge. I debuted this costume at the small but fun Pirate Fest, where Enelya and I got into the finals for the costume contest.

Acessories
I realized I never mentioned any of the other stuff I was wearing with this costume so here it is.
The peach scarf around my waist is something I pulled out of my mother's closet when I was like 7 years old and have had it in mine ever since. It is hideous, and perfect for Pirate use.
The black and white scarf around my head is from Claires
The pouch I made last year to keep all my junk in
I bought a brown leather belt for $15 when I went to the Faire the first time this year. The pewter mug is the one I bought from The Renaissance Store online
Boots were $10 at Kohls, which I bought back in February.
My hat is the cavalier hat I made, except in the pictures where I am wearing nice leather ones with colored trim. Those are the $98 ones that they sell at the faire, that Enelya and I take our annual pictures with.

July 18
It's Renaissance Faire time again! Enelya and I wore our pirate outfits to the Ren Faire with great sucess. There were lots of crazy people taking our picture when they though we didn't notice. Oh but we did. And a few nice ones who asked if they could take our picture. Once cool thing with this costume, we went to Culvers after the faire for dinner, and I got a discount because they thought I worked at the faire! Hahahaha, how cool is that? I finished my cavalier hat in time and was able to wear it. I also made a sleeveless chemise to wear to the faire since it was over 90 degrees out and I didn't want to wear long sleeves. Pictures:



July 2006
There were many things wrong with this outfit, so I decided to make a new pirate outfit for the Renaissance Faire. You can see that page here