The Pirate Costume, pt 1 - Squidmade

I've been going to the Bristol Ren Faire for about two decades now. Every summer, I end up going multiple weekends with different parties. For many reasons, it took me this long to come up with a costume.

I went through a pirate phase as a kid and Our Flag Means Death kicked off another pirate phase a couple years ago. While I would kill to dress up as Izzy, I would melt away in midwestern summer heat while wearing black leather. This pirate costume has me in cottons and linens exclusively.

A white guy dressed in a pirate costume made of a white linen shirt and striped linen shorts.

The Shirt

Pattern: A Pirate Shirt Tutorial by Ora Lin

A sleeveless linen shirt hanging on a wall.

I left the sleeves off the shirt, so it's really just a pirate tank top, but that's fine.

A collar of the linen shirt, showing small hand stitches at the deepest part of the v.

The inside of the side seam of the linen shirt, showing small handstitching on the gusset.

The outside of the side seam of the linen shirt, showing the gusset and top stitching.

The shirt itself was sewn mostly by machine, but I did several details by hand. The collar and arm gussets were all finished by hand stitching.

I also tried to close up as many seams as I could. Linen frays and small threads brushing against my bare skin all day would drive me up the wall. They're not entirely French seams, nor are they entirely flat felled seams, but they're good enough. And they lasted through a wash already.

The Pants

Pattern: Freehanded based on a pair of pajama pants I own

The pants have belt loops, but they're really elastic. The belt is functional to hold other little bits and bobs I added to the costume, but that's it.

A corner of the striped fabric shows pastel overlock seams.

A serger is set up with pastel colored thread.

Like the shirt, I tried to close up the seams as much as possible. I also serged most of the edges to keep it from fraying while I worked with it. I like to use multiple colored threads to make a rainbow overlock seam. These were colors I picked based off another project, but I decided not to bother changing them since they would be largely hidden.

After Wearing

The costume was a major success. Linen is fantastically breathable (everyone who comes with us to the faire gets a quick lecture about why wearing polyester is a Bad Idea) and it was the most comfortable I'd been at the faire in ages. I added other costume pieces for color and detail, though I don't think the bracelets will be returning.

I ran into one major problem though: No pockets. I was in a rush when I made them the first time, so no detours to make pockets. During the faire, I kept my wallet and phone in a drawstring bag. That made it more difficult to pull it out when I needed it.

My next project was to make a belt bag and drawstring bag that matched the vibe of the costume.