Avhast! A simple Pirate Shirt

Much like our Pirate Pants tutorial this is not meant to replace the many fine pirate/poet shirt patterns available. This is a quick shirt top easily made out of poly cotton for someone with an emergency party crises.
For an Adult you will need:
Light weight fabric (poly cotton or cotton) 2.5m-3m
Chalk
Ruller & Tape measure
1/4 elastic- 1m
Thread
pins

Time-depending on how tidy you're planning on sewing 30 minutes to an hour
You will need your chest meauserment and the length of the shirt you require as well as your arm length.

Cut out two rectangles of fabric. The length should be the desired shirt length plus 10 cm and the width should be half your chest measurement plus 9 cm. If you're using 150cm wide fabric, or if you are petite then you should be able to fold the fabric in half, selvage to selvage and cut out both sections at once. 

Fold each section in half along the length and mark a mark in the middle of the top of each section. On both sections mark out 8 cm on either side of the dot. This is the start of your neckline.  on the section that will be your back draw a line 3 cm down from the dot and draw a curve for the back of your neck. On the front section draw a line 7.5 cm down from the centre and draw in the front neckline. Now make a slit for the from opening of your shirt about 10 cm down from the neck line. Hem the slit.

Right sides together sew the front and the back together at the shoulders. From the shoulder seam mark down 30 cm along the length of the front and back of the shirt and on both sides to make where the sleeves will go.  THe sleaves should be your arm length plus 5 cm and about 60 cm wide.

Right sides together pleat the sleeves  onto the body of the shirt and sew.

Right sides together line up the front and back panels pin and sew You're almost done. try on the shirt and check your sleeves. They will probably be very long  as the shoulders of a pirate shirt are far larger than a regular shirt, giving it the baggy effect. You can trim the sleeves to length (leaving enough fabric to make an elastic casing) or cut the sleeves a little longer so when they are pulled  up  your arms a pleasing baggy effect is created.

All that is left is a collar. Maure your neckline and take a rectanle of fabric  15 cm wide and 3 cm longer than your neckline. Press in the seam allowance on the short edges of the collar.

Fold the fabric in half along it's length and press.

Now unfold and fold both sides of the fabric so the edges of the sides are folded into the crease just pressed in.

Fold the fabric along the length again. Top stitch ont he neckline.

  Thread cord through if desired.


Wear with the pirate pants and any other acessories you may have at home for a cheap and quick Pirate outfit.

Dot Com-unity Service

Possibly one of my stranger titles I know but it makes sense honest so  stick with me here. Everyone at Fabric8 loves working in the shop. It's not just the fun we have with fabric and the cool projects we  get to do but also it's the people we meet. We meet fantastic  customers some of which I've blogged about here, re-enacters, ewoks, cos-players and people who just love fine tailoring. We consider it a genuine honour to help these people out, to be part of their community. That's why we donated some vouchers for the Star Warriors raffle and why we gave fabric to the Colchester free Festival and leant them our magician for a day.  We may get a mention here or there that raises our profile a little this is true, but the main reason why we like to help people is we want to be part of the effort to  forge a strong sense of community around us. Some members of staff have been known to research historical costume design for customers with an interesting project  or to help a novice sewer finish off their first project not only because these are fun things to do but also to strive for an ideal beyond the noble pursuit of supplying fabric and haberdashery.

  Whilst helping out in the physical world it's important to remember that our little shop now serves a wider community. Many of those reading this blog may not have visited Colchester of Felixstowe and so not been into the welcoming worlds of our sister shops. Just because we don't ever get to meet these people it doesn't mean we don't want them to be part of the strong community we're involved with. That's why some staff members have sat down and worked out some free, easy to follow patterns. There are a few on this blog including making pirate pants and pouches. Pirate or poet shirts will follow this week. So please feel free to be part of our community. Ask us anything you like from whether we can stock a certain fabric to the definitive history of pockets (already researched by Arnold Judis Rimmer for all the Red Dwarf fans out there) and we will try to accommodate your needs. You can comment on this blog or join our Facebook Group Or follow us on Twitter @Fabric8Online.

One final note. Try to relax and enjoy December this year by starting your Christmas sewing now. I know i've found my Waistcoat fabric for this Christmas.