Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume tutorial

Of all the possibilities in all the world, my son wanted to be Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Halloween this year.  We do love Jake and the Neverland Pirates in our house.  So I got a-sewin’.  Turned out pretty cute!

A great thing about Jake is that his outfit is supposed to be a bit ‘scrappy’…..so I didn’t bother finishing off any of the raw edges.  I simply zig-zag stitched everything (I’ll spare you from writing that in basically every line of the instructions).  Adds to the Jake allure, in my opinion!

You could certainly add Jake’s boots and a sword, but since there’s no way my 2 year old is going to wear them, I’m not making them this year.  Maybe someday I’ll do those as well and update the tutorial.  Time will tell.

If you would like an easily printable version of this tutorial, one can be found at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/70680698/Jake-and-the-Neverland-Pirates-Costume-Tutorial-Public

Here’s the basic how-to:

Shirt:

- Make a pattern from a t-shirt for the shirt body (cut on a fold at the left side) as well as the sleeve (cut on a fold at the top).

         

- Cut out white fabric for Jake’s shirt and sleeves.  Cut off the bottom 4 inches of the white shirt in prep for the next step.

- Cut two 4 inch rectangles of black fabric to use as the bottom of Jake’s shirt.  Cut the 4 inch rectangles the length of the bottom of the shirt front (or back). 

- Right sides together, sew one of the black rectangles to the front shirt piece and the other rectangle to the back shirt piece. Iron the seam flat.

- Right sides together, sew the shirt front to the shirt back at the shoulder seams. 

- Right sides together, sew the shirt at the side seams.

- Cut a v-shaped notch in the neckline at the front of the shirt.

- Sew the underarm seam of the sleeve. 

- Cut a v-shaped notch on the front side of each sleeve.

- Matching underarm seams, pin the sleeve to the shirt right sides together, and sew sleeve into the shirt.

- Using a piece of black string or yarn, sew the ‘x’ detail to the front v-shaped notch on Jake’s shirt.

Admire your handiwork!  You’re halfway done!

Vest:

- Using the pattern you created for Jake’s shirt, add a collar (for the back) and a collar with extension (for the front).

- Cut the back piece on a fold, but remember you will need TWO separate front pieces since Jake’s vest is open at the front!

- Right sides together, sew one front piece to the back piece at the side seam and the shoulder (from the top of the arm hole to the tip of the collar).  Repeat with the other front piece. 

- Cut a 1-inch strip from yellow fabric for the edging on Jake’s vest.  Since it will need to be long enough to go around the entire edge of the vest, make sure you cut enough length.  I had to sew several strips together to make it long enough.  Zig-zag both edges of the strip and iron in half to create a crease.

- Sew the edging around the entire outside edge of Jake’s vest.  I started at the back middle of the collar – next time I’d probably start at the back middle of the bottom of the vest.

My Jake vest had a seam down the middle of the back…I didn’t have enough navy blue fabric for the entire back, but I made it work!

- Sew four yellow buttons (or sew four yellow circles, if you prefer).

Headband:

- Cut a 3 inch strip of red knit or any stretchy red fabric (I used an old red t-shirt). 

And there you have it! 

If you make a costume, I would LOVE to see it!  Please take a moment to upload photos on my Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/betweenthetoys/

Please give credit where credit is due.