pieKnits

My friend and I decided to be pirates for Halloween this year, figuring we could re-purpose a lot of our costume elements for renaissance outfits as well. My costume is entirely made of up thrifted, dollar store, handmade or already owned items except for the corset (which is boned and reversible to green that I purchased on eBay) and my halloween store sword I upgraded from my dollar store one as I couldn’t resist it.

Ok, so here’s the rundown! From head to toe, the mini tricorn hat is the one I posted about here. It was knitted, felted and I added the broach I made. I also added a larger feather I found at the thrift store.

Next my dreads – which I love! In fact, I’m still wearing them as I couldn’t bear to part with them just yet. Makes me miss my old real ones. The blond/reddish ones are strips of yarn very similar to Colinette Point 5, only an off-brand I found way cheaper at a discount store, score! Strips of yarn are cut twice as long as the intended length then folded over and are essentially braided into sections of my hair. I just put a few in randomly but you can do your whole head as well. Some nice tutorials here and here. The larger red/burgundy dread is made from wool roving felted together.

The other accessories include a victorian locket and skeleton key necklace I put together (thrifted/$ store) and the belt and pouch were also thrift finds. The pouch was originally a purse that had a strap through a loop on the back. I cut off the strap and it worked perfectly to slide onto the belt. I filled it with toy dubloons. The tights and boots I owned.

Now for the pieces I sewed. My first actual garments I’ve made! I’m quite happy with the chemise shirt, the others fall into that “good enough for me” category. The chemise I made from on sale muslin so it cost about $2.50. I used this pattern somewhat improvising.

The long underskirt I made from a thrifted bed sheet. It’s a 3-gore skirt roughly using this as a guide. I was seriously wanting to avoid hemming all 108″ of the base so I cut out the pieces using the existing hem for the bottom. To accommodate for the bias stretch of the sides I cut in deeper angles at the draw string top. I should’ve done more as it’s still a little pointy at the bottom seams but when tucked up it’s hardly noticeable. Like I said, good enough for me!
The black handkerchief skirt was made following this pattern, although I would cut the waist opening smaller next time. The red and white strip fabric I bought and ended up just tying as is for a sash.

Here’s a little detail shot of the top gather and shoulder seam of the chemise. I <3 raglan sleeves! Boxes and straight seems I can handle. I made a type of “Bishops cord” twisting together some undyed cotton stash yarn for the draw string.

Some fun dishes I made for our party. Bean dip with sour cream spider web and a guacamole spider. He has pimento olives for eyes and green onions for legs (yes I notice now he only has 6 instead of 8, oops!)

I love an excuse to break out my calligraphy pen. These were “Eyeballs and Guts on Toast”. Hehehe, I find it funny anyway. Who says when entertaining you can’t entertain yourself. :)
The ‘eyeballs’ are fresh mozzarella with pimento olive pupils and the ‘guts’ consist of the tomato bruschetta topping for the toast. I also made Pulled Pork with a sign labeled “Long Pig“. Again, I amuse myself whether or not anyone else really gets it, heh.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!