Because it’s fun to keep a pirate in your pocket. 🙂 Especially when that pirate is filled with plastic pellets for that lovely, squishy beanbag feel.
He’s also just the right size to be a mini doll for the Dress Up Bunch dolls. 🙂
Want to make him? Here’s how.
Materials (find links to my favorite tools and supplies here)
- scrap of skin-colored fabric
- scrap of red fabric for the bandana
- scrap of striped fabric for the shirt
- scrap of blue fabric for the shorts
- embroidery thread for the face (I used Sulky 12wt. cotton thread in dark brown)
- plastic pellets (I like PolyPellets Weighted Stuffing Beads)
- polyfill stuffing (I like Soft Touch Polyfil Supreme Fiberfill)
Use 1/4 inch seam allowance for all sewing.
Step 1
Cut out all materials as directed on the pattern pieces. You should have. . .
- 2 head pieces (1 reversed)
- 2 bandana pieces (1 reversed)
- 1 shirt front piece
- 2 shirt back pieces (1 reversed)
- 2 pants pieces
- 4 foot pieces (2 reversed)
- 4 hand pieces (2 reversed)
- 4 bandana knot pieces
Step 2
Trace the face onto one head piece.
Embroider the nose and mouth using backstitch and a single strand of Sulky 12 wt. embroidery thread (the equivalent of two strands of regular embroidery thread).
Use this eye stitch for the eyes.
Step 3
Layer two bandana knot pieces right rides together and sew the sides and pointy top. Leave the bottom open for turning.
Repeat for the second pair of bandana knot pieces.
Trim away the extra seam allowance at the points.
Step 4
Turn the bandana knot pieces right side out and press.
Step 5
Fold the ends in half, stack the two pieces mostly on top of each other and sew them together 1/4 inch from the raw edge.
It doesn’t have to be pretty - it just has to keep them folded and together. :-)
Set the bandana knots aside.
Step 6
Sew the hands to the shirt pieces.
Press the seam allowance open.
Step 7
Sew the feet to the pants.
Press the seam allowance open.
Step 8
Sew the bandana pieces to the top of the head pieces.
Press the seam allowance open.
Step 9
Sew the two shirt back pieces together along the center back line, making sure to leave a few inches open for stuffing.
Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stuffing opening.
Step 10
Open up the center back pieces and press the seam nice and flat, including the edges of the stuffing opening. That will give you a nice clean edge to sew when you’re closing up that opening by hand.
The stick shows where the stuffing opening is.
Step 11
Sew the shirt pieces to the pants.
Press the seam allowance open.
Step 12
Fold the bottom of the head and the top of the body in half to find the centers. Line those centers up so the head is exactly centered on the body.
Sew the face to the body front and the other head piece to the body back.
Flip the heads up and press. The seam allowance should be pressed toward the head so the body remains flat.
Step 13
Lay the body front face up on a flat surface.
Lay the bandana knot over the face as shown in the photo. It should be right at the seam where the bandana meets the head, with the folds face down and with the raw edge hanging off the edge of the head by about 1/4 inch.
Pin or clip in place.
Step 14
Place the body back face down over the front, sandwiching the bandana knot between the layers.
Pin or clip the layers together carefully, matching all the seams first (the white pins) and then pinning as needed around them (the red and yellow pins).
Step 15
Sew all the way around the body using 1/4 inch seam allowance. Make sure you’re catching the bandana knot in your stitching.
Clip into the seam allowance at all the concave curves and points as shown in the photo.
Step 16
Turn your pirate right side out and use a smooth stick to poke out all the curves.
Stuff the head pretty firmly with fiberfill.
Pour 1/2 cup of plastic pellets into the body and sew up the opening in the back using ladder stitch.
Finished!
Slip him into someone’s pocket and send him off on an adventure!
© Wendi Gratz 2014
This pattern is for personal use only and is not available for commercial resale. That means you may not copy and sell or digitally distribute the pattern. You may, however, sell items you make with the pattern.
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Best,
Wendi
Thank you so much! The children at the hospital I sew for will love this as they do the other 2.
Dona
sewingmilesofsmiles.blogspot.com
Yay! Have fun making them! 🙂
Thank you for the pattern Wendi. My sister has a 2 year old great grandson that will love this. I also have to make him a cape …he wants to be a superman or batman. So cute.
Fun! 🙂
Hey, I’ve been trying to log on multiple times to get this pattern. It lets me log on but then when I click on the pattern it makes it so that I can’t get to it. Any suggestions?
Hermione
I’m happy to help, but I need to get a little more info from you. It sounds like you’re logging in ok. After that you should be able to just click on the link where it says “download the pattern here.” What (specifically) is happening when you click that link? Are you getting a blank screen? An error message of some kind? Any additional info will help me troubleshoot.
Wendi, just now I WAS able to download. Thanks!
I’m glad it started working for you! If you ever run into that again, try clearing your browser cache. Sometimes it “remembers” you being not logged
in. 🙂
i ❤️ The baers send a letter to me ??
🙂
I’m having the same problem as Hermione Granger above. It keeps asking me to log in, I do, but when I click on the pattern, it says WHOA, you need to sign in. Maybe I need to get out and try to log back in?
I’ll let you know if that works…
Mary
Haha, logged out, logged back in, Voila! I got the pattern.
Thank you 🙂
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