Yo ho, let's go!

C is completely obsessed with Jake and the Neverland Pirates. All he wanted for his birthday was a toy Bucky to play with and a party at home. So I cheerfully started a pirate pinboard, and looking for party and activity ideas and I stumbled upon this really lovely Jake costume. And right away I knew what the perfect surprise would be. This was one of those serendipitous projects that actually came together happily and easily. They don’t all, you know, and I will be sharing a project soon that really really didn’t, so I enjoyed this one.

I had some navy twill in my stash and some bright gold quilting cotton. Who knows what abandoned projects I had in mind for these? But suddenly they only seemed suitable for costumes. I also happened to have a vest pattern that I could make work for this. Again, I haven’t a clue what made me think I’d ever actually make it. Must have been one of those 99¢ sales. I always come away from them with patterns I’ll never actually use, don’t you? But this one actually worked. All I had to do was square off the collar and the bottom and voila, Jake!

For a really neat and durable construction, I self lined the vest and treated it a little like a sleeveless dress.  I attached one collar to the fabric and one to the lining. I stitched the shoulder seams, then stitched the armscyes together and understitched.  Then, I stitched the side seams of the vest and lining all in one go. The collar, front and bottom edges were left open and I bound them in the gold cotton bias tape for the Jake effect. The only thing I had to buy were the little gold anchor buttons. I found some just long enough scraps of red shot cotton to make the headband and suddenly I have this awesome little pirate outfit!

Birthday boy has been wearing it all weekend, so I guess it’s a hit. Our neighbors were outside just as we were about to eat cake, so we invited them in to sing with us.

Oh, and the cake? Well, C and I stumbled upon this nice blog while pinning pirate ideas. He was dumbstruck by the cake and begged me to make one. Now, I’m a good baker, but I usually stick to the baking part.  I don’t do the whole cake boss thing, but this cake looked actually manageable. I nervously told him that “Mommy will do her best, but it may not completely look exactly like Bucky. Is that OK?” “That’s OK, Mom,” he says, in that straightforward way children have, “if it gets smushed, it will still taste good.”

So I did my best, and really, it didn’t turn out half bad. He was happy, and that’s really what counts, right? And I assure you it tasted good.

Now I want to try my hand at doll clothes for K’s birthday in October. Shhh, don’t tell her!