Blaze's Airship Pirate Costume, Part 2

The Shirt:

Blaze and I found this striped long sleeve T-shirt in the women's section at Goodwill yesterday afternoon. We decided that the stripes made it look piratical and that it would be perfect for Blaze's airship pirate costume, but I decided that the costume was looking too new and clean for him to have been much of a pirate. After we got the shirt home, I solved that problem with fire.

This is not a project that I would recommend doing around children. I made sure that Blaze was distracted with a video game, before taking the shirt, a lighter, a candle, and a bottle of water (just incase) outside to where I knew there was a spot of ground covered with a thick layer of sand.

Here is what the T-shirt looked like to begin with:



I set the candle down in the sand and lit it, so that I would have a constant source of fire while I worked. Then I burned off the cuffs and bottom hem of the shirt, a little at a time, using the sand to put out the flames when I believed enough had burned. This does require undivided attention.





By bunching up little bits of cloth and blowing out the flames soon after lighting them, I was able to burn holes in random spots on the sleeves.



I didn't put any holes in the chest or back of the shirt because those parts won't show when he's wearing the vest. If holes were added to those areas, this would be an easy way to make a zombie costume.

Here is the finished shirt:


Now he'll look like he's seen some action.


The Bandolier:

This whole costume idea started with Blaze asking me to make a Bandolier for him, because he'd seen someone wearing one in a movie.

I started with a cloth belt from a thrift store. I chose a cloth belt, because it is easier to sew through than leather.



I sewed on the two side pockets from the purse I'd cut up to make the vest. Then I added a strip of leather, sewn in loops to fit a test tube, left over from the instant snow science experiment, and some fake sticks of dynamite, made out of wooden dowels. Lastly, I sewed on a little pirate sword pendant, so there would be something that indicated that this belonged to a pirate.