DIY Pirate Hook Tutorial - Make Your Own Pirate Costume Series

Arrrrrrhhhhh Me Hearties!

It be another in my series of Pirate Tutorials today.

Okay, that's enough Pirate Speak!

Today we're going to make a Pirate Hook to go with the Pirate Sword and the Eye Patch I've shared before previous International Speak Like a Pirate Day's (which this year is this coming Saturday)

You Will Need:

- Felt - colour of your choice (one A4 sheet per hook) 

- 2 x Plastic cups

- Metal hook from a plastic coat hanger

- Glue

- Ribbon or Braid

- Sugru (if you have any - otherwise you can use glue and blue tac)

- Awl (if you don't have one, anything with a sharp point, like a metal skewer will work)

Instructions:

1. Cut a slit in one of the plastic cups, all the way to the base and cut off the bottom (try to cut as close to the base as possible) then remove the rim as well as this makes it easier to flatten out. Flatten out on top of your felt and draw around the plastic. Cut out the felt leaving at leas a 1" seam allowance all the way round.

2. Glue the felt to the other plastic cup, folding the felt over the rim of the cup and gluing down.

3. Draw around the base of the cup and cut out the felt piece. Then glue this onto the base of the cup. With the awl (or metal skewer) carefully make a hole through the felt and the cup in the centre of the cup base.

4. Glue your ribbon or braid around the join at the base of the cup.

5. Insert the hook into the base of the cup and secure in place. If you have Sugru follow the instructions on the packet and attach the sugru to the inside of the cup, with the hook in place (see Picture 6) but if not, once the hook is in place, add a blob of blue tac to the inside of the cup, to hold the hook in place and place a blob of glue on the outside, where the hook goes into the cup. The glue will dry clear.

6. With a clear cup that has not had the felt wrapped round it yet, I've shown here what to do with the Sugru (or blue tac). Sugru takes 24 hours to dry, hence this being the last step.

7. And here is your finished cup ready to play with! Well done!

As I'm posting this on the day I've made my Pirate Hooks I've not got any pictures to show you of my little pirates playing with them, but check back tomorrow and once the Sugru has dried I'll allow them to be road tested!

Have fun and enjoy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

International Talk Like A Pirate Day - round up of great Pirate Patterns

Ahoy ye land lubbers! It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day on the 19th September and I thought I'd do a quick round up of some cool Pirate Patterns from me and others:

Starting from the top right:

- Free Pirate Eye Patch Tutorial I designed last year, which can be found here,

- Roger The Pirate Softie Pattern, designed by Abby Glassenberg, which I featured on the blog a couple of weeks ago (here) and can be bought from Abby's website While She Naps,

- Then there is my son's favourite - the Pirate Sword, which is another of my free tutorials, found here,

- Next up is this seriously cool Pirate Hide Out pattern, by Miss Pretty Pretty on Etsy and can be bought here,

- The crochet Pirate Ship Pattern is amazing - I just wish I could crochet! It's by Sky Magenta (also on Etsy) and can be found here

- And lastly is the Pirate Treasure Map that can be found in my Etsy shop here

Hope you have some fun making Piratey things this week and that your little ones enjoy playing with them!

How to Make a Felt DIY Pirate Sword Tutorial

Arrrrrrr, me hearties! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yesterday I shared a Felt Pirate Eye Patch Tutorial which was admirably modeled by my own little Pirate last night:

And was then borne off to school by my bigger Pirate this morning:

So today I'm going to share with you my tutorial for making a Felt Pirate Sword. This is quite timely as my smallest Pirate was bought one (a very flimsy one!) last weekend and promptly broke it, so he needed a replacement!

You will need:

- Cardboard - A4 size (either two pieces of thinner cardboard stuck together or a piece of thick cardboard that won't flop about when waved about)
- Grey Felt (9" x 8")
- Black Felt (11" x 6")
- A Biro
- Strong Scissors (for cutting the cardboard)
- Grey & Black embroidery thread
- A piece of ribbon and matching embroidery thread
- Glue
- Template (which can be found at the end of the tutorial)

First cut out the template and draw round it onto the cardboard & cut out. (if you are using thin cardboard, cut two pieces and stick them together)

Then draw around the cardboard onto the grey felt with your biro and cut out leaving a 1/4" extra around the edge

Flip the cardboard sword over and repeat so you have two mirror images on the grey felt for the blade part of the sword

Then repeat on the black felt for the handles. If you have tailors chalk you can use that to draw round to see the lines more easily, but I found I could just about see the biro lines if I held the felt up to the window:

Then using a bit of glue to keep the grey felt in place, with the grey embroidery thread (2 strands) blanket stitch neatly all the way round the grey felt to make the blade

Next using glue to keep the black pieces in place, with the black embroidery thread (2 strands) blanket stitch all the way round the black felt to make the handle.

Lastly sew or tie a piece of ribbon around the join between the black & grey felt

And now you're ready for a swashbuckling adventure!

Please feel free to make this felt sword as many times as you like for personal use, but please do not sell either the finished items, or the tutorial and if you blog or want to share any of the pictures from the tutorial, please link back to this post.

I'd love to see any Piratey pictures that you take if you've created either the eye patch or the sword using my tutorials, so please feel free to send them to simmi@gracesfavours.co.uk

Enjoy!