Patterns for Pirates

P4P stylish, modern, wearable patterns

Important Announcement :: Changes to Freebies!

Growing pains exist in so many ways, even in business.  Some are easy to ignore — and some you can only ignore for so long.  This is one of those “for only so long” moments.  As we continue to grow, this little corner of the web continues to throw challenges our way.

Our main goal is to make every experience a great one when you visit us here.  Every. Single. Visit.

After consulting with several website gurus, the best way to increase website capabilities is to adjust how our “Freebies” work.  Starting January 1, 2021 (01-01-21), ALL free files will automatically expire after 30 day of purchase.

So now you’re thinking: How will this affect me?

Here are a few FAQs:

  • Q: Are these patterns not free any longer?
    • A: As we like to say: Freebies will always be free.  They just won’t stay in your account forever.  You’ve got 30 days to download them, or else you need to “purchase” them again….still for free.
  • Q: What do I need to do differently?
    • A: Not much.  Just download your files and save them to your computer, external hard drive, tablet, cloud storage, etc.  If you forget to save them somewhere, it’s not a problem.  The patterns will remain in your account for 30 days before you need to “purchase” them again.
  • Q: What happened to the free pattern that I “bought”?  I can’t find it in my account.
    • A: It’s simple….it’s been over 30 days, which means your download expired.  Add it to your cart, go through the checkout process, and download it again.  Easy peasy!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us for some extra assistance: help@patternsforpirates.com

Thank you so much for being part of our P4P family!  And get ready for five full days of fun with our 2020 Holiday Freebies…starting tomorrow!

2018 Holiday Freebies :: Critter Clutch

Welcome back to the second day of our P4P Holiday Freebies 2018!  I’m not sure I can even handle the excitement I have over today’s free pattern.  I am so happy to have this idea out of my head and finally in pattern form, to share with all of you.  AND FOR FREE!

These Critter Clutches are simply adorable!  They take minimal amounts of fabric, with not too much time involved in it.  The hardest part is deciding which version to do first: Unicorn, Reindeer or Fox??!!

You will need:
— Critter Clutch pattern pieces + Eye Digital Designs for HTV (found HERE)
— 1/2 yard main fabric, 1/2 yard lining fabric
— Fusible Fleece: I like Pellon 987F (aff link)
— Buttons / Snaps / Velcro for eyes and closures

Recommended fabrics: quilting cotton, kona cotton, flannel, etc.

Cut out all pieces needed for your corresponding bag.

Prepping the Strap:

Cut 3″ long x 34″ wide strip of fabric.
**Note: Depending if you or the recipient will be wearing it cross body or straight down from one shoulder, you may want to adjust the width of this piece to your liking.

1. Fold in half, with long edges touching, wrong sides together. Press.
2. + 3. Open up, and fold each long edge into the crease you just created.
4. Fold, completely enclosing the raw edges.

Edge stitch along both long edges. Set aside.  Finished width: 3/4″.

Horn / Ear / Antler / Nose Pieces: 

*Tip: I added fusible fleece to these pieces to help them stand up better.  Some of our testers opted to fill them with a small amount of fiberfil.  Either way works!

Right sides together, sew along the outer edges using 1/4″ seam allowance. Leave the bottom open for turning.

Clip corners and allowance before turning to get a crisper edge.  Topstitch if desired.

I like to get a little funky with the unicorn horn and add some decorative stitches to it.  This also helps the horn’s stiffness.

Apply Interfacing:

Carefully trim away 1/4″ from each interfacing piece, to allow for easier turning.

Following the instructions from the manufacturer, apply interfacing to these pieces:

  • Front Main Piece
  • Main Gussett

Eyes + Closures:

I personally like to add the eyes and velcro / snaps to the front main piece before we assemble the bag.  It allows for all of the stitching or snaps to be enclosed inside of the bags, and it’s a lot easier to apply HTV to a flat surface.  You can wait until the end if you’d like!

The Fox and Reindeer’s eyes need to be a little more wide set.  And the Unicorn’s eyes work best if you apply them closer to the bottom of the bag front.

Velcro / button placement on front main piece:

  • Unicorn / Plain Bag: 2″ from the top, centered (4.5″ from either side)
  • Fox / Reindeer: 2″ from the bottom, centered

Velcro / button placement on Back Lining piece:

  • Unicorn / Plain Bag: 2″ from the top, centered (4.5″ from either side)
  • Fox / Reindeer: 1.5″ from the bottom, centered

REINDEER ONLY:

1″ from the top edge, pin and baste ears in place using 1/8″ seam allowance.

Back Main Assembly:

UNICORN ONLY: Take back main piece and mark the center along the top, straight edge.  Mark center of horn piece.

Right sides together, align and pin/clip horn in place.

Place ears on either side of horn.  **Be sure not to go outside of your seam allowance on the outer edges, or you’ll have trouble turning your bag because the ears will be stuck in the outer edges.

FOX and REINDEER ONLY:

Right sides together, place ears and antlers (not pictured) 1″ from the outer edge.

ALL ANIMAL BAGS:

Place top piece, right sides together. Stitch with 1/4″ seam allowance.

Press open, with horn, antlers and/or ears pressed toward top and seam allowance pressed down.

Follow the manufacturer directions and iron your fusible interfacing onto the back side of the back main piece.

Attaching the Gusset:

Mark middle bottom of back piece and middle of both long edges of outer gusset piece.

Right sides together, ease gusset around bottom edge of back piece.  Sew using 1/4″ seam allowance.

Repeat for front main piece, attaching right sides together to other edge of gusset.

Repeat for lining pieces. Only this time, leave 4-5″ gap in one of the lining curves, to allow for turning.

Using 1/4″ allowance, baste straps, centered, on side gusset pieces. 

Final Assembly:

With the lining piece right sides out and the main, outer bag piece wrong sides out, slide the lining inside and align entire top edge.

Sew with 1/4″ seam allowance. Clip all edges and curves for cleaner turning.

Locate the opening you’d left in the lining.

Turn bag right-side-out through opening.

Pin and sew the opening in the lining closed, using your favorite blind or ladder stitch.

Press bag.  Topstitch around top edge if desired.

Reindeer Nose:

Align the nose at the very bottom of the front flap piece.  Top stitch the entire circle, catching the flap in your stitches and affixing the nose to the flap piece.

YOU’RE FINISHED!  DO A HAPPY DANCE!

In case you needed it, here is some inspiration for the different designs sewn up by our amazing testers!

UNICORN:

REINDEER

FOX

PLAIN

I hope you love these little cuties as much as I do.  Don’t forget to share your finished projects in the Patterns for Pirates Facebook Group!  Happy Holidays, friends!

FREE Mom/Girl Power Cut Files + 100k Sale-A-Bration Day 3!

Who is ready for the third day of celebrating?!  Welcome back to another round of our 100K Sale-A-Bration, pirates!

In case you missed the first day (which has an INSANE giveaway attached to it) or our second day (which includes a FREE sewing pattern), here are the links:
100K Sale-A-Bration + Grand Prize Giveaway | Free Convertible Cover Pattern

Today is another round of freebies, this time in the form of some digital cut files!

We really wanted to focus on one of our favorite topics: Strong Women.  But since we are lightly theming this week of celebrations around moms, we thought it might be fun to make the designs all about strong mommas and their little girls.  (Don’t worry, we have plans for designs geared toward boys / men at a later date!)

The designs are all packaged together with four different file types: SVG, PNG, DXF, and PDF.  They should work with most digital die cutting machines.

Don’t own a machine like a Silhouette or Cricut?  No sweat!  We have included extra file types that will allow you to work with the designs however you’d like.

— Go old school and use an iron on transfer paper and your at-home printer.
— Use Heat Transfer Vinyl and your die cutter.
— Try your hand at Freezer Paper Stenciling.

Or, head right over to our First Mate Katy’s store (she’s the designer of these and most of our cut files), and have her cut the design for you and send it your way!  You can find all of our pirate designs available in here store HERE.

Wait no longer!

Go grab your copy of the FREE Mom/Girl Power Cut Files now!

Also be sure to head over the Patterns for Pirates Facebook Group and enter yourself into today’s daily drawing for the 100K Sale-A-Bration

Happy Sewing, Pirates!

2017 Holiday Freebies: Easy Button Cowl

I’m back to gift you the final item for our 2017 Holiday Freebies!  Have you had fun with us so far this week?

In case you’ve missed the last four days, go take a look: Slouchy Headwarmer / Emoji Pillows / Clothing Size Tags / Camera Strap

On the last day of our freebies, we are sharing how to make this super cute, quick, and easy Button Cowl.  We’ve even got two ways for you to wear it.  Are you ready?  Let’s get to it!

 

Materials needed:

  • 2 – 26″ wide x 6″ long pieces of fabric (can be flannel, fleece, sweatshirt fabric, etc. Really anything will work, but obviously the cozier the better.)
  • 2 buttons / snaps
  • Coordinating thread

With fabrics right sides together, stitch around entire outside using 1/2″ seam allowance. Leave 3″ opening for turning.

Trim away bulk, making sure not to snip through seams.

Turn right-sides-out, through the opening.

Tuck in your seam allowance, press.

Top stitch along entire outer edge, making sure to catch your opening in there.

There are two ways you can add buttons/snaps to the cowl to create different ways to wear them.  I created an easy diagram to help you with placement for your buttons and button holes, depending on the style you’re wanting for your cowl.

Here’s a quick peek at what some of our testers made for themselves with this pattern:

As always, we would love if you shared your creations with us!  Head over to the Patterns for Pirates Facebook Group and show us what you made!  Happy Holidays, friends!

2017 Holiday Freebies: DIY Camera Strap

What?  We are on day four of the 2017 Holiday Freebies already?  I hope you’re having as much fun as I am!  If you need to back and review the past three days, I can wait!

Here are some links: Slouchy Headwarmer / Emoji Pillows / Clothing Size Tags

Now that we’ve covered that, let’s get to today’s free pattern!  Sewing and photography seem to go hand-in-hand more often, because we want to share what we’ve made with our sewing community!  Why not sew yourself a sweet little strap to wear while you’re using that camera of yours?  It’s super easy to do and way more fun than using what came with your camera originally.  Let’s get to it!

Prep your pieces, you will need:

  • Pattern Piece for Vinyl Ends
  • 36″ L x 12″ W Quilting Cotton
  • 2 – 12″ cuts of nylon webbing (1/2″ or 3/8″ both work) — I used THIS
  • 2 – 1/2″ or 3/8″ sliding adjusters — I used THESE black versions as well as THESE fun colored ones!
  • 36 L x 3″ W Fusible Fleece Interfacing
  • Small scraps of Vinyl/Pleather

**If you can’t find the nylon webbing / sliding adjusters in your local fabric store, a quick trick is to buy a small dog collar from the dollar store.  They tend to have the right width strap, and usually include the adjuster on it as well.

Important: The ends of nylon wedding need to be heat sealed to prevent fraying.  Make sure to do this before sewing it to your strap pieces!

**If your fabric is directional, you will want to cut two pieces for your strap and then stitch them together. Cut two 18.5″ x 12″ pieces from your quilting cotton.

For directional fabric, place your pieces right sides together, and sew along the short edge, using 1/2″ seam allowance.

Press open your seam.

For all straps: Fold your main fabric wrong sides together, meeting the long edges to one another. Press.

Open up your piece and fold one of the raw edges toward the middle crease you just made.

Repeat with the second raw edge. Press.

If you open your piece, you’ll now have 3 creases, spread evenly across four total sections.

On one of the middle sections, following the directions provided by the manufacturer, iron your fusible fleece to your strap piece.

We will be refolding the strap in the same method as before. Take one of the raw edges and fold it toward the middle crease.

Repeat with other raw edge.

Fold along middle crease, meeting both folded edges. All of your raw edges will be fully enclosed now.

Press, press, press.

I like to clip/pin my outer edges together, to make sure they’ll align properly when I go to stitch them. Straight stitch along the entire edge you just pinned, getting as close to the edge as you can.

This part is up to you, and how fancy you want to get with your quilting. I like to run an edge stitch along the other long edge. And then three even lines across the rest of the strap. You can stitch as much or as little as you’d like!

Take your nylon strap and overlap it 1.5″ from the edge of your strap, aligning it directly in the center of the strap.

Pin and repeat for the opposite end.

Using a wide zig zag stitch, secure your nylon strap to the end.

For the vinyl pieces, I recommend to only cut one actual piece — and to have an oversized rectangle for the other. It’s easier than trying to get them to line up perfectly. Especially since vinyl can be fussy to topstitch.

I like to run a line of fabric glue at the top of the vinyl backside. It helps keep it in place when sewing.

Two inches up from the bottom of your strap piece, lay out one of the vinyl pieces. The vinyl should be slightly wider than your strap.

Flip over your strap.

Throw another line of glue on the edge of your vinyl square.

Place it 2″ up from the bottom of your strap.

Flip your piece back over and stitch your vinyl on. This is the path I take and it allows for a continuous stitch. You can take whatever path you want. 

I HIGHLY recommend using a teflon foot for this. Vinyl can be a huge brat. I know they carry them at JoAnn Fabrics, or you can snag one on Amazon.

Finished stitches.

Trim the vinyl to match your other pieces.

Be careful not to cut off your nylon strap. Just tuck it out of the way when you’re trimming.

Take your slider.

Slide it onto your strap.

Put the cord in from the bottom-up on your camera.

Give yourself a little slack.

Run the cord back through the bottom and secure the strap to your camera. Easy peasy!

 

I am SO EXCITED to see your new, stylin’ camera straps!  I’ve been using my me-made strap for years now (so has my hubby) and we get compliments on it all the time.  I’m betting you will too!  Please, if you do make one for yourself, share it with us in the Patterns for Pirates Facebook Group!

**Also, as a quick note, there are some affiliate links scattered within this post.  I make a small commission for purchases made through those links, but I only link products that I’ve used and actually recommend myself.

2017 Holiday Freebies :: Size Tags

We are back for more fun with day three of our 2017 Holiday Freebies!  (In case you missed the last two…check out our Slouchy Headwarmer + Emoji Pillows and then come right back!)

One of the only complaints I get in my household about the handmade clothes I make for my husband and son are that there aren’t tags.  Apparently it’s not as easy for everyone as it is for us to find the back of your shirt!  We are helping to change that with these cute clothing size tags, so now the only complaint should be that they don’t have enough of your handiwork hanging in their closets!

I made the “THIS IS THE BACK” tags for my own family’s use a while back and thought I might share it with my P4P friends!  And then we couldn’t leave you with just one (kinda snarky) design, so I whipped up two more styles to go along with it.  I think a favorite with our holiday help were the “Size: Unique” set.  Now you can label your clothing properly with things like: beautiful, sassy, strong, healthy, etc.  Kinda fun, right?

You can go pick up your copy of these designs right HERE.

Don’t own a die cutting machine like a Silhouette or Cricut?  No sweat!  We have included an extra file type (PNG) that will allow you to work with the designs however you’d like.  We even had someone print on fabric using their at-home printer and sewed the labels in that way.  Pretty clever, huh?

Here are some other ideas:

— Go old school and use an iron on transfer paper and your at-home printer.
— Use Heat Transfer Vinyl and your die cutter.
— Try your hand at Freezer Paper Stenciling.  (Dana from Made Everyday has a great tutorial HERE.)

And just as a handy little tip from someone who has been using tags like these for a while now, I like to cut a bunch of tags on my Silhouette, weed them, lay them on a piece of parchment paper and then cut them out. That way, they’re ready to go when I need them. No fuss!

As always, we love to see what you make from our goodies!  Please feel free to share with us over in the Patterns for Pirates Facebook Group!  And make sure to come back tomorrow to see what else we’ve cooked up this week for you!  Happy Holidays, Friends!

2017 Holiday Freebies :: Emoji Pillows

We are back for Day 2 of our 2017 Holiday Freebies!  (In case you missed yesterday’s, head here to learn how to make this awesome Slouchy Headwarmer!)

I don’t think you’ve braced yourselves enough for today’s freebie, though.  If you’ve got a kiddo (or a kid at heart!) on your holiday gift list, we just might have the perfect solution for you: EMOJI PILLOWS!

These pillows come out to be 12″ tall.
You will need:
— Emoji Pillow pattern pieces (found HERE)
— small amounts of yellow, red, black, and/or brown fabrics.
— fiberfill (aff link)

Recommended fabrics: flannel, fleece, sweatshirt fleece, kona cotton, quilting cotton, etc.

**Optional, but highly recommended for woven fabrics that can fray (affiliate links):
— If you plan on finishing your face pieces with stitching: Wonder Under Sewable or Heat n Bond Iron-On Sewable Adhesive, etc. are great because they are machine safe and won’t gunk up your needles.
— If you don’t plan on stitching the face pieces to the pillows: Heat ‘N Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive, etc. are better since they tend to have a stronger hold.  You just don’t want to stitch through those!

Heart Eye Emoji Pillow:

  • Cut 2 Heart Eyes
  • Cut 1 Mouth
  • Cut 2 Main Pillow Pieces

Poop Emoji Pillow:

  • Cut 2 Outer Eyes
  • Cut 2 Inner Eyes
  • Cut 1 Mouth
  • Cut 2 Main Pillow Pieces

Sleepy Emoji Pillow:

  • Cut 2 Sleepy Eyes
  • Cut 1 Mouth
  • Cut 3 Z’s
  • Cut 2 Main Pillow Pieces

Sunglasses Emoji Pillow

  • Cut 1 Sunglasses
  • Cut 1 Mouth
  • Cut 2 Main Pillow Pieces

ALL MAIN PILLOW PIECES HAVE 1/4″ SEAM ALLOWANCE.
**THERE ARE NO SEAM ALLOWANCES ON THE FACE PIECES, AS THOSE ARE ALL APPLIQUED OR IRONED ON.

Iron pieces to interfacing according to instructions.  If using an iron-on method only, apply your face pieces directly to one main pillow piece.

If using the applique method, pin your face pieces into place and zig zag stitch around pieces, securing them to the pillow piece.

Lay your main pillow body right sides together.

Sew around entire outside, using 1/4″ seam allowance. Leave 3″ opening at the bottom for turning.

Without clipping through seam, trim and clip corners for easy turning.

Turn pillow right-side-out, through opening you’d left in the bottom edge.

I like to use a wooden dowel to push out edges and make sure everything is turned properly.

Grab your fiber fill.

Start filling your pillow, through the opening at the bottom.  I also like to use the wooden dowel to help move the fiber fill around.

Fill the entire pillow, but don’t overstuff.

Pin and hand stitch the opening shut, using your favorite method.

You’re all done!  I cannot wait to see your versions of the Emoji Pillows!  Don’t forget to share your finished projects in the Patterns for Pirates Facebook Group!  (I have this strange feeling that my feed is going to be FULL of poop emojis soon, haha!)  Happy Holidays, friends!

FREE Printable Measurement Charts

 

I am excited to be sharing this new FREEBIE with you today!  The biggest/best part of sewing for yourself or your family is being able to create custom clothing for exactly the unique size and shape that you are.  But that’s a lot of numbers to remember.  So we are here to make it a little easier on you by sharing these measurement charts.

There is a fill-in chart for each member of your family.  Simply print, measure, write it down, and get to sewing!

Need help figuring out some of these measurements?  We’ve already got you covered!  Head over to Judy’s post about “How To Measure Yourself” to see where to place the measuring tape and how to get the most accurate numbers.

What are you waiting for?  Go grab a copy of these PDFs and make life a little easier on yourself!
FREE PRINTABLE MEASUREMENT CHARTS

Happy sewing, friends!

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