Pirate costumes are a popular choice for Halloween, cosplay, parties, and playing dress-up.
Pirates are usually dressed in colonial style or in rough and torn clothes.
You can find so many pirate costumes ideas suitable for every member of the family.
If you want to be the captain of your own ship, or you want to turn your whole family and friends in your crew, pirate costumes are a great option for Halloween.
Unfortunately, elaborate pirate costumes could cost over $200, but simple homemade pirate costumes are just a few bucks.
In addition, many DIY pirate costumes can be made in less than an hour.
Here’s a list of quick and easy DIY pirate costume plans that cost less than $15 and are fun to make:
1. DIY Pirate Accessories
From the archives of the DIY craft queen, Martha Stewart walks you through how to make a pirate hat, hook, buckles, sword, and pouch.
This are the essential accessories a pirate costume must-have for a complete look.
This pirate costume DIY is easy to make and can be done by a parent and child working together. For this DIY pirate costume you will need:
- Pleather. It’s the leather-like fabric used to make the pirate pouch.
- Craft Paper. The tri-corner hat is made of cut and shaped craft paper. You will need a large sheet.
- Cardboard. The shapes for the buckles, hook, and swords are made from cardboard.
- Craft Knife. You need a sharp blade for cutting shapes out of the cardboard.
- Waxed String. A slightly tougher string used to hold the hat and pouch together.
- Fabric Hole Punch. You will need a punch that can go through tough fabric if you don’t want a difficult sewing job.
Make the pirate hat
For the pirate hat you start off by drawing a big circle on the craft paper, then a smaller one in the center.
Cut the shapes, and in the end, you should have a big circle with a hole for the head in the middle.
Cut another piece of craft paper, this time a rectangle that will serve as the crown shape. Stick these two pieces together and now you should have a shape close to Zorro’s hat, then stitch three parts of the brim to the crown.
Make the buckle and the pouch
The belt buckle is essentially a cardboard piece topped with aluminum foil, polished until it shines just like precious metal. The shape must allow the pouch belt to go through it.
For the pouch cut out 2 pieces of pleather with a long strip each, then sew them together.
The pouch should go over your shoulders, cross-body and for a great touch on your pirate costume add the buckle you just made.
2. Last-Minute DIY Pirate Costume for Kids
This is a simple sewing and gluing project. It makes a pirate hat, vest and eye patch for a toddler. The most important materials are:
- Black Cotton Fabric. This is the material for the hat.
- Black Felt. The vest is made from felt.
- Black Thread. You need a black thread to sew together the hat and the vest.
- White Craft Foam. You need craft foam to make the skull and crossbones for the hat and vest.
- Craft Knife. You may need a blade to cut out the skull and crossbones if scissors prove too difficult.
How to make the pirate vest
Use a pirate vest pattern you find online to cut off the shapes you need for your kid’s pirate costume.
Sew the pieces together and for an extra touch, you can add a skull patch or glue decorative string on the edges.
The vest should have a simple fastener system.
For example, 3-4 simple black buttons, a snap fastener, 2 strips of velcro or you could use some thin rope to give it a different vibe.
3. $9 DIY Pirate Costume
This tutorial shows how to make a DIY pirate costume out of three T-shirts.
This is a DIY woman pirate costume, though it could be used to make a boy’s costume too. No sewing is required, only cutting.
You need a pair of black pants and boots to complete the costume. This cheap and easy pirate costume requires:
- A White T-shirt. Buy the T-shirt two sizes bigger than what you usually wear.
- A Black T-shirt. This is for the vest, so it should be a little smaller than your normal size.
- A Red T-shirt. All the accessories are made out of the red shirt, so buy the biggest one you can find.
Start your Halloween costume by cutting the hems and the neckline of the t-shirt, then cut holes around the edges for a more rough and torn look.
Your character has been on a ship hunting for treasures for months, so your shirt must reflect this.
The vest is cut from the black t-shirt. Cut off the sleeves and then cut a strip from the front side of the t-shirt to make the vest opening.
The vest is pretty much done at this point, but for an extra touch, you can add buttons, a belt or even a scarf around the waist.
Use the red t-shirt to cut out the accessories for your pirate costume.
4. Complete DIY T-Shirt Pirate Costume
This tutorial shows how to make a DIY kid’s pirate costume in around thirty minutes.
Sewing skills aren’t necessary.
In addition to some store-bought pirate accessories, a white shirt, and khaki pants, you will need:
- Black and Yellow Felt. You use this to make the eyepatch, buckles and pirate boots.
- Rain Boots. You cut felt and glue it onto the rain boots to make pirate boots.
- An Old Velvet or Velour T-shirt: You cut this down the front to make the vest.
- Elastic to glue it to the eye patch; black works best.
- Red and gray T-shirts: These make the belt and sash.
- Hot Glue Gun and Glue. You need this to glue all the pieces together.
This costume is the perfect example of how easy it is to make your own Halloween costume.
In this case, the materials used and the simple techniques really allow you to make a presentable costume minutes before your kid has to go trick or treating.
5. DIY Pirate Costume for Boys
This costume is designed for boys and men and requires little or no sewing.
For this reasonably inexpensive DIY pirate outfit, you will need:
- A White Long-Sleeve Button-Down Shirt. The shirt should be a few sizes too big.
- Eyelet Setter. This costume uses eyelets to make a more elaborate pirate shirt.
- Hammer. You need a hammer to secure the eyelets.
- Leather Cording. The leather cording goes through the eyelets.
- Black Sweatpants. You want to cut them short to make the pirate pants.
- Dimensional Glow-in-the-Dark Paint. This is to paint stripes on the pants.
- Store-Bought Vest. A vest for the costume.
- 2 Scarves. One scarf goes around the head, and one scarf is a sash around the waist.
You can quickly put together this pirate costume for men, just in time for Halloween.
You will be a pirate captain sailing the high seas, bonus points you put little to no effort in your costume because there is no need for complicated stitches to hold the pieces together.
6. DIY Jack Sparrow Costume
Men and older boys can dress as Captain Jack Sparrow, as it is the most popular choice when it comes to pirate costumes.
This costume requires no sewing, but you have to spend a bit of time at the thrift store.
Of course, start by looking around the house before going to a thrift store. Most of the time you can find a part of the materials between old clothes and accessories.
For this DIY male pirate costume you will need:
- A Bandana and Scarf. Jack Sparrow wears a headscarf and a sash around his waist.
- An Old Cloth Cowboy Hat. You pin up three sides to make a quick tri-corner hat.
- Plastic Pronged Bristle Brush. Use a brush to make your fake dreads, after that set with hair spray or gel.
- Beads, Feathers and/or Costume Jewelry. There are all sorts of little treasures hiding in Jack Sparrow’s dreads.
- A White Long-Sleeved Shirt. A flowing shirt of natural fiber will look the best.
- Dark Loose Black Pants. Pajama pants or sweatpants will work fine.
- Boots. Buy a pair of old boots at the thrift store or costume boots.
- Mascara and Black Eyeliner. You need to add dark make-up around the eyes.
You may also be interested in 8 DIY Minion Costume Plans
7. DIY No-Sew Jake and the Neverland Pirates Cubby Costume
One Mom made her family homemade pirate costumes based on Jake and the Never Land Pirates. The Cubby costume for the little boy is simple and requires little sewing.
Now he is ready to fight Captain Hook.
Here’s what you’ll need for this adorable costume:
- 1/4 Yard Light Blue Fabric. This is for Cubby’s headscarf.
- A White T-shirt and a Royal Blue T-shirt. You make Cubby’s white shirt and blue vest from these T-shirts.
- Yellow Buttons. These are for the blue vest. Larger buttons work better.
- Red Shorts. Cubby wears red shorts.
- Orange Felt and Black Yarn or Ribbon. This is to make a patch for Cubby’s shorts.
- Brown and Gold Felt and Elastic. You use the felt to make shoe covers, and the elastic holds the covers on.
Steps
The first step is to cut a white t-shirt a few inches from the bottom. In addition, cut off the sleeves to give the t-shirt a worn aspect.
Cut the sleeves off of the blue t-shirt, cut the t-shirt open and attach the yellow buttons.
For this DIY costume, the pants are the easiest part, you just have to attach the orange felt patch with some hand stitches.
DIY Pirate Costume Conclusion
These DIY pirate costumes are a great crafting project you can do with your kid. It’s more fun and greater bragging rights to wear a costume that you made yourself.
A simple pirate costume can be made in an afternoon, and the price is well below the one of a store-bought costume.
In fact, even if you can’t sew, you can make a pirate costume. If you have already made a costume, please share it.
