How to Make a Jake and the Never Land Pirates Costume

When I asked my son what he wanted to be for Halloween, he did not hesitate for one second with his reply - Jake the Pirate. If you are not familiar with this friendly and helpful pirate, he is the main character on a popular cartoon series called Jake and the Never Land Pirates on Disney Junior. I was beyond thrilled that he chose a costume that would be acceptable to wear both trick-or-treat night and at his preschool Halloween party.

As I searched the Internet, my mood changed from thrilled to utter shock that many sites wanted an average of $30-$40 for such a simple costume. I knew that I could make a homemade costume for much cheaper and that is just what I did. By using items I already had on hand, I managed to make his Halloween costume for a little over $2.00 which was the cost of the yellow ribbon on the vest. To learn how to create your own Jake and the Never Land Pirates costume, read further for a list of needed supplies and step-by-step directions for completing this homemade project.

Here are some handy tips that will help you when creating the vest:

• When cutting the shape of the vest, don't worry if your lines are not absolutely perfect. The yellow ribbon that you hot glue around the edges of the vest will hide any imperfections.
• If you try to avoid sewing at all costs, go ahead and cut off the excess fabric and use the hot glue gun to reattach the fabric. As you can tell by the pictures below, I am not the world's best seamstress, but I am proud to say that I made it through my very first sewing project!
• As a way to cut costs on this costume, we used the yellow craft foam sheets to create our buttons. If you are also trying to save money and want to avoid purchasing the buttons, another budget-friendly idea would be to paint bottle caps yellow and hot glue them to the vest.

As I started planning out this Jake the Pirate costume, my main concern was the vest. I went to several stores looking for one in navy blue, but unfortunately could not find one anywhere in my son's size. Just as I was about to give up, I found an old button up shirt in my husband's closet which I decided to alter for this project. My original plan was to paint the edge and collar of the vest with yellow paint, but I quickly found out that paint and corduroy do not go well together. Plan B included a hot glue gun and roll of yellow ribbon which worked out perfectly. Below are the steps and supplies that I used to create this vest.

Supplies:

• Navy blue button up shirt
• Yellow ribbon
• Yellow craft foam sheets
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Ruler or tape measure
• Needle and thread (for alterations if needed)

Directions:

1. Cut the sleeves of the shirt off leaving approximately 2 inches of the shoulder intact. If you are using an adult size shirt, use your child's measurements or a shirt in his or her size to determine how much of the length to cut off. Make any other necessary alterations by hand or sewing machine to fit your child.
2. Measure and cut pieces of yellow ribbon to outline the edges and collar of the vest. Use a hot glue gun to secure the ribbon into place.
3. Cut out 4 circles out of yellow craft foam sheets to act as the buttons and use the hot glue gun to attach these to the vest.

After finishing the vest, I got started on the shirt to go under it. This part of the costume was so simple that it took less than ten minutes to complete. Using one of my son's white t-shirts and a black string cut from one of my old shirts, I was thrilled to already have all the items that I needed on hand. Below you will find a list of supplies and step-by-step directions to make Jake's shirt.

Supplies:

• White shirt
• Black string or yarn
• Scissors
• Hole puncher

Directions:

1. Cut a 3 inch slit down the center of the shirt collar. Use a hole puncher to make 2 holes on each side of the slit.
2. Weave the black string or yarn loosely into the holes to create an "X" and tie a knot to secure it into place.
3. Cut several 1.5 inch slits into both sleeves to give the shirt more of a ragged pirate appearance.

The boots for this homemade costume were very easy for me considering my son already had a pair of brown, slip-on boots from his Toy Story Woody costume that he received as a gift last year. To make them look more like Jake's boots, I used a hot glue gun and yellow craft foam sheets to create the special accents. If you don't have these slip-on shoe covers, don't worry about it as any type of brown boots will work for this costume. Below are the supplies and steps I used in creating the boots.

Supplies:

• Brown boots
• Yellow craft foam sheets
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Cut out 2 ovals from the yellow craft foam sheets and secure them to the top of each boot with a hot glue gun.
2. Cut out 2 letters "J" and attach these to the inner part of each boot with hot glue. The right boot will have a "J" the correct way and the left boot will have a backwards "J".

Here are a few other items you will need to complete this homemade Jake and the Never Land Pirates costume:

• Royal Blue Pants - For our pants, we simply used a pair of royal blue pajama pants. You could also use blue athletic pants or a pair of blue jeans to complete your costume.
• Wide Black Belt - We used a wide black belt that came with a dress I bought several years ago. Since it was elastic, it happened to fit my son perfectly. If you don't have one of these belts, cut up a stretchy black t-shirt into a long strip of fabric to tie around your child's waist.
• Red Headband - Our red headband came from an old red ninja costume that we already had in our dress up drawer. You could also use a red bandana or cut up a stretchy red t-shirt into a long strip of fabric to tie around your child's head.
• Pirate Sword - Although my son won't be able to carry his pirate sword with him to his preschool Halloween party, he will add one to his costume that night when he goes trick-or-treating. If you don't already have one, try stores like the Dollar Tree for cheap pirate accessories.

As with any new project I start, the hardest part of this costume was figuring out what supplies I needed and how to make each part of Jake's outfit. Once I found my way through a little trial and error, this homemade costume ended up being a breeze to create and saved me so much money in the process. So if your little one is a big fan of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, go on and give this easy Halloween costume a try!

After reading this article, I hope you feel inspired to make a homemade Jake the Pirate costume for your child. If you have any questions or comments about this easy to make Halloween costume, feel free to leave these in the comment section below.