DIY Jake and the Neverland Pirates Costume

Check out the DIY Jake and the Neverland Pirates costumes I created for the boys, they were perfect for our recent Disney Junior Live adventure! I am so excited by how cute they turned out – way better than I anticipated – and even more stoked that they were almost “free” for me to make.

The DIY Jake and the Neverland Pirate costumes are upcycled from one of those blue “velvet” amazon gift bags. (Naturally, there are amazon affiliate links in this post.) I used one of the smaller Amazon gift bags and had enough material to make two Jake vests. I even used the gold ribbon from the amazon gift bag to accent one of the vests.

Even if you don’t have random blue material (like an amazon gift bag) in your craft stash, blue felt would also work well.

Jake’s Vest

I went back to the easy template I used to make our Cowboy Woody Vests. I recommend printing two copies of the template and taping it together. Then your kiddo can try it on and you can make any necessary adjustments.

I folded the material in half and placed half of the back template along the fold. Then when I cut, I only had to cut out 1/2 of the template. Once I unfolded the fabric, I had a full vest back that was fairly symmetrical. I used the same method for the front of the vest.

Unfortunately, the amazon gift bag material cannot be ironed. TRUST ME on this. So I had to sew my vest pieces together (basically where I had taped it together on the template). If you are using a regular blue felt material then I recommend using fusible bonding web instead.

The sewing is minimal and I think anyone can manage a few simple stitches with a thread and needle.
The gold ribbon from the Amazon gift bag was a perfect match for the edge of Jake’s vest. Seriously it’s basically destiny for the Amazon gift bag to be upcylced into Jake and the Neverland pirate costume!

My one mistake was cutting the wide gold ribbon in half before gluing it to the edge of the vest. This was definitely a crafting novice mistake – the satiny ribbon frayed like crazy.  So I removed my failed first attempt at the ribbon edge. The good news? I made the mistake already and you don’t have to!

Instead glue the uncut ribbon along the edge, folding (and gluing) the ribbon on both sides of the vest (1/2 on the inside and 1/2 on the outside).

I didn’t have enough gold ribbon for the 2nd vest, so I instead gold duct tape. Duct tape is also too wide, so I cut it in 1/2 lengthwise to make the dimensions work. Don’t worry duct tape doesn’t fray like ribbon! 😉 It was very easy to work with and I recommend using it in lieu of ribbon (unless you are upcycling an amazon gift bag of course).

I didn’t have any large gold buttons to use on the vests so I made my own! I simply covered cardboard circles with gold fabric or gold duct tape. Gold spray paint would also work. Then I simply hot glued the buttons on to the vest!

White Pirate Shirts

I cut the neck and arm out of old white t-shirts to make them seem ragged. Then I cut out a set of triangles from each sleeve too. I added a black “X” out of black duct tape to complete the pirate shirt look.

And being super fans of Jake and the Neverland Pirates meant we already had 2 red bananas in our costume box.

What do you think? I think my DIY Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume turned out pretty cute.

Of course my pirates are pretty cute too! 😉

If you’re planning a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party or Halloween costume, you might want to check out our Peter Pan Halloween ideas from last year!