EASY Pirate Doo-Rag

With Buzz's pirate-themed birthday party over the weekend, I've got pirates on the brain -- and a few ideas to share! Today I'll show you how I made an easy pirate doo-rag for Mr. S. (Check that pirate-y sneer!)

I find that the secret is to use a KNIT fabric. It's more comfortable and has a little stretch, which helps it to stay on much better. I had a random bit of black knit fabric in my costume fabric box, but you could certainly recycle an old t-shirt too.

What you need:
Approximately 20" square of black (red would be great too!) knit fabric
approximately 5" square scrap of white knit fabric
5" square piece of freezer paper

STEP ONE: Draw a skull and crossbones on your freezer paper.

STEP TWO: Cut it out -- you are removing the inside part of your pattern and keeping the outside part! Fuse your freezer paper pattern to your square of knit fabric.

STEP THREE: Pin your freezer paper and knit fabric on one corner of your black square, so the bottom of the crossbones is about 6" up from the corner.

STEP FOUR: Using black thread, sew around the inside edge of your freezer paper pattern. I used my free-motion foot. (See why I love my free-motion foot in the short video under step four in this tutorial!) You can certainly use a regular foot -- it just means you'll be lifting and lowering your presser foot a lot to get around those curves and corners.

Of course I had to add some angry eyes!

STEP FIVE: Cut away the excess fabric around your skull and crossbones. Your doo-rag is complete!

I found the most FABULOUS how-to on tying doo-rags here! This particular page is perfectly safe to look at, but please note that it is a biker website, so photos of scantily-clad women are likely to be on other pages. Just be forewarned! :o)