Ren Faire take 2

So in addition to going to Stitches last week, I also went to the Renaissance Faire again (it's only an hour away). This time, I was an awesome pirate. See?

I bought a nifty pirate flask as well. The costume was very comfy, unlike some of the other fancy ones I've done before, all except for those boots, which you can't really see. It seems wrong to be a pirate without boots, but I wish I had brought something comfy to change into.
The awesome part is that much of this came from my wardrobe already. The big change was the shirt - it was originally a dress shirt with black and red pinstripes, but in addition to being to tight in general, it was much too tight in the arms. So I decided I needed puffy sleeves, like any good pirate. I also added on some cheap storebought lace to the collar and sleeves.
The corset is the reverse of the one I wore last time. Yay for reversible corsets. The belt I just happened to have. The pocket watch is my new favorite watch. I picked up a gold one and a silver one at an estate sale - they're the kind you have to wind, which I actually really like. The sword is my old fencing foil.
The hat I actually got at the Brookfield Zoo. They have a pet-the-stingray exhibit, which is awesome, and for some reason they sell pirate stuff in a gift shop outside it. It's getting near the end of the season, so it was 40% off. It's a black woven straw hat, but if you look closely you can see the band has silver skull-and-crossbones on it. I also got pirate flipflops, which is incredibly cool, but less authentic.
The fishnets were just from my hosiery collection. The pants are cheap yoga pants, inspired by some I borrowed from my mom. I wanted to show off more of the fishnets, so I made some little garters to hold up the bottoms. Garters are incredibly easy to make, for the record. I took a bit of bias tape lace and some black elastic, and then just sewed right up middle while pulling the elastic as stretched out as it could go. When it went back into place, it ruffled up just like a garter should. I'm glad to know this, because storebought garters seem to come in only size, and that's Too Small For Me. These were perfectly comfy.
The little purse I did actually make from scratch, and I'm pretty proud of it. It's just a simple drawstring bag, but I got it in my head that a metal drawstring would be incredibly cool. I really didn't know if it would work well, but once it had snagged all available threads, it was just fine. The metal is fancy jewelry chain that was on sale. I stitched what I had extra around the opening of the bag. It's nearly taut when the bag is open, and drapes when it's closed. At each of the parts where it drapes, I added a little skeleton key charm, also cheap jewelry supplies on sale. I added a few other baubles at the front, but that's about it. I think any pirate would be proud of this bag.
So that's my spiffy costume. I'm a little sad that the Ren Faire is going to be closing for the season, because I might be tempted to go again. It's just a shame that there aren't more occasions to wear costumes in public. One holiday per year is simply not enough.