Commodore Norrington Costume

My son Vincent was 9 when I made this costume last year. He was watching "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" when he saw Commodore Norrington's costume and declared it was what he would love to be for Halloween.

I looked everywhere online for a pattern but found absolutely nothing. So I had to invent it. (Which I had never done before.)

I started with an old pattern making book that I found at a thrift store. I took lots of measurements and Vincent had to go through numerous fitting sessions.

My mother (my only teacher) suggested I use a sturdy, polyester "tablecloth" material that doesn't wrinkle. I got four yards of it (in navy blue) bc I knew I'd make mistakes. I also bought four yards of gold lining, and 2 yards of gold cotton fabric. Also necessary were 10 yards of gold trim, interfacing, fringe (for the epaulettes) and 60 gold buttons.

The hat, boots, and weapons were purchased, but I made the wig from scratch. I couldn't find anything online that matched the look of Norrington in the movie, so I invented a way to make a wig out of yarn by first using bias tape to create a sort of "cage" around a styrofoam head. I then crocheted long strands of yarn that I knotted individual pieces of yarn to. Since I am a hairdresser, this was relatively easy for me to do, although it was incredibly time-consuming. The strands of hair were hot glued to the 'cage'.

The jacket took 2 weeks to complete. I wrote down the whole process (24 pages!) so that I could make it again if I needed to. I also kept my paper pattern, which went through numerous revisions, because, as I said, I made a ton of mistakes. This was a major learning process for me but it was really fun and he looked fantastic! We had TONS of compliments when we went out trick-or-treating. Everyone thought he was George Washington which made him sad until I told him that George Washington was actually a military leader as well as the President. After that he didn't mind people calling him that. :)