In the movie “The Pirate Fairy,” Zarina, the main character, begins as an ordinary fairy in the Pixie Hollow community. My daughter asked me for a costume and she was very specific about how she wanted it to look, “I want to be Zarina, but not the Pirate, just the regular fairy girl.” With that request, I set off.

“THE PIRATE FAIRY” (Pictured) ZARINA. ©2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

There are not many pictures to go by! So here is my inspiration. You too can create this costume for your unconventional fairy!

Zarina (before she was a pirate) Costume

If you are sewing from patterns I have not seen any “working in Pixie Hollow” type of patterns. There are scads of princess/flying fairy dresses, but not the kind of “villagers” that we were after.  If you are not comfortable making your own patterns, I did find this McCalls pattern that would take you 9/10 of the way there. You could modify the hem line of the tunic top and you would be pretty close.

Supplies:

• Brown stretch knit cotton (for pants)
• Brown “ultra suede” (for the vest)
• Golden stretch knit (for the tunic)
• Green “ultra suede” (for the belt and the boots)

Let me show you what I made, and what I used as patterns.
For the tunic I used a tank top that fits perfectly. I cut it longer than the tank top (but this one is really long to begin with) and I flared it at the bottom. I also gave the bottom a scoop shape.

For this piece I did a simple (single turn down) hem at the arms, the neck, and the bottom. I got a little bit fancy at the neck line and did a little “cut” straight down. The way I attempted this was to make three sides of a button hole and then just cut down into it. The knit fabric tricked me a little bit, but hey, for this little costume, it is okay if the finishing was a little “rough”, because her actual tunic is a little rough in the movie.
I patterned the vest after a white denim vest that we have already.

For this piece I used the brown “ultra suede. Here is the truth: you cut this out and sew the shoulders and the side seams and you are done. The “ultra suede” is so easy that it does not need to be hemmed. !! Just trim and go!
For the pants I used a little pair of shorts that we have as the pattern.

These are not leggings or tights, so the results are the perfect pair of woodland pixie crop pants. These are “advanced beginner” in difficulty.

I put the piece I want to copy onto craft paper and trace out a pattern. I cut the craft paper out, and usually I add a seam allowance while I am cutting. Here you can see that I have added the seam allowance as I cut (the blue line is my trace, and the fabric is cut about 5/8 inch away from that. ) Sew the leg seams, attach the legs together at the crotch. Then turn down a single fold at the waist, and insert elastic. For the bottom hem I made a funny cut. The hemline turns up and has a rounded slit on the outside edge of the leg. These are made of the knit fabric, so the good news is they stretch. The bad news is that they will look better hemmed.

And here I offer the finished look at a fitting (this is without the wings. We’ll get into that later. Let’s just say for now – go buy the wings.)

I am happy with my little “not a Pirate” Fairy.