Sometimes in life, timing is perfect. And that was exactly the case when an email popped into my inbox asking if I’d like to review The Pirate Craft Book. Little Miss C has just had pirates as a learning topic at school and this culminated in a pirate dressing up day. Strangely we don’t have a pirate costume in the dressing up box at home, so I knew I was going to have to pull together a costume from somewhere and this book is the perfect place to start. Written by Laura Minter and Tia Williams (the mums behind Little Button Diaries) the book is packed with “15 things a pirate can’t do without”.
The Pirate Craft Book contains all the instructions and inspiration you need to make everything to keep your little pirates happy. Included are details of how to make a pirate waistcoat, cutlass, eye patch, hat and telescope for starters. There are also some great pirate games and other activities. LMC sat down with the book and ended up with a list of about 10 things that she wanted me to make for the dress up day – time meant that I only achieved five on the list, but I think that means I’ve given the book a pretty good test.
What I particularly loved about this book was the range of things included. As well as the basics (which were the bits I ended up making) there is also an adorable felt parrot that you can then attached to the shoulder of the waistcoat with velcro. I so wish I’d had time to make this as it would have been adorable. The felt treasure map is also brilliant.
I sat down whilst the kids were at school and made the waistcoat, eye patch, hat and cutlass. The instructions for all were well written and generally easy to follow. The only gripe I have is about the templates at the back of the book. They are clearly drawn, but they nearly all need you to enlarge them by some percentage to use them. But who really has a photocopier to hand to be able to do that? Also, some of the enlargement percentages don’t really make sense. The cutlass was going to end up about a metre long if I followed what it said, and the pattern I cut out for the waistcoat would have fit my husband I think! I ended up using their templates as a basis but then drew my own on greaseproof paper.
Little Miss C took it upon herself to make the telescope and with a bit of help from her Dad she did just that. I love the idea of putting a bit of transparent paper or similar at the end with an island picture drawn on it. A lovely touch.
If you’re planning on having a pirate party then there are also some ideas for games, decorations, and a treasure chest cake too. Perfect for a do it yourself party without too much expense. There are even instructions for making a huge pirate ship from cardboard. My kids are extremely keen to try this one out. I’m not sure it would fit in my living room though!
The Pirate Craft Book is published in paperback by GMC books on 7 April 2017, priced £5.99. ISBN 978-1-78494-328-8.
Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of The Pirate Craft Book for the purposes of this review. This post contains affiliate links.
Hello! It’s Tia & Laura from Little Buttons 🙂
Thank you so much for reviewing of our book, we’re glad you enjoyed the crafts and your projects look amazing. We wanted to say we’re so sorry that you found the template sizings to be difficult to work with. Our publisher wanted to squash them down as much as possible in order to fit more projects in the book. We have raised the issue with them and mentioned that you found the sizings incorrect. They will amend any errors in the next round of printing. Thank you for raising this – it’s so important for these things to be right!
Your blog is ace by the way.
All the best,
Tia & Laura xxx