Pirate Eye Patches

Repost from the other blog. This was a project I posted in 2005 when my daughter was 10 and completely into pirates.

You will need a couple colors of felt, whatever your two colors are.
Embroidery floss to match or contrast.
and some elastic to hold the whole thing in place (I used a pretty stretch lace, but just a 1/4 inch black elastic will work as well)
and needles. I use fairly large ones, but that could just be in comparision to the size 12 beading needles I'm so used to using.
Total cost? Under a 3 dollars to make a few.
Skill set needed:
blanket stitch
back stitch
french knot

all one picture, you can right click and save
cut out two of the main patch piece out of the color felt you chose for the eyepatch, and then one skull or whatever sort of shape you want out of the other color. Don't feel like you have to use my skull. That would be silly. Do what you want, esp. if you are an embroidery person or a beader person who might want to do something more detailed. Like a tattoo design. Wouldn't that be neat? Esp. that sort of outline style embroidery that is so minimalistic but colorful? Except if you are going to embroider, you might want to do that *before* you cut the patch pieces out, and if you're going to bead it, I'd strongly suggest gluing or ironing on a small circle of interfacing on the back of the patch piece. Hmm.. maybe an article for Halloween? I could do beaded ones?
If you're using glitter felt, make sure the back piece you cut out is cut out so the non-glitter part will face your eye. I don't know that the glitter will flake off, but you don't want to risk your eyes.
Decorate the front piece, with the pretty little skull or whatever, the skull is blanket stitched on, with tiny circles cut out of the black felt for eyes, and a backstitched mouth and "french" knots for the nose. I used a contrasting color to stitch on and kind of outline the skull. You could glue it on, I like the more finished and folky look of the embroidery.
Cut off a piece of elastic that fits your head comfortably. Emily and I have big heads. It takes a decent sized piece of elastic. You want it to *fit*, not too snug. These are actually fairly comfortable if you can ignore the whole "I can't see out one eye" thing. Stitch the ends together securely.
Sandwich it at an angle between the two eyepatch pieces, and stitch it all together using a blanket stitch.