Homemade Halloween Costumes

Because I am having more input, of late, on Making/Designing/Sewing, your own costumes...you can find Instructions and Ideas for Costume Creating on both THIS page AND the following page:

Just as there are reasons for purchasing our Halloween Costumes, Wigs, and Accessories…Some of us have reasons for making them ourselves. Designing, and putting together a Halloween Costume can be a challenge, rewarding, money saving, and allow one to come up with something totally fabulous and UNIQUE.  In my day I’ve made everything from the simplest Ghost Costume, to a TAD more difficult Frog Costume <gribbit>Ü . It was difficult, as I say, but I was successful and I was proud of my achievement ! The smile on my sons face could not be matched as he won the trophy for the best costume at his schools Halloween Party.

I would like to share some ideas and knowledge on making Costumes at home. In the next, sub-categories, of this section I need LOTS of help from you , my friends, out there in Cyberville. We can all have fun here I think..and we may even learn a thing or two. You would be doing me a GREAT service if you would send me any "Costume Making" Links to Websites, that you come across while surfing the net or while making your OWN search for a costume to make. If it all works out the way I hope it does, there may even be cash prizes waiting for some of you lucky, creative, costume creators out there who enters my yearly Halloween Costume Contest!.

I have gathered a few ways to get started....to "get our imaginations in GEAR" so to speak :-). A little further down the Menu in "How to Make Costumes" I have posted some things that may be of help. I thought that "Starting Points" would be..First....well..wait a minute...let's get in the right mind-set FIRST.  COFFEE-UP!... or perhaps 10 Deep, Cleansing Breaths?  A refreshing Glass of Iced Tea or Lemonade? Diet Pepsi? Or a Jog Around the Block?????( eeeek!? ). Whatever it is that get's you energized..NOW is the time...You WILL likely need it.   When I have a project to tend to....there is not a better way to warm-up for it than to have a nice Cup-O-Joe...a little Caffine to get the mind moving (believe me..at my age my mind can use all the kick-start it can GET! ). Since you're here, and so nice ,-) , I'll let you in on a secret of mine.  Follow me and I'll clue you in on the best and easiest way to tend to all of your Java needs.  Let's cruise on over for a Cup at our Costumers Coffee Stop. ( While you're there you may notice that there's a whole lot more than just GREAT COFFEE being sold here. Please take your time and browse. Do you like Pancakes?)        

    NOW.....We are awake and we are ready to BEGIN Ü !

If you need a Costume to MAKE..and you are in a hurry... try the below:   

Below are some of the simplest ideas from one of the pages of the above Website.

Ladybug – wear black clothing (sweatshirts and pants). To make ladybug wings take a red poster or sledding saucer and paint black circles on the back. Attach loops for the child's arms using rope or Velcro to attach wings to the back of the shirt.

Rock Star – a colorful wig (buy it or make out of paper or yarn), colorful clothing and make-up will make your child a rock star.

Bumble Bee – what you need is only a yellow raincoat.  Add stripes of black electrical tape to it and black pipe cleaners to a headband for antenna.

Mummy: Use white clothing and wrap a few pieces of gauze or white cloth around the child's body.

Skunk – do you think it's difficult? Just paint a white stripe down the back of a black shirt.

Spider – to make legs of the spider use dark pantyhose. Fill hose with lightweight material and pin to dark clothing.

Clown – colored clothes, red chicks and balloons will make you child a clown. Use oversized bright colored clothing. Paint face to white, and make red circles on the child's cheeks.Carryballoons, juggling balls or similar clown items.

Pumpkin – traditional image of the Halloween. Use big orange sweatshirt and dark colored pants. Draw pumpkin face on the shirt and add a green cap to child's head.

A bunch of grapes: wear green or black shirt for this costume. To create a bunch of grapes attach purple balloons to the costume with tape.

Angel: white colored clothing and white pipe cleaners fashioned into a circle to a headband for halo will make you baby a real angel.

Bunny: Dress the baby in a sleeper and make ears of some matching fabric. Few whiskers on baby's cheeks – here is a pretty bunny.

Flower: Paint a green stripe down the center of sleeper. Make flower petals of material and pin them around the cap.

 Not to be redundant...but... It has been MANY years since I've actually BUILT/SEWN/(put together) a Costume. And I have likely forgotten more than I ever DID know in the first place.  So that is why I am HOPING that I will get some input..even a little, in the form of INFORMATION....to add to these pages. I have been searching for patterns and fabrics and any other online info that's available for me to share with you.  But this info DOES lack any "personal" touches that make a costume so much more incredible.        

PARTICIPATION is KEY so please join me.  Share your talents by sending a picture of the finished Costume,  and any Pattern or Diagrams that may help,  as Attachments in an E-Mail.... along with your instructions for putting it all together...and send to me :  Coletta@Costume-Works.com  and if you can't use this here link but must type out the E-Mail address..PLEASE don't forget the "dash" (-) between "Costume" and "Works".   Many Thanks in advance!

  The Photo below is Lucario of Pokemon fame.  The costume was made by Mrs.J. of MO  for her son Justin. This costume is also entered in this years Halloween Costume Contest. Instructions by Mrs J. are below th e pic ture.

The head for this costume was formed with corrugated board strips and duct-tape, then covered with cast material available at craft stores. The tubes on the back of the head are wrapping paper tubes reshaped a bit and covered with the cast material, then bolted onto the main head, cover the inside bolt with foam for safety and to fill in the head so it is more comfortable to wear. Visibility is limited in a costume like this, so the wearer needs a handler like you see mascots have. The plaster casting was painted in the Lucario color scheme.

 

The costume is made of felt. It will pill up with wear, but the felt gives it more shape than other fabrics. The top is one piece tucked into shorts that we constructed, then made a lining for and stuffed with plastic grocery store bags. The feet are stuffed and have elastic under them to attach to the top of his shoes. The feet are attached to half a pant leg, with elastic at the top, since this is lined with plastic bags, another layer would be pretty warm! The hands are gloves we made of felt to match. The spikes on the neckband, chest front and gloves are cones we made of felt, stuffed, then hand stitched on. The tail has a wire sewn all around the outside edge to help hold it up and give it shaped. It's stuffed with plastic bags, too, then hand sewn onto the back of the costume. His prop is just a playground ball. We'll also make him a treatbag shaped like a pokeball. I forgot that detail until just now! We thought it turned out very well. It took me about five evenings to make. I used a pj pattern for the basis of the top and shorts, otherwise it was experiment and see what works. I had 3/4 yard of the blue fabric (it was a remmenant, and it took it all) It really only took about a 1/2 yard of the gray and 1/2 of the off white. Always cut out pieces bigger than you think, they shrink when you sew them together (like the feet and gloves), it's easier to take them in than start over! By the way, I took shop in high school, not sewing, so anyone who can sew a straight line should be able to get the same results!

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  Here's more from Mrs. J..This is her daughter Jes as a Red Witch ,Halloween 2004.  Isn't she GREAT! (Mom too!)  Costume building instructions by Mrs.J. are below Pic.

This is a photo from 2004, Jes the witch, and it goes to prove that something as simple and traditional can be fun if you go with some extra effort paint and a stick on nose. Wire ties help keep cats on the broom, striped tights and boots finish off the look. Just bring baby wipes and spare make-up so when the witch gobbles up treats you can refresh your look.

With younger ones, it's nice to keep the costumes something they can move in, a shorter dress allows them to take part in games at Halloween parties! And a good witch laugh never hurts. This was a great costume for photos, it looked great with fall leaves and setting suns!

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Thanks again to Mrs.J for another great and absolutely LOVELY costume. This is daughter Jes for Halloween 2006 as a Pink Flower Princess Fairy Godmother.  Mom, Mrs Js. tips are below the picture.

In 2006, Jes requested to be a Pink Flower Princess Fairy Godmother, so here you go. Cat eye glasses with rhinestones, pink of course, pink mini beehive wig, pink long gloves with hot glued pink flowers, pink wings, pink shoes, pink net petals and more flowers at the waist. The base was a pink dress we picked up for a few bucks. Of course a matching pink wand we made out of a Styrofoam ball and dowel stick painted pink with pink glitter over that. Here we are letting our hair down a bit, but the key to the wig, lots of hairpins! The Pink Flower Princess Fairy Godmother brought out smiles where ever she went.

Thanks again Mrs J. in MO!

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And even more from Mrs.J :

  " The costume that got us started, 9 years ago when my son was two and my oldest daughter 9 months".

 

We used a paper towel rack and air compressor hose for a fire hose. The light bar on top is an emergency flashlight, which we turned on the flashers. We lost the tires, so we realized we had to use more than paper brads and paper plates! We switched to corrugated plastic and bolts! We had a lot of fun with this one. I actually wore the firetruck, but it was hard to hold the little one and watch the toddler, so the wagon was a last minute addition to provide me with some peace of mind!

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Here's something VERY COOL from Costume Creator Exceptional...
Who else but my friend Mrs.J!

A MONSTER HOUSE!
(find complete instructions below)

Monster House

Cost Under $10

Skill: Beginner

Time: two evenings or a weekend

 

 Materials:

Corrugated Box, for body of house. The dimensions here are for the one I made, so you will need to adjust for a larger child or adult. The one here is about 9 inches deep, 27 inches tall and 18 inches wide. You will select one based on the size of person to wear the costume. I like them to hit just above the knee to allow for easy movement. My box was slightly bigger; I trimmed it down and used the trim pieces to create the porch. I had already finished this before I saw your contest, so I don’t really have any during photos to share, sorry!

 

Corrugated Box, to be the roof, a shoe box can work here. This one was 9 inches top to bottom, 7 inches inside, and 12 inches across.

 

Corrugated box, to make window, about 4 inches deep, 5 1/2 inches tall, 2 ½ inches across.

 

Gray Paint, I do not skimp on paint, buy a good primer, about $4 for a pint. Just one pint will do for this size

 

Black Paint, small bottle of craft paint will do, about 50 cents, to paint details

 

Yellow Paint, for windows and behind door, small bottle of craft paint will do, about 50 cents

 

Red Paint, for door, small bottle of craft paint will do, about 50 cents

 

Red felt, for carpet tongue, about 20 cents’

Brown felt, to cut decorations for the carpet

 

Masking Tape and or glue gun, to attach porch to main box

 

Shingles or black glitter felt to create them for roof. I used real ones, downside, they are heavy.

 

Paint brushes, ribbon for tying on roof, ruler, pencil

 

Optional, Plastic, clear plastic from a merchandise display box, paint yellow for windows. Can just paint a yellow window directly on the box.

 

Optional, small flashlight for inside of boxed out window.’

 

Optional, we used Fantastic Four shoe covers that make sounds like breaking glass when you step down, $4 on clearance.

 

To wear under it, we went with black turtle neck and black leggings.

 

This really doesn’t take much time, but you do need to let the paint dry, so I would call it a two evening project. Assemble items needed. Determine where to cut your arm holes on each side, and head opening. Mine are 3 ½ by 3 ½ inches for the arms and 7 by 7 inches for the head. An adult should do all cutting. Paint the entire box gray.

 

Paint the roof box black. If you want, add some corrugated board to make the ends come down at an angle instead of straight down, to look more like a hip roof. Add a chimney, this one is 3 inches, just corrugated board folded into a box and glued on. Paint the chimney gray.

 

Paint the plastic yellow, you will need enough for two window, mine were about 2inx3in. each.

 

Cut a door from the corrugated board, paint red, add details with black paint when it dries. 2 by 9 inches.

 

Cut carpet from red felt, about 1 ½ inches wide, 11 inches long. Cut diamonds from other felt, glue on to make designs.

 

While that is drying, take your extra corrugated board and cut out a rectangle to act as the roof, under it, you will need a triangle at each end to support the roof at an angle. My rectangle was 7 ½ inches by 18 in, as that was the width of my box.  Our triangles were 4x4x5 inches. Cut out a rectangle the same size as the front of the box, to go less than half way up, cut spindles for the porch from this. My roof was attached at 14 inches over the bottom, my rectangle was 11 inches tall. Cut a rectangle to be the floor. About 3 inches by the width of the box. Tape or glue these pieces together. Paint them gray. You will also need a spindle or two for each side of the porch. Attach to the house when it is dry. Paint a door opening yellow. Attach door over this area. Glue the felt rug to the bottom of the door opening.

 

Cut a 2x3 inch rectangle in the small window box, to be the window. Cut a piece of the plastic to fit inside with some overlap to allow for taping it in place. Add a black window sash if you’d like. When dry, tape in place.

 

Place the small window box on the front right side of the larger box, near the top, trace around it, you will cut this out. Place the window box inside. (You may cut an opening in the back first to allow for a flashlight to light up the window.) Cut window on left side of house box, put in plastic. Or just paint a yellow window on the box.

 

Add shingles to roof, cut squares to be. Remember, it’s a haunted house, so they are not on straight, and they are missing here and there! Fit the roof/hat on the person, stuffing the sides with floral foam or corrugated cardboard until you get the right size. Or use a bike helmet inside to keep it on. Add straps if necessary.

 

Use black paint to create the boards on the house, touch up any other paint and you are done!

 

Optional, we took scraps of corrugated board and made the nose of the house by bending them and gluing them in place, now you have the face, the windows are the eyes, the door the mouth, rug the tongue and broken boards are the nose, just like in the movie.

 

We made this for some daytime parties, but if you want to use it at night, add some reflective tape to help keep safe.



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   The small picture here is the FIRST attempt at Nates "Alien Abduction"  Costume, made by Mom, Becky.

And THIS year Becky decided to do it again. It seems she did much better this time (Not that her first try was all THAT bad! Ü). She has made such a fine costume this time as a matter of fact that it is entered in this years Halloween Costume Contest!

 Becky says that she purchased the actual HEAD, HANDS, and FEET for the alien (AND for the Gorilla (below)) at the Oriental Trading Company.

The Costume, by Becky, of the Caged Zookeeper (above) won 3rd place in Costume-Works.coms  2006 Halloween Costume Contest.

  Ideas and instructions for these 2 costumes (Alien Abduction and Caged Zookeeper) and MANY  MORE can be found at:
Family Fun.com

Thanks for everything Becky!  Ü
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Here is more from  Mrs J in MO who we are ALWAYS happy to hear from. She has some great ideas for Harry Potter Costumes :

Here are...  The Js.

and as is usual with Mrs J
she went through the trouble of sending INSTRUCTIONS!:

 

 These were pretty easy and fast costumes, but sometimes you need fast!

 

Hermione, a college graduation gown with a sticker of the House and a tie from a drawer worked just fine. We braided her hair then took it out just before the party.

 

Our Owl is wearing a huge sweatshirt, of my alma matter, so I just flipped it inside out. Then used white felt to make a hood, painted on eyes and the collar of Hedwig.

 

Our Soul Sucker (Dementor) took the most work. It's a vinegar jug with the back cut out then painted. The chest plate is poster board. Even the ribs are just bent poster board taped down and painted with shoe strings to attach it. It's a leftover Halloween scary creature black robe.We made all three the evening before and all from items we had at home.

Also from Mrs J we have some Pioneer Days Parade fun:

The Js  (1857)

Instructions for Covered Wagon and Pioneer Costumes below:
Brought to you by Mrs. J too of course Ü

The wagon is made out of two hula hoops sewn into a white sheet (The sheet was previously a ghost, I just washed the face and resewed the eyes shut, I'm sure lots of wagons had patches!) Holes were drilled in the old wagon, two on each corner, and the hula hoops were wire tied to the wagon. A quilt was thrown in the bottom. We did paint the wagon brown since it was old and rusty anyway. We wire tired the horse (it is currently being  used as a part of a headless horseman get-up) to the wagon handle. The pioneer clothes were in our dress-up box, we had a Laura Ingalls book report. So it was a fast way to parade through a sesquentenial celebration!

Thank you AGAIN Mrs J.
Please keep the good stuff coming!

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Here I have a "partial" costume. It may better be referred to as a "float" though as it is a vehicle to be pulled..as a wagon..carrying a small load of ,what are destined to be, "Pirates".  Ü
  The intentions are that this Ghost of a Pirate Ship ..fully loaded with Pirates of course.... will be out and about doing a share of haunting, and possibly looting, on this coming Halloween night. 
 (After WHICH time I will be expecting PHOTOS to be sent my way of the EVENT and a photo will be entered in my Halloween Costume Contest 2007)
   This beautiful ship was created upon a Wagon by my good friend Bob (who also has postings of Plane Costumes, Truck Costumes, Hot-air Balloon Costumes, and etc. (just in case I missed anything) on the How to Make Costumes page. (see link at bottom).

    Front                                                      Front/Side

         Close-up of Back/Side                           Skull on Ships Nose

Bob says:

  The ship is made from a plastic wagon that I used on Thomas the Train(Thomas the Train is on next page I believe Ü ). A piece of plywood 3/4 inch . 3 inch pvc mast and 2 inch pvc cross piece.  99 cent pirate flag.   2 rolls duct tape... and alot of cardboard. About 8 hours maybe a little more since it was piece meal work in between everything else. Black fabric I had laying around makes the sail .  Rope 4 dollars and 30 dollars worth of brown spray paint.

Thanks BOB and I WILL be waiting for MORE!  (at LEAST pictures for the CONTEST of this one with passengers aboard!)
  

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See More on Making Costumes on Page "How to Make Costumes".