Splitting Headache Costume

This year I made my "Splitting Headache" costume from scratch and wore it to the 2015 Great Pumpkin Charity Ball costume party in Ottawa, Ontario. That's me (Christine) in the photos. I couldn't believe everyone's reaction to my costume!!! It was incredible. Some people I freaked right out, some couldn't wait to get a photo with me and some just wanted to know how I did it. All in all it was terrific!

The costume was actually really easy and inexpensive to do. Approximately $52 in materials:

Square piece of craft foam - $8
1 long cloaky dress in black from thrift store - $8
1 longer dress from thrift store - $10
1 pair red shoes from thrift store -$5
Costume makeup from our local costume store - $20
1 rectangle of floral foam -$1.25
1 yard stick ruler (just from my craft room)
1 backpack (just from my travel stuff)
Duct Tape (just from my craft room)
Toilet paper (for stuffing)
Costume jewelry (just from what I had)

You will also need scissors, and a knife.

Here's how I made it:

Spoiler alert!! The entire costume is basically a piece of craft foam on a yard stick in a backpack worn under a cloaky dress with my head poking through. Yes, really. Truly.

I started by cutting shoulders and neck shape into the square piece of foam. Then I stuck the yard stick into the bottom centre of the foam piece (had to cut a slit into the foam with a knife). This piece essentially made up the back, shoulders and neck). For stability I then put the yard stick into the block of floral foam and put the whole thing into a back pack and zipped up. This piece stood on its own pretty solidly without tipping left or right too much but I added some duct tape around the backpack handle and yard stick just to be sure. Using my costume makeup I made the neck look all gross and bloody. This was really fun to do and I did ahead of time by a few days so no rush on the day of the party! Let it dry. Then it was time to dress "aka cover" the "backpack, back, shoulders and neck". I did this with the long black cloaky dress (I selected a dress with buttons down the front which worked well for poking my head out a hole). Using toilet paper I stuffed the arms and shoulders and then using needle and thread sewed the two hand openings together.

The rest of the costume was really just me wearing the other long dress and doing my hair and makeup to look grey and dead.

The final part was putting it all together by putting the backpack portion on, slipping my head through the sewn together arms (so it looks like arms cradling head) and buttoning up the dress. My husband helped me to put it on which made it a lot easier. My arms had free movement under the cloaked dress and I was able to drink and dance all night. A lot of people asked me if it was heavy or hot and the truth is it was very comfortable and light!