Edward Scissorhands Costume

Halloween is one of my very favorite days of the year. It gives me the opportunity to get my creative juices flowing and an excuse to get out the craft supplies and sewing machine. This year, my 16 year old son, Foster, wanted to be Edward Scissorhands for Halloween. I was so excited; Edward Scissorhands is one of my favorite characters of all time! We knew it would be a difficult costume, but we were up for the challenge.
After deciding on the costume, we, of course, had to watch the movie, again.
The first part we had to tackle were the scissorhands. Foster and I felt like if we couldn't get those right, there wasn't much point to the rest. We started with a basic Darth Vader glove we found for $7 at a party supply store. With the glove as the base structure, we could create a sort of gauntlet around the glove. We cut the basic shape of the gauntlet out of craft foam and super glued it into position. We used different sizes of foam underneath, to give it dimension and provide a foundation for some of the hardware. Foster then hand painted the foam to give it a metallic look.
We watched the movie, again. Then we added different belts, straps and hardware for support and authenticity. On to the scissors…
Originally, we were going to try to make the blades out of craft foam, too, but found aluminum strips from the hardware store to be a more realistic option. We recruited my husband to help with this part. We used a cutoff wheel to shape the aluminum into blades, and grinding/sanding wheel to finish them, making sure they were dull for safety. We attached them directly to the gloves using a two-part epoxy. We then cut aluminum soda cans to shape them around the finger to hide the glove and to make it look like the shape in the movie.
For the thumbs, we actually took apart tin snips and ground off any sharp edges for safety. They were quite heavy, so we not only used the two-part epoxy to affix them, but also riveted them to the glove for additionally support.
For the pinky on the right hand, we took apart a snipping tool I had for beading. We loved the way the handle looked and the snipping part was small enough to be proportional to the pinky. All other fingers had the aluminum blades.
For the handles, we bought several types of scissors and took them apart. Some we plasti-dipped for the right color and feel, others we left as they were. For the left hand ring finger, we used a different shaped metal handle we found. There was no way to attach it, so my husband welded it to a small piece of sheet metal and epoxied it to the glove, then covered it with the aluminum strip.
We were really pleased with how the scissorhands turned out, so decided it was well worth the time to work on the rest of the costume.
I knew I would need to work on the bodice when Foster wasn’t around and the costume had to be perfectly fitted to him, so we made a duct tape form of him and filled it with expanding foam. I now had a dress form of Foster for the bodice.
We purchased an inexpensive faux patent leather long sleeve zip up shirt online to use as the base of the bodice. We also hit the local fabric store for different types of leather looking material we could use. We watched the movie, again, and studied every picture we could find to try to get the most authentic look.
We purchased several belts in various sizes and textures. We discovered a leather crafting supply store in our neighborhood and spent quite a bit of time finding just the right embellishments, snaps, rivets and eyelets for the project. Foster set to work embellishing the belts and I set to work sewing an piecing different types of materials to the shirt and pants.
I’m kind of a self-taught, don’t follow the rules seamstress and I’ve never really worked with leather, so it was a good learning experience. The hand stitching with the leather cording was also an excellent lesson in patience as it was much more time consuming than I thought it would be.
As the pieces started coming together on the bodice, I became a little obsessed with adding every little detail I noticed in the movie. For example, his main large belt buckle has a moon face with an odd expression on it. This was such a unique piece, I knew I wouldn’t be able to find it anywhere. I decided to sculpt the moon out of clay onto a large round buckle I’d found at the leather supply store. I baked the piece, super glued it on and painted the whole thing with a hammered metallic paint. Also, while watching the movie I had the remote at the ready to pause and find rivet placement around the bodice and to generally ensure authenticity.
For the pants, I used the very top part of a pair of leather pants I’d found at a thrift store. I added a patent leather look costume fabric to one side and a ridged leather look costume fabric to the other side. For the lower leg of the patent leather side, I actually took one of the legs I had cut off from the original pant. The hand stitching, again, consumed the better half of an evening, but it was definitely worth it!
Foster embellished the belts we needed for the legs and I made shoe covers to look like the two different boots Edward Scissorhands wears.
Hair and makeup were the final touches. Foster has long hair, so we dyed it black and added as much mousse and hairspray as possible as I teased it with a comb. I tried my hand at latex scars while Foster applied make up.
The reactions the costume induced were those of pure amazement! It was really fun to see people’s eyes light up and mouths drop as Foster walked around on Halloween.
Between all the trips to the thrift store for belts, all the little embellishments, fabric, fabrication materials for the hands, etc, the whole project probably cost about $500.
I am unbelievably happy with how our costume turned out. I can’t even tell you how many tubes of super glue we went through or how many times I super glued my fingers to the tube and had choice words as I pulled them off leaving little bits of my finger print (no, really, my phone wouldn’t recognize my finger print through most of the project.) It was a true labor of love and worth every penny and every moment!