Halloween is the perfect time to show off your amazing DIY skills! Here are a few ideas for costumes.
I like to make a good portion of our Halloween Costumes each year. Sometimes, we buy costumes and make accessories. Scroll down for a few examples!
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This year, we re-used most of the costumes I’d sewed previously.
To make the dress (a few years ago), I bought a cheap medieval-style dress from Wish similar to this one on Amazon. I got rid of all the gold and replaced it with black fabric.
I’m not a very skilled seamstress, but I’m not afraid to whack off some fabric and see what happens!
(Let me know in the comments if you want to see photos of how I accomplished this dress.)
The detail that makes the costume especially unique is that the skirt is just SO BIG. I added a lot of extra material to the dress so that I could make it go over a very large hoop skirt.
When I walk, the whole skirt sways from side to side and people get out of the way!
I added detail with a black and silver Celtic-style ribbon (similar to this one), and also sewed a hat and matching belt. I added more sparkle to the belt with black sequin trim.
Add special-effect contacts and glue on amazing feather eyelashes to create a stunning look!
I wore the hat and makeup last year without the big dress because I was going to school to help Kindergarteners with a Halloween art project.
Here is a version with darker, scarier makeup.
You can find the tutorial used to make the hat right here.
It’s a pretty floppy hat, which I like, but I might trim the brim a little bit next year so my colored contacts and feather eyelashes show a bit more.
I used the tutorial to make my daughters’ hats and son’s wizard hat too. I also made kind of a belt to put around the base for a bit of color and to tie the costume together.
My son has taken over my husband’s wizard beard for his costume. I sewed him a hat and altered the robe to fit him.
(Do you want to see the tutorial for the beard? Let me know in the comments below.)
Here are the original wizard robe and yarn beard, from our Halloween party in 2018. (I was pregnant with our fourth baby.)
My husband made the staffs glow by putting fairy lights (wrapped around their battery box) in round glass jars and then screwing the jar lid to the tree branches.
Read the glowing staff tutorial here!
In 2019, we did a family costume. We were characters from the Disney movie Moana!
My husband was Maui. We bought the tattoo suit and wig. He made his hook out of several layers of cardboard and paper mache, then used a Sharpie to draw the designs.
I was Tefiti. I made the wig from yarn (tutorial on how to make a yarn wig is here), got the gown on Wish and altered it, and created a glowing heart of Tefiti necklace using fairy lights and my Cricut.
Let me know what you’d like to learn how to make.
Anonymous says
I loved your workshop intro for Holiday Craftfest 2023! You my favorite presenter and your Halloween Explosion Box was amazing! I’m looking forward to see what else you have coming up!
Emily says
Aww thanks!! This week, Emily the Explosion Box Enchantress makes an appearance at the Scrap School Summit!
Roxanne Renicker says
Love your creativity! Looking forward to seeing and reading more.
Emily says
Thanks Roxanne!
Stephanie says
Love the idea for being Tafiti! My daughters and I are going to the Taylor Swift concert in June – we’re each going to dress up in a different era and I’ve chosen the Ringmaster (do I know which Era that is? no.). Any ideas for a short, blingy Ringmaster coat? I have an idea of how I’ll cut down a jacket…but the bling? I really don’t want to put THAT much effort into it.
Emily says
I checked out a photo of Tay-Tay! It looks like it’s covered in different-sized rhinestones.
What I’d do: get red glitter HTV and then make hundreds of small circles in Design Space. Make them quite close together and arrange them so they cover a 12×24 sheet if possible. These are now your “rhinestones” and you can just iron them on the jacket – no individual placement of rhinestones required!
Cas says
These are amazing projects! I’d love to know how to make the beard: is the tutorial still available?
Emily says
I didn’t write a tutorial on how I did the yarn beard, but here’s how I did it.
I cut a piece of felt and then sewed many, many bunches of yarn to it. (Following this tutorial – http://q-made.blogspot.com/2012/09/diy-yarn-beard.html)
I tried to make it look more like this, with the different colors and braiding. https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Grow-Your-Own-Epic-Dwarf-Beard-In-One-Eveni/
It was so heavy that I had to sew extra thick elastic around the top and back of the head for additional support. It’s put away in the garage right now, but I’ll add some photos before next Halloween.
Christina Maffia says
I love the yarn wig and beard!
Where do you get the feather eyelashes ? Great costumes!
Emily says
I think I got those feather eyelashes at a dollar store in Belgium. That yarn beard is very good too – I should probably do a how-to on that too! Thanks for the idea.
Debi Haven says
Please let me know about the glowing orbs for your staff. Maybe the crown too?
Emily says
Deal! I’m not 100% sure about the crown yet either. I have a few ideas….
Pat says
Love your designs and ideas, just wish I could access your files. I tried to add the password, but the box wouldn’t accept anything I tried to type. I even signed up again thinking that maybe it would trigger it to work, but no luck. Your help would be appreciated. Thanks
Emily says
This happens to someone once every few months! Sorry you were the “lucky” one. It has something to do with the cookies on your computer. After some time passes, the cookies reset, but I know you don’t want to wait!
To fix it, do this: 👇
Open a new internet browser window in “Incognito” mode if you are using Chrome, or “InPrivate” mode if you are using Internet Explorer. Type in the password (which you get in every email) and it will work.
Carol Batty says
Please show us how you will make the glowing orbs for this year’s costume!
Emily says
Ok, I will! I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested or not.
Debi says
Love the witch costume. I’d love to know how you made the hat.
Emily says
I will try to find the tutorial I used. I remember that I found it online.
Emily says
Found it! I added the link to the post.
Sue Kimmrt says
Such fun! I loved making costumes back when I was a teacher and had kids of my own!
Emily says
It is so much fun!! What was your favorite costume that you made?
Dainna Powers says
So cute and creative my mom is a sewing queen she used to make all our costumes as kids they looked professional my kids and grandkids are still using them. It’s cool to see your creativity in such a grand scale.
Emily says
Thanks! I never really thought it was that special (I mean, anyone can sew a line if they try) but now I’m appreciating my creativity a bit more. 😊
Terri says
Amazing costumes! You are so creative. Kudos!
Emily says
Thanks! Honestly I don’t even remember how I came up with the ideas, but they worked out pretty well. 😊