When designing your Halloween costume, makeup is an important factor. It helps emphasize features, shows attention to detail, and helps to exaggerate your character. If you are dressing up as Cruella de Vil, this makeup tutorial is a good starting point.
I’m not a fan of the rounded eye brows–I would do a pointed shape instead. I like how she shows how to conceal your normal eyebrows so that you can create a larger, more exaggerated brow.
Glitter eyes are a fun way to add sparkle to your face when wearing a costume. This video shows how to do it:
My daughter needed a jet pack to go with her astronaut costume.
She already had a white astronaut jumpsuit from her sister’s dance recital costume, we put white duck tape over some snow boots from the thrift store, and then made this jet pack for her prop.
This awesomely cool astronaut helmet from Amazon
If your wig is a mess of tangles, you can make a simple liquid de-tangler solution from household ingredients. This video shows the easy process:
When wearing a wig as part of a costume, you want to make sure it is secure. Pin curls provide a foundation for the hair pins or bobby pins to attach to. This tutorial shows the proper method for securing a wig:
Someone in your family won’t wear their pants or jeans because the pant legs aren’t skinny enough? Never fear, REFASHIONING is here! This video shows how simple it is to convert your pants from baggy to skinny. Not only is this great for everyday wear, but also works on costumes such as pants for a 50’s Pink Lady, leggings for an animal costume, or superhero pants. This is a simple alteration that has big impact.
Fringing a shirt for a costume is super simple and easy. If you want to get fancy, you can add beads. Fringe is a nice detail on a 60’s hippie chick costume, or anything western or Native American.
Making a cardigan out of a shirt is super easy. This comes in handy if you are doing costumes for a production with orphans like “Annie” or “Oliver”. You can turn these cardigans into vests if needed by simply cutting the sleeves off around the arm holes. These cardigans also work for a 50’s or 60’s look for a Halloween costume or in a show like “Grease” or “Hairspray”. They are great for large ensemble casts because they are quick, easy, and inexpensive to crank out when refashioned from used shirts or sweaters. These cardigans can be made in many ways, some even without sewing. Here are three videos that show different methods of creating a cardigan.
This tutorial shows a super simple no-sew, no-button cardigan:
This one shows how to add a bit more detail:
and this one shows how to make a cardigan with buttons:
Don’t dismiss a skirt or dress if it’s too short. This mermaid costume was ordered on eBay so I didn’t realize that it wasn’t floor length. I used a custom made extender slip to add the extra length needed.
Here is a link to a ready-made slip that does the job and a blog post with a tutorial of how to make your own extender slip,
A fun way to make a customized treat bag for Halloween is to refashion a t- shirt. You can either start off with a t-shirt that has the image or logo that you need, or add decoration later to a plain shirt by paint, glitter glue, felt, ribbon or other embellishments.
This first tutorial shows a method that simply cuts the sleeves off. You can make a no-sew version of the t-shirt bag by cutting the sleeves off as shown, turning it inside out, tying a knot in the hem, and turning it right side out again. These bags are super cool.
This tutorial takes a long sleeved shirt and use the sleeves as the bag handle:
Personalize it to match your costume with numerous possibilities. Happy trick-or-treating!