It’s Halloween! and a Costume!

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It took longer than anticipated to complete, but hopefully it was worth it.  My Halloween costume! 

This year I was inspired  to dress as a witch for Halloween due to a couple of strange occurrences.

After weeks of designing and sewing, here’s how it came out.  Sadly, I still haven’t figured out how to take pictures of dark clothing without it looking horribly.

Anyway, the idea to make a witch costume started with the cute caplet.  It’s made from an umbrella.

That’s right, my trusty black ruffled umbrella (bought here) suddenly died on me.  Being a little too attached to it, I saved the fabric hopefully to find something to do with it. 

Then I remember an idea I heard about making ponchos with umbrellas and that lead to thinking about capes.

After cutting the fabric open and trimming it with lace and ribbon…

…I just had to tie it in front for an nearly instant witch’s cape.  If you look carefully, you can see that the lace is the same black lace from my recent craft haul (see A Spooky Black Craft Haul). 

Moving on, this vest and striped blouse actually came from a lucky pack (sort of like a grab bag) I bought from Bodyline recently (I forgot to mention it). 

I’m afraid the pack was a bit more unlucky for me because many of the pieces in it were horrible.  These two had promise and I realized quickly that they were perfect for this outfit, with some work.  The blouse was okay to begin with, but the vest so was not.

This is what the vest looked like before I started on it.  I think they were going for an “edgy” asymmetrical look.

Anyway, after removing the odd ruffle from the neckline…

…and the odd “ruffle” from the hem…

…then sewing on more of the that black lace (By Hand!), it was perfect.  Without the odd ruffles it’s easier to notice the cute rose buttons. 

The vest actually came with an odd pair of matching shorts with the same buttons.  I may need to swipe them for another project.  :)

Now for the skirt, made with the black fabric from my craft haul.  It’s a simple full rectangle skirt with a ruffle and an elastic waistband.  Here’s a decent tutorial to make a similar skirt if you like.

I added the same lace along the top of the ruffle.  It really helps bring the whole outfit together. 

I keep on saying outfit instead of costume since most of the pieces actually will work with my wardrobe, especially this skirt.  Pair it with a white blouse (like this one I altered) and pretty head band (like this one I made), and I’m good to go.

However, we’re still thinking about Halloween here, so here’s the piece that really makes it a costume.  The witches hat. 

I bought this plain hat from Target to decorate with ribbon and roses.  It’s actually the children’s hat because the “one size fits most” adult size hat was too big.  It works out well because the children’s one is a dollar less.

To decorate, I mostly just twisted and wrapped some wide ribbon around the brim and added a large but simple bow. 

What really finishes it off is the rose piece in the center.  To make it, I twisted two roses together by their stems and covered the stems with ribbon before attaching to the hat.

The neat thing is that I used a pin back to make the rose piece removable.  So after the holiday I can wear this as a large brooch if I want.

While I had the glue gun out for the hat and “brooch”, I also made these quick and easy hair clips with leftover black ribbon.  I thought some hair bows would be just the thing to make this witch outfit cuter. 

And with that I’m ready for Halloween, at least costume-wise.  Don’t ask about the candy.

Here’s the updated list:

• Baby
• Blue dress
• Tiny outfits
• T-shirts
• Halloween
• Pink dress
• More T-shirts

Two down, five more to go.

Give it a try:

• Girls Basic Black Witch Hat
• 1 1/4 inch steel pin back with nickel finish
• ArtMinds Fashion Mini Glue Gun