Quick Halloween Costume Part 1: Make a Cape
With Halloween coming up, here’s a quick idea to make a basic costume. If you don’t want to buy a costume, or left it to the last minute and now they’re all gone, here’s an easy guide to making a costume that can be easily modified to be a witch, a prince, or a princess…or a lot of other things depending on how you adjust it.
Remember, this is a quick tutorial so it is basically a quick solution to go on over normal clothes. (If, for example, a certain short person has come home from school on Monday and announced they really, really, need a costume for school on Halloween – or have decided trick or treat is something they now want to do after shaking their head all month when you asked…)
You will need fabric for the tunic/dress and cloak, card to make the hat or crown, and a piece of cord for a belt round the middle, and to attach the cloak (otherwise the cloak needs a safety pin or broach). Basic sewing skills are necessary if you want to hem it or dress it up.
Black fabric can be good for a Witch’s cloak, red for a Prince’s or Knight’s or try blue or something lacy (like an old net curtain) for Fairies or Princesses. If you use no-fray fabric and safety pins, then you can get away with no sewing at all, which makes this an ideal very quick costume. It can also be made with tissue paper and sellotape in an emergency, but that won’t survive trick-or-treating.
For the cloak:
Measuring: First, you will need two measurements:
1) Measure the width of the wearer’s neck. Halve this measurement and add a cm to make it slightly wider – this will be your neck hole.
2) Measure from the neck down to the length of the cape. For a flowing witch’s cape or long cloak that’s just below the knees. Measure to the top of the waist for a mid-length cape.
Then choose your material. If this is no-fray material or paper, you can use the measurements as is. If you are going to hem it, add three or four cm allowance for hems. Make sure your material is wide enough to allow measurement 2 across it when it is folded.
3) Fold your material in half.
4) From the folded edge choose one corner. Using a bit of string or tailor’s chalk, mark out a quarter circle the distance of your first measurement, and cut it out.
5) Then using string or a measure, mark out a quarter circle the length of your second measurement from the same corner and cut it.
6) Unfolded, you should now have a semicircle of fabric, with a hole in the centre for the wearer’s neck.
7) Optional: If you are using fabric that frays, here is where you have to pin and hem it…Wonderweb or fabric glue can save so much time here.
8) Put the cloak on, check the length and neck fit and adjust it.
9) Pin the front corners of the cloak together with a broach or safety pin. (Alternatively, make two holes on either side and cut some of your spare material or use ribbon to make laces you can thread through as ties)
You can dress this up by cutting a long piece out of the left overs and sewing it to the neck to make a tie. Or you could get some cord or velcro and tack it on. If you have used tissue paper, then the front can tape together, but your might be better taping it to the shoulders of the costume: tissue paper tears easily!
You can also use the leftovers for a hood or halloween trick or treat bag, but those take sewing and time, and that’s what these tutorials are here to save you so I’m not going into that here.
Tomorrow we follow with the tunic or dress.
And remember, the shop has costumes in, so if you want to save yourself the hassle, stop in!
Here’s a demonstration below for a doll’s cape made using this pattern and some of our spooky Halloween fabric.
