DIY Cape Tutorials – Make Your Own Halloween Costume 4


Halloween is coming and you still don’t have an idea for a girl’s Halloween costume? You want to make something yourself.

But,

you don’t have much time. The Princess Pumpkin Costume is an easy project that can be done in less than an hour start to finish.

And guess what?

It can be made for a boy, too. You can just use the hood for a vampire-hood costume or something like that. In fact, if you follow the steps in the process you can even make it for grown-ups. 

Here is the costume we made.

girls helloween costume

Description of the Pumpkin Princess Costume.

Difficulty: beginner

Size: free

Note: All the fabric and accessories consumptions are approximate. The exact consumption of materials depends on the provided measurements and the size you are making.

Watch the video tutorial here.

Materials for the Pumpkin Princess Costume.

  • orange organza fabric – approximately three times the length you want the skirt to be when it’s ready.
  • dark brown or black woven fabric -the overall length of the riding hood plus additional 14 inches.
  • black or dark brown ribbon – approximately 63 cm/25 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide (3-4 cms).  May be cotton or polyester one.
  • 1-1.5 inches (2-3 cm) wide elastic.
  • regular sewing machine or a serger.
  • scissors.
  • measurement tape.
  • pins.

How to make the skirt.

1.Cut the organza for the skirt.

You are going to need three rectangles, each one a little longer than the previous. For the longest one measure the kid’s height from waistline to bottom and add 5 cm/ 2 inches for the elastic. I finished the hems with a cleaning overlocker seam, so I didn’t leave additional allowance for hemming. If your plan is to use a straight stitch hem, please add some cm/in for the hem allowance. Organza fabric unravels a lot, so some kind of finishing is required anyways.

But it doesn’t stretch so a regular straight stitch is fine for assembling and hemming everywhere on this project. Now that we have the length for the longest piece, we can cut the other two with 5 cm/2 inches shorter than the previous. I used three layers of organza for the skirt. This adds volume and color to the skirt.

easy girls helloween costume

2.Assemble the vertical side of the skirt pieces.

Then,

hem them as you prefer. Once all the layers of the skirt are closed at the side seam and hemmed, put them inside of each other. Put the longest layer first and the shortest on the top. This way you are going to get some volume and thickness so the skirt resembles a pumpkin as much as possible.

3. Align and join the pieces of the skirt together at the waistline.

Pin them all around so you can make a joining seam. I made a little gathering, so it would be easier to distribute the fabric to the elastic later.

I used the whole width of the fabric. To distribute that all that fabric to a much smaller circumference easier, make sure to align the fabric evenly and pin it all around to secure it.

4. Attach the elastic band.

The easiest way to measure how much you are going to need is directly on the waistline, stretching it a little so it is not too loose. Another way that I would recommend is to use the elastic measurement chart for kids. You can download it here.

Join the ends and pin it to the skirt. Pin the elastic to the front, the back, and both sides so it is distributed evenly to the fabric. What you need to do is to sew on the edge of the fabric and the edge of the elastic. This way it will be easier to topstitch it later.

sew a gathered skirt

If you need some help to attach the elastic properly, read my “How to sew an elastic waistline” article and watch the video tutorial to it.

How to make the riding hood.

Now,

Let’s make the riding hood.

The amount of fabric you are going to need depends on the overall length. Measure from the shoulder down to the edge and add another 16 inches for the hood. Cut out those 16 inches so we can make the hood later.

1. Fold the ​​​​​fabric.

  • Use the whole width of the fabric. Mine was 54 inches wide. Fold the fabric once. Then, fold it once again.

We are going to make the shoulders and the neckline of the riding hood. To do so, just measure and mark 2 inches from the edge of the double folded fabric down on both sides as shown in the pictures below.​​​​​

Next,

     2. Mark and cut.

Measure where the center of the folded piece of fabric is and mark it as well. Mine measures to be 6.2 inches or 16 cm. Now join the two side marks with the center mark. Cut out the fabric so it looks something like this.

The last step here is to cut out additional 2 – 2 and a half inches (or 5-6 cm), but only on one fold. Don’t cut both of the layers. This will form a bit deeper neckline only at the front.

 Now just unfold the fabric and fold it once again. This time, fold both sides towards the middle. You can see how shoulders and a neckline a starting to form. The next step would be to pin along the shoulders and make the shoulder seams. Don’t forget to anchor the stitches.

When the shoulder seams are done, let’s

    3. Make and attach the hood.

I’ve cut the hood out of the 16 inches piece we left. You just need to cut the fabric on the fold with the provided dimensions. Then, you can make a slight curve at the bottom for a better look. Make the back center seam of the hood.

Then, attach it to the body and assemble both parts of the riding hood. I use pins to distribute the hood evenly, starting at the center back. Once I’ve marked the center back, I pin it to the back seam of the hood.

Then, I pin the ends and distribute what is left in between. I make the seam, using a serger, but a straight stitch is perfectly fine, too. Also, make sure to put the details face to face.​​​​

sew a riding hood

We assembled the riding hood and now it is time to

     4. Make the tunnel for the string band.

To make the tunnel, I used a polyester ribbon. You are going to need a ribbon as long as the length of the seam plus 1 inch (2.5 cm) on each side. Fold those additional inches so they finish the tunnel openings. Stitch one side of the band directly on the joining seam.

Then, topstitch on the other side of the ribbon. Now that we have the ribbon stitch on both sides to form the tunnel, we need to put the string band in. I made the string out of the organza fabric. You can make it this way or you can use any type of a ready-made string band, it is up to you.

     5. Sew the string band.

Cut a band from the organza fabric that is long enough to be used as a string for the hood ( mine is 54 inches/140 cm long and 6 cm/2.4 inches wide).Sew the string band.

Now,

let’s put the string band in the tunnel. I’ve come across this way of inserting a string in a tunnel that is very easy and quick. It can be used to insert any type of a string or elastic in a tunnel very easy. Just use a safety pin. Pin it on one end of the string.

Then, start inserting it in the tunnel, pulling the fabric back so that the safety pin moves forward. When the safety pin comes out on the other side, take it out and distribute the string evenly on both sides.

sew a helloween costume

This is the finished costume. If you liked this tutorial and want to see more, please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media.

If you have any questions or want to share a finished costume, drop me a comment below.

diy helloween costume

You may like:

  1. DIY Ladybug Helloween Costume with a Free Pattern
  2. How to sew an elastic waistband
  3. Girls Pleated Dress with a Free Pattern
  4.  How to make a Circle Skirt
  5. Girls Full Skirt Dress PDF Pattern

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