COSTUMES: PART TWO

Narrowing focus, heightening fear.

In honour of Halloween month, I thought that I should share some of my secrets to crafting great costumes. Each Monday in October, I’ll deliver a breakdown of one of the three key elements in the costume-making process. In the final installment of this series, I’ll take you through the entire process of making my own costume for this Halloween from start to finish. Did you read last Monday’s post on how to sketch a guide for your costume?!

As I mentioned last week, I tend to get swept up in the excitement of creating an outfit. When it comes to costumes, that swell of enthusiasm starts to look a lot like the wave of blood cascading from the elevator in The Shining. New clothes! Wigs! Prosthetics! Ohhh, these 1920s-style candy buckets!

Alas, I am just one woman with a limited budget and only so many hours in the day that I can devote to crafting. I’m also old enough to know that a little bit of restraint often yields the best results. In this second installment of the costume series, I want to show you how to narrow your styling and crafting focus onto the area of your costume that will deliver the strongest, scariest results. Below, I’ve provided three options which are essentially for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of dedication to costume-making—though all you’ll really need for even the toughest costume is a good attitude and a glue gun.