45+ Basic Halloween Costume Tutorials
Tutorial: Elastic Harem Pants For Cosplay Costumes
This tutorial will walk you through how to make basic baggy pants with an elastic waist and cuffs as a basic building block for your next costume. Feel free to change or adjust your design however you want to match…
Cosplay Armor: How to Make a Full-Face Helmet with EVA Foam
Helmets are absolutely one of the most difficult pieces of armor to construct for a costume. Not only do you have to get the shape of the helmet right, but it also has to fit over your face (sometimes with…
Tutorial: Create Armor Talons for Costumes (with moveable joints)
If you want to create talons that you can wear and move around with your fingers, EVA foam (or craft foam) will be the easiest material to use. You will create three separate pieces and create hinges around your finger…
Tutorial: Cosplay Swords for Beginners
Need a shield to go with your sword? check out my other tutorial (which includes two types of shields) Crafting a cosplay sword can elevate your costume from good to great, providing that element of realism that can impress at…
Tutorial: Create a Round Domed Shield for Costumes
For this tutorial, we will be heat-forming a flat disc of EVA foam into a domed shape (like the Captain America shield). If you’re unfamiliar with EVA foam, I recommend you take a couple of minutes to learn the basics…
Tutorial: Anime-Style Newsboy Hat
This tutorial will walk you through how to sew an anime-style lined newsboy hat. You can use this for any anime character that has a cute, puffy hat design. Print out the free pattern below and follow along with the…
Tutorial: Dinosaur Drawstring Bag
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Apply interfacing to the spikes Step 2 sew the spikes together with right sides together sew each spike. Start and end sewing at the seam allowance (1/2″ from…
Tutorial: Obi-Style Belt for Anime Costumes (free pattern)
I’ve always liked how wrap-around belts look with the thin string going around the middle. So, I decided to make my own using some fabric scraps that I have on hand. This is actually a fairly simple tutorial that’s great…
Tutorial: Pumpkin Trick-or-Treat Bag
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Apply interfacing to all pumpkin pieces You can use sew in or fusible, whichever you prefer. Step 2 baste the black piping to the side pumpkin pieces Add…
Tutorial: Denim Military Hat (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Cut out your fabric pieces from two pairs of jeans You’ll have one set of pieces in each color. Step 2 Apply buckram Add buckram (or heavy interfacing)…
Tutorial: Fleece Fox Hat (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the hat pieces in sets of two With right side together, sew two sets of hat pieces on one side. Step 2 sew the ears together With…
Tutorial: Fleece Dog-Ear Hat (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 apply interfacing to the ears Apply interfacing to the inner section of all of the ears, as indicated by the dotted line. Step 2 sew the ears together…
Tutorial: Fleece Cat Ear Hat (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the ears together With right sides together, sew the two cat ears. Then trim the seam and turn them to the right side. Step 2 Fold the…
Tutorial: Teddy Bear Hat (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the ears together With right sides together, sew the two teddy bear ears. Then trim the seam and turn them to the right side. Step 2 Fold…
Tutorial: Fabric Witch Hat
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) This pattern was made for a 21.5″ head (a pre-teen or small adult size head). Measure around your head (where a hat would sit) to find your measurement. Step 1…
Tutorial: Easy Arm Warmers (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: Pattern includes: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Fold the arm warmer in half and sew Fold the arm warmers in half with right sides together. Stop sewing and backstitch at the dots to…
Tutorial: Easy No-Sew Tutu
Supplies Needed: Step 1 Cut big strips of tulle The exact length and width don’t matter too much. About 4-6 inches wide and fairly uniform length (about twice the length you want your final tutu to be. Cut multiple colors…
Tutorial: Superhero Eye Mask (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 apply interfacing to the back of the mask Step 2 Pin the mask to the Mask back With right sides together, pin the mask front to the mask…
Tutorial: How to Sew a Buckle on a Belt
This tutorial will teach you how to attach a belt buckle with a prong to a belt. You don’t need any special equipment for this tutorial and it’s great for beginners or people with any amount of sewing experience. This…
Tutorial: How to Make a Dragon Wing Cape (or Bat Wings)
Learn how to make wing for a dragon cosplay. I specifically made this for Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, but just change the color to use it for any dragon cosplay. It could also work really well as…
How to Create a Fake Beard or Goatee for a Halloween Costume
This article goes over the three most common methods that are used to create fake beards, goatees, and sideburns for costume. Each of these methods uses different types of skills and will give you varying levels of realism. Method 1…
Tutorial: Wizard Staff for Halloween
Sometimes you need to make a wizard staff to perfect your Halloween costume, but you can’t find a good enough stick to use. I have found that the easiest way to mimic the texture of a wooden staff by using…
Tutorial: Foam Swords for Halloween Costumes
Need a shield to go with your sword? check out my other tutorial (which includes two types of shields) A cool sword is a great way to level up your costume game this year. Luckily, making a convincing sword for…
Tutorial: Devil Tail and Horns for Halloween
If you want to be a devil for Halloween, you’ll want to make a tail and some horns to go with the costume. There are a lot of different ways to go about making these costume accessories, but this method…
Tutorial: Vampire Fangs for Halloween Costumes
It’s pretty easy to make fangs for a vampire Halloween costume. All you need to do is use non-toxic thermoplastic and mold your fangs into points using the shape of your teeth. You’ll have new vampire fangs in just 10…
Tutorial: Floppy Dog Ears for Halloween Costumes
Making dog ears is a little different than cat ears for a costume. In order for the material to accurately reflect the shape of a dog’s ear, you need to create a base for the ear, but leave the rest…
How to Make Your Hair White or Gray for Halloween
It’s not uncommon for characters from anime, movies, comics, and games to have stark white hair that you want to mimic. Generally, if you want to have stark white hair, you need to bleach it. However, if you’re just doing…
Tutorial: No-Sew Witch Hat for Halloween
This tutorial will teach you how to make a foam witch hat for Halloween that uses EVA foam (or craft foam) instead of fabric. Using foam means you can skip the stitching, and instead glue everything together. Then you can…
Tutorial: Foam Hats for Halloween Costumes
Hats are one of those parts of a costume that are intimidating to many beginners (but they don’t have to be!). Unless it’s a popular character, you’re not going to be able to find your hat in a store. Of…
Tutorial: Demon Horns for a Halloween Costume
It’s easier than you think to create your own custom demon horns that look great and bring an extra realistic dimension to your costume. This tutorial involves EVA foam or crafts foam, and other basic materials that you probably already…
Tutorial: How to Make Fluffy Cat Ears For a Halloween Costume
In this tutorials you will learn how to create cat ears that are made of faux fur and can be attached to a hair clip, wig, or headband. This is great for creating unique ears for your Halloween costume or…
Tutorial: How to Make Gloves (and fingerless) for Anime Costumes
Making gloves from non-stretch fabric is difficult because you need to take the thickness of your hand and fingers into account. The fabric is not going to be able to stretch around your hand. It took me three tries to…
How to Paint Fabric for Cosplay Costumes
Many anime and comic costumes have unique designs that you’re not going to find at the fabric store. This can be anything from a superhero logo to a specific pattern of stripes on your character’s T-shirt. If you can’t find…
Tutorial: Headband With Animal Ears (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the ear to the ear lining Sew the ears to the ear lining with right sides together, leaving the bottom open. Step 2 clip corners and trim…
9 Tips to Weather Your Props
Weathering props adds character and story to them. After all, what fighter will ever have a pristine shield or armor that looks like it’s never seen battle? All of the items that we use day-to-day will have some kind of…
Tutorial: How to Make “Wooden” Shield for Costumes
You can use props of any kind to help your costume stand out within the crowd of cosplayers. One of the most common types of props that costumes call for is some form of shield. There are many different types…
Tutorial: Make a Unicorn Horn and Hold it on Your Forehead
Whether you’re dressing up as a unicorn for Halloween, cosplaying as a galarian ponyta, or just want to be a narwhal, you’ll have to make a horn to match your costume. If you’re ambitious, you might also try to find…
Tutorial: How to Make an Adorable Appa Fur Purse
Avatar the Last Airbender was one of my favorite shows growing up, so I decided it was time to make a bag to show my love for it. I used the iconic Appa to design a purse using the arrow…
Tutorial: Spiderweb Drawstring Tote Bag
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Add white piping between 5 layers of web strips Layout 5 web strips and sew the piping between each of the layers. You’ll want to use a piping…
Tutorial: Cute Ghost Drawstring Bag (free pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Prep the ghost eyes Fold over the seam allowance on the black pieces of fabric and baste in place. Step 2 sew the eyes to the front of…
Tutorial: Cowl Neck Scarf With Buttons
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the scarf to the front and back With right sides together, sew the scarf front and back together along the perimeter. Leave a small gap in the…
Tutorial: Fleece Fox Scarf (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the fox Face with right sides together, sew the the fox face marks to the fox face. Step 2 sew the ears together with right sides together…
Tutorial: Fleece ‘Feather’ Scarf (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 line up and sew the single and double pieces line up one of the double pieces 1 inch above the the single piece. Then sew them together. Step…
Tutorial: Fleece Scarf With a Hood (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: Step 1 Sew the hood part of the scarf Sew the same-color hood pieces with right sides together down to the dot on the pattern. Press the seams open. Step 2 Sew the hood and contrast hood together…
Tutorial: Fleece Bunny Hat (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the two sets of bunny ears together With right sides together, sew the bunny along the perimeter. Step 2 turn the ears to the right side Clip…
Tutorial: Fleece Warmer with a Bow (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 Sew the ear warmer to the lining With right sides together, sew the ear warmer to the lining on the top and bottom. If you want to make…
Tutorial: Headband With Animal Ears (free sewing pattern)
Supplies Needed: (all of my patterns include 1/2″ seam allowance) Step 1 sew the ear to the ear lining Sew the ears to the ear lining with right sides together, leaving the bottom open. Step 2 clip corners and trim…
