Ages school-age
This easy witch costume is more sassy than scary. No magical spell needed to conjure up this ensemble in a jiffy. Using a few simple things found at your local craft store, you can put together the pieces for a traditional Halloween good time.
Download Homemade Witch Costume Template
by Tamison Rose, as told to Laura Young
What you'll need
- 1 yard black fabric suitable for a cape
- Sticky-back felt
- 1 yard black organza (we got ours in the remnant section of the fabric store)
- 3 yards orange netting
- Iron-on adhesive tape (recommended: Stitch Witchery by Dritz)
- 3" black satin ribbon
- 1" black elastic waistband
- Colorful hose, tights, or leggings
- Black witch's hat (from craft or fabric store)
- Colorful high-top sneakers or cowboy boots
- Long sleeved orange shirt
- Black tank top
- Iron
- Fabric scissors
- Needle and thread
- Hot glue gun
- Pattern
Helpful Tip:
1. Low-heeled boots or sneakers are best for trick-or-treating.
How to make it
Get dressed: Dress your witch in fun, colorful tights and orange shirt with black tank top over it.
To make the two-piece skirt: Measure your child's waist. Cut the 3" black ribbon to a length at least 3x longer than that measurement. Mark your child's waist measurement in the middle of the ribbon – you will be attaching organza inside those lines. Measure from your child's waist to the length you would like the skirt.
Cut out 10 pieces of black organza according to the pattern provided. (Note: You may need to cut more based on your child's waist measurements.) Cut iron-on adhesive to ¼" wide and iron a ¼" hem around the sides of the organza.
Measure the top edge of the piece and mark the center and the quarter points. Fold the quarter point to the left and the right of the center mark toward the center. Use iron-on adhesive to secure folds in place and then to attach five pieces of the organza to one side of the 3" black ribbon. Use the remaining five pieces of cut organza to overlap and fill in the spaces between pieces.
When all your organza pieces are attached, lay more iron-on adhesive over the organza pieces, and attach a piece of ribbon to cover up the exposed edges of the organza.
Take orange netting and cut in half the long way (up the 3 yard length). Lay the two pieces one on top of the other and fold them in half the long way. Cut a piece of 1" elastic waistband material to your child's waist measurement plus at least 2" for overlap. Lay the elastic waistband along the inside of the fold in the netting and baste the four pieces of netting together along the elastic on the side opposite the fold.
When you reach the end of the netting, gather the basting stitch so the netting bunches up. Use two safety pins to secure the elastic waistband around your child's waist. To give the netting fullness you can scrunch the under layers up toward the waistband.
Tie the organza and ribbon skirt around the netting skirt and make a bow.
To make the cape: Use a roll of ribbon to trace circles on the sticky-back felt.
Cut the circles out and stick them on one side of the cape fabric, avoiding the top and bottom 4" of fabric. The polka-dots will be on the inside (or "wrong" side) of the cape.
Fold over the top 3" of fabric (folding over to the "wrong" side) and hot glue it in place. Starting at the center of the fold-over and working out to the first edge, make a fold every 1" to 1 ½" and glue it in place (front and back) with hot glue. When one side is complete, return to the center and fold in the opposite direction toward the other edge, again gluing folds in place as you go. Try to make the number of folds even on both sides.
Flip the cape over to the "right" side and hot glue a piece of ½" wide scrap ribbon along the folds on what is to be the outside of the cape. When you tie the cape on your child, you can either leave the folds standing up, or fold them over the ribbon to form a collar.
To make the hat: Use scraps of the sticky-back felt to make smaller polka-dots to decorate the underside of the store-bought witch's hat.
Dress up the outside of the hat by tying some scrap netting with a big bow at the back to make a hat band (secure in place with hot glue) and for a finishing touch hot-glue a colorful silk flower at the front.
