I wanted a witch costume that was only black and white, and since I couldn’t find one, I decided to make it. The major issues were: I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on it, and I can’t sew. So it would have to be created where ever possible from recycled items, hot glue, and the the least expensive supplies I could find.
Hair: The wigs I liked were too expensive, so I bought ponytails of artificial hair online, and hot glued them to a wig cap. They tangled up and stuck to each other, so I braided them. To fill in the rest of the wig, I braided clothesline and shoelaces in different patterns, (much cheaper than store-bought trim, and I could make whatever patterns I wanted) Finally, I added strings of beads. I bought loose beads in bulk online, mostly plastic pony beads because the glass beads too heavy. I strung all the beads on fishing line monofilaments for strength, then hot glued the ends.
Hat: I was planning to embellish the hat, so I soaked it with fabric stiffener. When it was dry, I hot glued some of the braided clothesline and shoestrings around the hat. I bought some small Halloween skeletons and painted them white with black accents and hot glued them to the hat. The skeletons weren’t able to be posed, so before I painted them, I removed and then replaced some of their arms, legs, and heads to make them look like they were waving, talking to each other, or kicking up their heels.
Face: I created it using latex appliances – nose, chin, forehead pieces – that I painted white and added black accents. I attached it using liquid latex, and hot glued a spider to the chin piece. l bought the black and white contacts; they were the most expensive item, about $15, but I really like them and they were surprisingly comfortable.
Hands: None of the pre-made monster hands fit me, so I cut and hot glued some plastic monster hands over a pair of white gloves, and added a black spider on one and some artificial gems on the other to make a ring.
Purse: I don’t think that witches usually carry purses, but I needed one. So I created what I thought a witch might carry if she needed a purse, which was the sac that spiders make to hold their eggs. I put a 4″ Styrofoam ball in a white knee high stocking, then glued black plastic spiders on it. I put that into another white knee high and glued more spiders on that, so it looked like there were spiders inside and out.
White Dress: Three pieces – I hot glued a lace overlay and then beads onto a length of white material; since I don’t sew, I hot glued two pieces of Velcro at the ends of the material and secured it around my waist in the back. the top was a white turtle neck that I also hot glued with lace and beads. I added lace, beads and black shoelace pieces to an old bustier and hot glued a big plastic spider in the center to look like a brooch.
Black Cape: I used the lining of an old coat as the body, but it was only knee length and had no sleeves. I hot glued some sleeves from an old turtle neck for the arms, and glued some shredded lace over them to flutter when I moved my arms. I used scraps of other black material to lengthen the cape to floor length. It looked terrible, but the beaded black lace and sequin overlay I made covered it. I used 80 yards of sequins, and it still wasn’t enough!
Shoes: I made the curly ends from scraps of black material soaked in fabric stiffener, wrapped in the shoelace/clothesline braids, then dried. I hot glued them to some old black sneakers.
Broom: I removed the original wooden twigs on the broom stick and painted it white. The wooden twigs were not strong, so I painted some plastic sticks and twigs black and white, hot glued them onto the stick and wrapped them with the black and white braids. I wanted the skeleton to be a mini-me, so I painted it white, glued some white braid onto her hat to match mine, and glued bead strings. I used petite seed beads for her hair so the scale would be correct, then glued her to the broom and her hands to her body. I also gave her a smaller scale white gem ring to match mine.
Fun/Not Fun Stuff/Other:
My favorite parts were: the broom, because it was the only part that came out exactly as I wanted, and the wig, because I enjoyed creating the patterns with the loose beads and watching the wig take shape.
My least favorite parts were: the shoes – I made them too long and I kept scuffing along and stumbling over them. The worst was making the black cape. Too many sequins, beads, pieces of scrap material. and hot glue burns on my fingers.
I have gained a lot more respect for people who design, sew, bead, and create clothes. It’s a lot of hard work.
I was surprised by the reactions I got in this costume. Only one child was too scared to come near me. The adults were the ones who flinched or did a double take. And the weirdest reaction: some teenager asked me “Are you a dude?” For the record, no, I’m not.
Related costumes:
750+ Horrifyingly DIY Spooky, Gory, Dark and Scary Halloween Costumes 
Homemade Walking Cemetary Halloween Costume for a Woman 
Scary Undead Necromancer Costume 
Coolest Medieval Gargoyles on Stone Pedestals Couple Costume 
Coolest Homemade Funky Spider Woman Witch Costume 
Coolest Homemade Classic Movie Monsters Group Halloween Costumes 
Coolest Corpse Costume 
Wickedly Elegant Ghost Costume
Your comment has been sent successfully.