18 Homemade Halloween Costumes, Sewn and Knitted, From a Bedsheet Clown to a Dog Playing a Sheep

I made my clown costume out of vintage sheets and a vintage sewing pattern.

I made the hat using a bit of cardboard with some of the leftover scraps and some ribbon to fix it to my head. The ruff was made by regathering the ruffles that were originally on the sheets.

Tbh I’m terrified of IT. I went to see it at the movies with my friends a few years ago. This was a bit of a fearbuster for me, still scared of that particular clown but making a cute clown helped me I think.

Artist Jessica Lowe’s daughter always comes up with unusual costume ideas, from her pet ferret to this year’s request: a rainbow-patterned mudskipper, the fish that walks on land. Jessica built it from upholstery foam, hot glue and fleece, then admitted fleece was a bad choice for fish skin: it took three rounds of airbrushing and more hand painting before the color showed. Fabric Mod Podge gave it a wet look. Jessica’s other daughter is going as a Sun Queen.

Had to go with the classic Sullivan costume from Monsters Inc. I followed an ancient pattern from an old knitting magazine that I don’t even want to credit because it was so poorly written. Then I used a rug hook tool to add all the fur. But it was so worth it!

He in fact was too cozy and we did not wear the costume much more for the rest of the day haha

this was such a lovely memory to make.

My oldest boy decided he wanted to be Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle for Halloween. He mentioned it on the 12th. I ordered fabric the same day, and it came on the 17th... But it’s also marching band season, and we have been busy with other things as well. I’ve had no sewing time. So I cranked this out on Thursday; I finished it about 3 am Friday.

Total sewing time on this was about 9 hours — 2/3 of that was piecing the fronts. I did not follow any directions, because it was so late and I didn’t want to leave my sewing room and deal with the ancient beast that is my laptop.

The look on his face when I handed it to him so he could wear it for school definitely made the sleepless night worth it!

There was another boy at school who was also certain it was the pink power ranger! My kiddo was super annoyed by it.

They had a football game and marched the show on Halloween, and he did wear it since the kids were allowed to wear costumes. I don’t think anyone wore their uniform this year!

I made it for my 2 yo daughter and was sad to throw it out, but this obviously made it worth it.

I handmade the costume out of recycled materials. My daughter then played with it for two months until it started to fall apart and become a hazard for her.

There’s actually a train costume there too (my husband’s) (you can see it being tossed in), but he chose mine. 🥲

That’s what impressed me the most. Just slipped it right on without any hesitation.

[My husband has] already fired back with “Well, I’m the one who forced you to throw it out, so he wouldn’t have it, if it weren’t for me”. 😒

Update: big sister put it on and then he absolutely had to wear it 😂 He loves it now. Let’s just hope he still does by Halloween

I made 4 costumes for my now 5yo last year 😂 she changed her mind up until Halloween

I just start crocheting and mentally plan out the color changes and sizing based on my kid. Following a pattern feels too structured and takes the artistic fun out of it for me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Here is this year’s Halloween costume: Bo Peep, with my dog featured as my sheep. I do a costume every year with my dog. This year’s involved the most number of different pieces, seven in all.

A few years ago he was the big bad wolf to my red riding hood, so he’s used to playing the part. ;)

Honestly, it’s why I always make a costume with him in mind. Canine cuteness is an important factor

The Singer 101 was the most expensive sewing machines ever made in 1928. I got it for $40 and rewired it entirely so it would work.

This is a costume/ extremely warm sweater for my dog! He is supposed to be a Red Legion Warbeast from the game Destiny 2, though for people not in the know I usually say he’s a dragon.

This idea came to me last summer, as so many good ideas do, as “wouldn’t it be cute if...”. In order to get the most organic looking result, I decided to design my own knitted scales.

He is a very mighty little shih-tzu — bichon frise cross

He more tolerates than truly appreciates being a warbeast, but maybe we’ll get there with a steady application of chicken, lol

Its to go with my Pirate Costume lol, she is not the most pleased about it.

Thats why i went with a parrot for her instead of another pirate. She’s a shoulder cat with me

The family dog is going as a shark so we have a whole scene planned out lol.

she’ll only have to wear it for a few minutes so hopefully she’ll forgive me lol

She is determined at all times to be seen as gracious and sweet, but im sleeping with one eye open lol.

This year, for the first time, I had time to really make my kids’ Halloween costumes. They had pretty cool requests, and I had a ton of fun making these.

I sit down with the kids each year and we try to brainstorm some cool costume ideas.

They definitely enjoyed telling our neighbors the costumes were homemade, which was super sweet. The fish is papermache on cardboard, paper packing, and masking tape. The eye is a foam roll with plastic backing to make sure it held its shape.

“Asked my grandma to make me a costume...”

A college student needed a costume for a Halloween party and asked Grandma for help. The result, filmed in the mirror: a white drape over one shoulder, a gold belt, a crown of gold leaves and a matching shoulder piece made of more gold leaves. The verdict in the caption: Grandma nailed it. Nearly half a million people liked the video.

He absolutely loves it and luckily his grandma was able to bring it to school for him so he could wear it all day.

Tape made it much more structurally sound plus it’ll be rain proof for tonight’s showers! Also a lot less messy than paint would be.

It’s like a stroller. There’s a push bar at the back you can’t see in the photo.

“My mom, the costume designer, strikes again. Can you guess the character she made for my nephew’s Halloween costume?”

The video’s author says their mom can make any Halloween costume. This one was for the author’s nephew, Grandma’s grandson. In the video, Grandma is busy taking pictures of the finished costume in the bathtub: a big white mushroom cap with red spots, a blue vest with yellow trim, white trousers and brown shoes. The answer to the riddle is Toad from Super Mario.

I’ve had pink hair for 3 years and finally found a costume to go with it!

I never feel like I have a good idea for a halloween costume, but this year was like a light bulb went off!

I’d say I worked on it for the course of two days (not constant).

It was a little tricky at first, just because I’m clumsy and I dyed the dress, but I think it came out okay :)

And I didn’t even think of costume parties, but now I have to look for one :)

I make my grandsons Halloween costume, and this year I also got to make one for my soon to be born 2nd grandson. Since the older one LOVES horses I went searching for a pattern. I remembered this one from the 1980’s. We decided to make baby brother a carrot to go with the horse.

My mother made my kids costumes when they were growing up. When I asked my son and DIL if I could take up that grandma costume mantle, they were all for it. Who knows how long the grandkids will want to continue with it, so I’m making hay while the sun shines!

“Mom, I want to be a squishy dumpling for Halloween!”

Ashley French’s son wanted to be a squishy dumpling toy, and no such costume existed anywhere, so Ashley made one. The base is a wearable inflatable bumper ball. It looked lumpy under fabric, so two layers of quilt batting went on top, then a shiny sewn cover, though Ashley hadn’t used the sewing machine in more than 10 years. A foam steamer basket and a vinyl face finished it. It was much harder than expected, Ashley admits, but the boy thinks it’s pretty cool.

Don’t look too closely, I’m a newbie and whipped this up in a week, working like mad during naps. But it worked and looked super adorable! My husband and I also dressed up to match.

My husband and I went as SpongeBob and Patrick as well.

I didn’t use a pattern, just freehanded the whole thing. The shell is just a long rectangle that I folded in half and rolled though.

Crocheted the details and sewed them on. I pulled from my stash for the eyes and straps, no clue what yarn type.

She really is amazing. She had just gone through a divorce with my dad. Was a single mom working full time and taking care of me. Still found the time and energy to make this. As a parent myself now I have no idea how she did it. Shout out to you Mom, and all the other single parents out there who step up for their kids!

If you knew my mom you’d 100% believe it. Kept quite a few nice things like this from my childhood.