How to Make a DIY Sally Skellington Costume

Why I Made My Own Halloween Costume

Hi, guys! Today I'm going to tell you how I made my own Sally Skellington costume. Last year, I was originally planning on buying a costume, but the reviews for the two pre-made Sally costumes I found were terrible. Reviewers said that the costumes weren't good quality and the wigs didn't even fit. What was even worse was that they were asking around $50 for this cheaply made costume!

I definitely didn't have that kind of money for a costume, but I was completely set on being Sally Skellington for Halloween. Instead of paying the outrageous prices, I decided to make my own. The supplies for this cost me less than $20, so I definitely got a better deal.

I hope you enjoy my DIY!

Materials Needed

• Old short-sleeved dress (preferably black)
• Assorted colors of felt (black, blue, yellow, pink)—enough to cover the short-sleeved dress
• Black fabric marker
• Hot glue gun (if you're lazy like me!) or sewing kit
• Old pair of tights
• A roll of dark red yarn
• An 18" piece of black yarn
• An 18" x 2" strip of fabric, any color
• Scissors
• Black shoes of your choice
• A pair of striped tights
• Light blue face/body paint
• Black face/body paint
• Red lipstick
• Eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara

Step 1: Cut the Felt

Using the photo of Sally’s dress above for reference, cut the felt into interlocking pieces to cover the dress. You can leave spaces in your pattern for the original dress to show through.

Step 2: Glue or Sew the Pieces On

Next, glue or sew the pieces on in the appropriate places. Be careful if you're using hot glue because the glue might be a little hot even through the felt as you push the pieces down onto the dress.

Step 3: Draw the Patterns

This is where that fabric marker comes in! Sally has several different patterns on her dress, such as stripes, swirls, criss-crosses, and polka dots. She also has the big X-shaped stitches that hold all the different scraps in her dress together.

Hold the fabric down and make it as flat as you can so you're drawing the patterns on a flat surface. For the stripes, use a straight edge; for the polka dots, use something circular. You might want to go over the patterns twice so they're well defined!

Step 4: Let It Dry

Let the fabric marker dry to avoid messing anything up.

Step 5: Make the Wig Cap

To make the wig cap, use the old pair of tights. Put the waist of the tights over your head, and tie the legs in a knot while wearing them. Take them off of your head, and cut off the legs above the knot. Now you have an inexpensive wig cap.

Step 6: Make the Hair

Take your red yarn and cut it all into pieces of the same length. Mine were all about three-foot-long pieces because I wanted my wig long, and I had about 200 strands by the time I was done.

Step 7: Start the Wig

This is where that strip of fabric comes to use. You want the strip of fabric to be long enough to go from the front of your head, where your hairline starts, to the back of your neck, where the hair stops. This will ensure that the wig is the right size for your head and covers the whole thing. Measure the strip of fabric against your head and cut it to the correct length.

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Step 8: Glue the Hair Onto the Fabric

Lay the strip of fabric down flat and pin it down on both ends to make sure it doesn't move. Glue each piece of red yarn onto the fabric so that it is centered perpendicular to the length of the fabric. Keep at it until you're at the end of the strip of fabric. Then let it dry and glue the black strand of yarn down the middle of the wig for the part.

Step 9: Attach the Fabric to Your Wig Cap

Attach the strip of fabric with the "hair" to your wig cap. Put your wig cap on and have someone draw a line on it from the center of your front hairline to the center of your back hairline. Then sew or firmly glue the strip of fabric to the wig cap along the line.

Step 10: Put on the Makeup

For the makeup, you'll need to cover your whole face and the visible part of your chest with the blue paint. If you want to, you can cover your arms with the blue paint, too. I chose not to do this because I thought it might be too messy. Then take the black paint and paint Sally's stitches on your face, neck, and chest. After that, I just applied red lipstick, purple and blue eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara.

© 2014 Becca

Comments

Zachs-Sally on October 24, 2019:

Can someone please tell me; where does the knot on the old stockings go whilst gluing the strip on the “wig cap”?

Fallon Hinton on October 07, 2017:

We are not allowed to "celebrate" Halloween where I work. I have been using a loophole by having my outfit to represent the colors of whatever my costume would be for that day. I had an idea similar to this but your idea is much easier! I hope you don't mind if I borrow this concept!

Mel on September 17, 2017:

Love this idea for a quicker costume! I started mine last night, but when I went to put it on, it didn't fit over my shoulders. The dress I used is a very similar style to the one you did, but I think with the hot glue it lost its elasticity. Did you run into this problem at all? Any ideas how to fix it without sewing in a zipper? Thanks!

DLayne on September 01, 2017:

We love "Nightmare Before Christmas" and all its characters. Jack is our favorite, and we have him here. We also don "NBC" short socks that have Jack, Sally, and other characters on them.

SUNSHYNE from California, US on May 24, 2017:

Great article. I made my daughter a Sally costume a couple of years ago and it took me a while of trial and error to finally get the finished product that I was happy with.

Corina on October 19, 2015:

Thank you so much on step by steps. Made it easy to understand :). I'm going to try to attempt to make one. Thanks