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Homemade Fancy Dress Ideas & DIY Halloween Costumes

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Creative & Unusual Fancy Dress Costume Ideas

It's always a struggle to come up with quick and easy, or clever and imaginative ideas for your fancy dress costumes, so I'm here to help!

I've listed a whole range of costume ideas which you can make yourself, plus prop making tutorials and fancy dress inspiration in a variety of themes with varying levels of difficulty.

Don't worry if you can't sew or you've never made anything before, because there are plenty of ideas that don't require much more than cardboard and sticky tape, or just toilet roll!

Of course, you could just buy a costume, but that's often more expensive and much less fun - plus you run the risk of turning up in the same outfit as someone else (the horror!). I hope the following list of how-tos helps you out :-)

Brilliant Illusion Costumes

Costume Making Introduction

I strongly believe that anyone is crafty enough to make their own costumes - all you really need is an idea - but if you aren't going to enjoy doing it then maybe it's not for you (unless the incentive is to save money, in which case homemade costumes are usually cheaper than bought ones, yay!)

When a Halloween party has a theme I find that it's so much easier to think of a costume idea, but when you have the freedom to dress as anything in the world....that's when it becomes tricky. So if you are struggling, think of:

- Your favourite movies

- Your favourite books

- Your favourite singers & bands (from any decade)

- Historical figures e.g. Napoleon

- Your favourite TV personality or celebrity

- Actors or actresses in the roles they are famous for e.g. Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys.

- Recent events and pop culture - you could parody a humorous news story or celebrity scandal

- Comic book characters

- A certain time from the past - and dress like a certain group of people from that time e.g. a Tudor King, a Viking, a Roman, a caveman, a pirate, 90s raver or 60s hippy.

- Infamous people from the past like Blackbeard or Dick Turpin

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And failing that, go through the dictionary for inanimate objects you can become! The lists below should also give you plenty of inspiration too, as well as ideas and help for DIY techniques you can use.

Most ideas can be created with cheap everyday materials, methods and tools like: glue, tape, scissors, foam, paint, cardboard (a must-have), fabrics, Duct tape, paper mache, (news)paper, recycled packaging, plaster bandages, clay, faux fur and old/cheap clothes. You can also look at other more specialized materials on the market if you want to create more advanced costumes and props; such as electronics, resins, moldable plastics, latex and so on.

Impressive Mummy Costume

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Awesome DIY Fancy Dress Costumes

NYC Walk/Don't Walk Signals

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Instruction for Sewing Projects

Mad Hatter DIY Costume

Creative Homemade Costumes

Gingerbread Man

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The Classics - Information About Traditional Halloween Costume Choices

  • Halloween Mummy
    Mummy costume video tutorial.
  • Girl's Pirate Costume
    Video tutorial for a swashbuckling outfit.
  • Viking
    Awesome costume which is surprisingly easy.
  • Vampires
    Patterns for capes, plus advice on fangs, makeup and more.
  • DIY Skeletons
    Make up tutorials as well as instructions on making a spooky costume.
  • Scary Witches
    From the classic green witches to the Sanderson sisters in 'Hocus Pocus'.
  • Egyptian Mummies
    The original last-minute costume idea!
  • Gross Zombies
    Dress as a member of the undead, complete with really gruesome wounds...ew!
  • Ghosts
    Quick and easy to make, ghost costumes can actually be more varied than you'd think.
  • The Devil
    Fancy dress info for everyone from little kids to grown-up devils.

How To Make Fairy Wings

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A classic costume accessory for fairies and cute girl's costumes.

What you will need:

* 12 gauge wire; any galvanized steel or artistic wire capable of holding it's shape is suitable, and you could also use 14 gauge if you want something a bit easier to bend.

* Synthetic woven mesh fabric such as organza, which is semi-transparent.

* Wire cutter

* Pliers for shaping the wire

* Scissors

* Tacky glue capable of glueing metal and fabric (e.g. 'Aleene's all-purpose tacky glue')

* Black electrical/duct tape

* Braided elastic (in a color to match the wings) OR wide ribbon

* Needle and thread

* Spray paint for painting the wire in a color that matches the wings (optional)

* Any decorative embellishments you want to use such as fabric paint, glitter, ribbons, fur, feathers, sequin, incense sticks to make holes in the fabric etc.

* Newspaper (optional)

* Long stick lighter (e.g. the ones designed to light candles with); not vital but would be very helpful

* Rotary cutter and cutting mat (optional)


- Starting about 4" from the end of the wire, shape it with your pliers to create the upper part of one wing. It may help to draw your design out on newspaper beforehand to give you a template to work to. Also try and keep the wing shape flat as you work.

- When you have shaped the wing, cut the wire about 4" from the end of your shape.

- Repeat the same for process for the lower part of the wing, making sure once again you have a spare 4" of wire at each end.

- Now use these 2 shapes as the templates to copy them. This will give you symmetrical wings consisting of 4 parts.

- At this point you can spray paint the wire if you want to change the color to match your fabric for instance.

- Twist the 4" ends of the wire together for each shape to close the wire frames securely.

- Before you start covering the wings in fabric, make sure that the wire frames lie as flat against your work surface as possible.

- Cut out a rectangular-ish piece of fabric which can be folded over the first wire frame and leave a few inches to spare on each edge. It doesn't have to be too accurate, just make sure it's over 2 times the size of the wire frame.

- Spread glue onto the top of your first wire shape and lay your cut-out piece of fabric onto the top so that it is flat and has no wrinkles. Be sure to position the wire shape so that it is on one half of the fabric piece only.

- Do the same for each wire frame and then leave them to dry.

- Flip the frames and fabric pieces over and now spread glue onto the tops and outside edges of the wire frames.

- Fold each piece of fabric in half so that there is now a fabric layer glued onto both the top and the bottom of each wire frame, sandwiching it in between. Do this for all 4 wing sections and leave to dry.

- Cut around the edge of each wire frame to remove excess fabric. You can re-glue any loose bits after this if necessary.

- To tidy up the cut edges of the fabric you can carefully hold the flame of a lighter near to the edges so that they melt. Obviously try not to burn the fabric! Test it on the edge of some of the leftover fabric first to check it works on your chosen material. The fabric should shrink as it melts, neatening the edges and removing any loose threads.

- Take the twisted wire section of wing part 1 (see diagram) and that of wing part 2 and twist those together to create one full wing. Do the same for the other side.

- Use black electrical tape to join these wing halves together by wrapping it around the twisted wire sections. You can hide this tape later with ribbon/fur or similar if you wish.

- To strap the wings to yourself, you can either tie the center of 2 lengths of ribbon to the central rod (which is the part covered in electrical tape), and then wrap each ribbon around each shoulder/arm and tie in a bow OR you can make 2 loops in braided elastic to fit around your shoulder/arm by sewing the ends together but with an inch or two of one end left free. This excess braided tape can be fed around the central rod and sewn in place to make a loop which holds the elastic in place on the wings.

- You can then decorate how you wish with glue+glitter spirals, fabric paint patterns or embroidery for example. If you want to put holes in the material, use a lit incense stick or your lighter to burn the holes. Practice on a piece of scrap material first though to make sure it gives the effect you want.

- Finished!

* Bear in mind that you can change any of the colors above to suit your preferred tastes :) *

Creepy Winged Raven

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Costume made by Walkabout Wolf - Click here for a close-up of the mask.

Movie Character Costume Inspiration

Rollercoaster Costume

A fun idea - and you can act like you are actually on a rollercoaster too for added effect!

A fun idea - and you can act like you are actually on a rollercoaster too for added effect!

How to Make a Variety of Fun Animal Costumes

Transformer Costumes

If you fancy a mechanical challenge, you can make your own cardboard transformer costume - and if it's anything like the ones in the video above, you're bound to get some 'oooh's and 'ahhhhh's from your audience!

For mini transformer plans which you can use to scale up and form the basis of your plans, click here.

Fancy Dress Inspired By Books & Movies

Jellyfish & Skeleton

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Halloween Costume Props

The following links are how-to projects that give instructions on making different props - from hats to claws - which you can incorporate into your overall fancy dress costume.

Medusa Fancy Dress

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More DIY Props

Nintendo Gameboy

A retro blast from the past!

A retro blast from the past!

Turn Yourself into Inanimate Objects

Glow Stick Costumes

Glowstick costumes are possibly the most simple and ingenious of all costumes, because they are just so effective! You can buy pre-made suits, but I don't see why you can't just make a temporary one with glowsticks attached onto black clothes!

For more info, go here.

More Random Objects To Dress Up As!

Desaturated Santa Costume

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This is probably my favourite costume idea ever - and no it's not photoshopped!

Click here for an article written about this costume.

TV Character Outfits

Umbrella Bat Wings

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Photo and costume by Lenore Edman.

Click here for DIY details.

Scary & Spooky Costume Ideas

Knife & Fork

Makes total sense to me.

Makes total sense to me.

Cute Outfits for Kids to Wear

Knight of the Realm

This fantastic costume is made with cardboard, altered clothes, paper mache and duct tape ...and the wooden swords are bought :)

This fantastic costume is made with cardboard, altered clothes, paper mache and duct tape ...and the wooden swords are bought :)

Geeky, Tech & Gaming Ideas

'Little Mermaid' Fancy Dress for the Family

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Collections of Costume Ideas & Inspiration

The following websites have lists of fancy dress ideas and photos to inspire:

Nightmare Before Christmas Costumes

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Fancy Dress Idea Galleries

Banksy Graffiti Costume

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This amazing costume is based on some graffiti art by the famous Banksy, and the costume was made by George Schnakenberg.

Oodles of Inspiration

Fancy Dress From a Comic Book

I'm a massive fan of Lichenstein pop art and comic book graphics!

I'm a massive fan of Lichenstein pop art and comic book graphics!

Click here and here for more photos and Lichtenstein inspiration.

Halloween Costumes for Children & Babies

Flying Spaghetti Monster Hat

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Photo and hat by Lenore Edman - Click here for a tutorial.

Fairytales, Comics, Myths & Legends

More Costume Making Videos & Ideas