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Full Lenth Skirt for Halloween Costumes

Transform a second hand store formal gown into a skirt for your Halloween costumes.
It takes a little imagination and vision to find the right dress to work with. When picking out your dress think about color and texture. Lighter fabric colors can be dyed, but synthetics don't take dyes well, so if you need vivid color it is best to find a dress that already is the color you want. You will want layers and some flair for drama.
If the dress has embellishments, inspect to see if they can be removed without damaging the fabric.
You will be cutting off the top so if the dress has a high waistline, it will drop. Getting something a bit larger works well, and if you are dropping the waistline the sizing will change. do't be too picky on exact size. When sizing hold what will be the waistline to you waist and make sure the length is to the floor (or appropriate for costume). If the dress is a larger size than you are it will be tailored down.
When shopping, don't pass up a good thing. When you see something that will work, don't leave it for later to find something better. Second hand stores have a high turnover and chances you will never see that dress again. My biggest miss was a perfect tattered wedding gown for a future Bride of Frankenstein costume. Several years ago I was shopping for pirate costume parts and passed on the dress. BIG MISTAKE! I have yet to see another as perfect.
Total Time3 days
Course: Costume, crafts
Cuisine: Halloween
Keyword: Instructions
Servings: 1 Skirt
Author: TetonTrekker
Cost: < $30

Equipment

  • Dress Form (if you have one)
  • Iron and Ironing Board
  • Rubber Gloves (If dress needs to be dyed)
  • Sewing Machine
  • Sewing Scissors
  • Straight Pins

Ingredients

  • 1 Full Length Formal Gown Color appropriate for costume.

Optional

  • 1/4 Yard Satin or equal fabric Color to match final color of Skirt

If your dress needs to be dyed:

  • 2 Bottles Rit Liquid Dye Appropriate color

Instructions

Clean Dress

  • Hand wash your dress with some gentle detergent. If you don't have a large basin, use your bathtub.
  • If your home machine has a gentle cycle and you trust it, use your washer. Do not use the laundromat, if the last person to use the machine overstuffed it or washed oily cloths you may get some transfer to the dress.
  • Rinse well and drip dry. DO NOT PUT IN DRYER.

Deconstruct Dress

  • Remove any zippers from the dress. Leave all hooks, snaps, etc.
  • Remove all decorations and embellishments from the dress and save for later.
  • Cut the top off dress above the waistline leaving as much fabric to work with as possible.

Dye Dress (if needed)

  • Follow the directions on the bottle to dye your dress, using rubber gloves to keep dye off your skin.
  • Dye all the pieces you cut off and the fabric embellishments you removed from the dress so it is a match if you need to use them later.
  • Hang until thoroughly dry.
  • Wash dress same as above.

Optional Tie Sash for Waistband

  • Use extra fabric to make 2 long ties to tie around the waist.
  • Cut to desired length and a little over than twice as wide as you need.
  • Fold in half with right side in, and iron flat. If your fabric is thin you can add some iron on backing during this step.
  • Sew edges together leaving one of the short ends open.
  • Turn right side out and press with iron.

Construct Skirt

  • Fold the excess fabric to create a waistband. If your fabric an be ironed, iron flat. Pin in place. You may need to trim some fabric at this time.
  • Pin the optional tie stash to the waistband.
  • If your dress did not have enough excess fabric to fold down either use the fabric you cut off or get some satin fabric of an appropriate color from the fabric store and fashion a waistband by cutting a long wide rectangle. If the fabric is thin you may want to add some backing.
  • Sew the waistband with a machine, making sure all the raw edges are turned under. This can be done by hand for a cleaner look.
  • Hand sew some hook and eyes to close the waistband and opening where the zipper was.
  • Trim any strings strings from the skirt.

Notes

These instructions assume you have some experience with a sewing machine. If you have any questions please ask in the comments.

This gown was used to make a Vimpiress costume.

Dress for Gray Lady & Valkrye Costume

This pink dress dyed nicely for my Gray Lady costume.