How to Make a Scary Halloween Costume

A dark costume with a ghastly make-up job is one of the scariest costumes in a haunted house or Halloween party with low lighting. This dark, quiet creature has been known to scare the daylights out of the toughest girl or guy when it quietly creeps up next to them. If the creature happens to have height and is able to look down into an unsuspecting partygoer's face, it is very startling and may cause screaming. If you have a slow silent ability to move, this scary costume is for you.

Things You'll Need

• Halloween makeup in white, gray, black and green
• Black lipstick
• Fake blood, if desired
• Dark pants and long sleeved shirt or jacket
• Dark wig or head covering
• 1 inexpensive black twin or full size flat sheet or 2 1/2 to 3 yards (40- to 60-inches wide) black cotton cloth
• Scissors
• Large needle
• A spool of quilting or other heavy duty thread
• Reflective tape
• A package of fake spider webbing material
• Small safety pins
• Dark shoes (optional)
• Makeup remover

Instructions

Scary Costume

1. Measure from shirt or jacket cuff to the shoulder of one arm. Write the measurement down and repeat with other arm. Measure across the shoulders. Write the third measurement down.

2. Lay the sheet or fabric out flat on a work surface. Take the measuring tape and measure down the length of the cloth until you have the first cuff to shoulder measurement. Take scissors and make a cut into the cloth to mark it. Repeat with second arm measurement, then the shoulder to shoulder measurement.

3. Grasp the fabric in your hands, one on each side of a cut, and tear the cloth into two pieces. Repeat with the second arm and shoulder measurement cut marks. You will have three pieces to match your measurements and a possible fourth remnant piece that can be used for a head covering if needed.

4. Lay a jacket or shirt front down on work surface. Pin each segment of cloth to garment back making sure to turn under a 1/2 inch seam. Sew pieces to the garment with heavy duty thread using a whip stitch. When the fabric strips are secured to garment, lay it out flat on a work table with arms outstretched and the fabric fanned out like a cape.

5. Take the scissors and snip into the bottom of the fabric every 3 to 5 inches along the entire area of each of the three pieces. Grasp the cloth and rip segments of it into long, uneven fringe-like strips across the entire garment. Sew or stick on a series of reflective tape to cause a shimmering effect on areas of the tattered strips. You will have a garment with flowing tattered cloth in various widths. Stretch spider webbing across the chest and pin it to the shirt or jacket. Add another spider web on the pant leg. Fasten plastic spiders or flies in the webbing, if desired.

Scary Makeup

1. Coat your face and any exposed neck with white makeup.

2. Dab black makeup on your fingers or a makeup applicator and put exaggerated black shadows under your eyes. Put black on the cheek bones, blending it into the white makeup for a dark gray blush. Continue blending black into white for gray shadows at the jawline, temples, under the mouth and across the top of forehead area. Give your face a gaunt, nearly skeletal shading. You want your eyes to pop in a sick-looking face. Add in touches of green blending in for a rotted skin appearance.

3. Apply black or white lipstick. Blend makeup into it to create a series of cracks. If desired, paint a small blob of black makeup under fake blood on your lip corners to look like seeping cold sores. Fake blood can be painted at the bottom of each nostril and the far corners of the eyes with a cotton swab. Hands can also have an application of makeup or bloody gloves can be worn.

4. Put on the creepy wig or head covering. Don't forget to apply makeup to ears if exposed. Carefully put on the costume and be prepared for some big reactions wherever you go.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are part of a haunted house, standing by a low flow fan will give a movement effect to your costume If this costume is for one-time use take a seam ripper and remove the fringed cloth from the re-usable garment.

• Do not restrict your vision. If cloth tatters drag on the ground, trim them to protect yourself from getting tangled up.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• eHow Halloween Directory