A Fairy Good Halloween

Halloween will be here at the end of the week, and if you are anything like me in the past, you are a complete mess because you still have no idea what you want to dress up as. Do you want to go cute, scary, ironic, or classic? It is stressful coming up with an outfit that will look good, be comfortable, and wow people all at the same time. Also, who has money to spend on something that you can really only wear once? Not this savvy saver! So to save you from falling victim to any Halloween spending tricks, I am giving you a DIY costume so quick and easy, that it will scare your Halloween woes away. This year, I am going as the tooth fairy, but if you don’t like that idea, switch up the colors and be something else: a peacock, queen of hearts, a ballerina. The possibilities are endless and the steps are the same!

I typically don’t take Halloween very seriously because like I mentioned above, it stresses me out coming up with a good costume. I am currently obsessed with the tulle skirt look, so I really wanted to wear a costume that included a tutu.  And so was born my tooth fairy idea. After checking out a few options, I settled on a simple no-sew skirt method. Here is how it is done.

What You Need:

Tulle (I picked two different colors for variety) 4-8 yards

Ribbon or Elastic

Scissors

A Chair

Fabric Softener

Spray Bottle

Start by deciding how long you want your skirt to be. My advice is to go longer rather than shorter because you can always trim your skirt down. Unless you actually have fairy powers, you can’t magically grow tulle back. Take a tape measure and evaluate the area that you want covered. I measured from my hips down to right above my knee. Keep that number handy and head to your local Michaels or JoAnn to pick up the tulle you want to use. I caught a good sale, so I splurged for the shiny gray and white to add a little sparkle to my costume. Since I wanted a lot of tulle for coverage, I got 4 yards of each color: 8 yards total. You definitely don’t need this much, but it adds a nice full effect.

Once you have chosen your tulle, use the number you collected earlier and measure out your tulle. You are going to double the length when you are cutting. So if your skirt is going to be 24 inches long, you want to cut 48 inches of fabric. This way you can fold the fabric in half later.

After you have cut your fabric pieces, you want to fold the fabric into one long strip. Make sure the tulle is laying flat on the ground and then fold it lengthwise. Once you folded the whole piece, you are going to cut it into pieces. I wanted thicker strips, so I cut at every 6 inches. I recommend pieces between 4 and 6 inches; you can also vary them up a bit throughout the process.

Once all of your strips are cut, grab your ribbon or elastic. I found that using a ribbon was easiest. For the ribbon, measure it around your waist and mark with knots on each end where you want your tulle sections to start and stop. Then use either a person or a chair and tie your ribbon in place so that you can start adding the tulle pieces. Using each cut strip, you are going to fold the piece in half lengthwise, so that you now have your desired length and do a knot around your ribbon by slipping the tulle through itself. To do this, fold the tulle around the ribbon, resulting in a loop/hole. Pull the remaining tulle through the loop and tighten. See below:

They will make little knots, that you can pull as tight as you want or can leave looser to make the knots a little flatter. I pulled mine fairly tight, since I had a lot of tulle to work with. Keep repeating this step until all of your strips are added to the ribbon. While you are adding, you can push the tulle closer together and move it around to your liking.

Once you are complete and set to wear your new DIY skirt, add two tablespoons of fabric softener to a spray bottle filled with warm water and lightly mist each layer of your skirt, shaking the bottle well throughout. You don’t want to drench your fabric; just spray enough to remove the static. It is a very clingy, so this will help it lay flat.

To finish off my costume, I went to a local goodwill and found an inexpensive slip to wear underneath my skirt and then picked up a crown, wand, and set of wings from the local dollar store. This outfit cost me under $25 dollars and took less than 2 hours to make. It is fun, and I will be able to use it for years to come.

To see the complete look, you will have to check back after Halloween and see our pictures from the company party. Complements to Shindigz for all of the amazing decorations to make the party possible! For more DIY Halloween ideas, check out our Pinterest page!