Creepy Clown Costume for my Skellie Frenemy

I saw an Instagram seller I follow was selling vintage costume patterns and two of them were patterns I knew my mom had when I was a kid. Did she still have them? Yes. Could I have them? YES! Did I immediately decide to make a creepy clown costume for one of my 5 ft tall skeletons? YOU KNOW IT!

I didn’t have enough fabric in my stash to make the costume, so I did have to buy it (sale + coupon!), but I was able to use stash for pretty much everything else: interfacing, trims, buttons, elastic, bias tape.

I did lots of distressing to make the clown look extra…well, distressing. :pleading_face: On to the detail shots!


Fading and grungy stains on the hat and collar. The “wig” is faux fox fur from stash.

The striped fabric claimed to be 100% cotton, but that stuff WOULD NOT BLEACH. I was able to sand off some color and then use diluted paints to give it stains on the front, the wrists and the elbows.

ClownCostumeDeets03

The tie-dye looking print was much easier to fade and stain! I did the neck bow, ankles, knees, and butt.

ClownCostumeDeets04

Here are the patterns my mom sent.

I was a clown for a children’s parade when I was a kiddo (view 2), but used view 3 for this. I was always tall, so this pattern is for Adult Small. I shortened it a bit for my skeleton who is probably taller than I was at the time, but doesn’t have much in the way of muscles! I have a red clown nose somewhere that I will probably add to its look. A fun thing about this late 1970s pattern is that it includes measurements in both inches and cm right on the tissues. I remember in elementary school being taught both systems, because at the time the US was going to switch. We all know how that worked out.

ADDENDUM:
This year I actually set him up in a bit of an opening in the woods on our property - you can’t really see him from the house, but if you’re driving up the road you might catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of your eye. I added the prop chain a solar spot light that isn’t super bright.

And then I repainted this prop wrench and added it.

11 Likes

You can mark me down as terrified! You did a great job!

This looks awesome! The fsbric you picked looks marvelous. Its just great to look at, and spooky.

Oh my goodness that is terrifying :evergreen_tree: :hushed: :evergreen_tree:

Thanks friends! :evergreen_tree: :clown_face: :evergreen_tree: :evergreen_tree:

1 Like

This is insanely cool! Insane! I love it so much. Total creep factor of 10!

Thanks
Now I’m gonna have nightmares.

1 Like

Love.

Nightmares are probably ahead but you did a great job! Your fabric choices were great even if the stripes would t bleach.

Thanks, y’all! And you’re welcome. :smiling_imp:

1 Like

Well this is all sorts of awesome and super creepy! Love it!

Welp! Thanks for the nightmares! I can not believe how fast you made this. So rad!

This is glorious! :rofl: I generally really hate clowns (please note - hate, not fear), but creepy clowns are in a totally different category. I want to give Tim Curry’s IT a cuddle. This hits all the right creepy notes, and you did a great job with the distressing!

Awwww, thank you friends!

OMG it felt like it took aaaaaages! Probably close to 10 hours, not including dry times. So glad it’s done-enough!

This rocks, and would be terrifying to stumble upon in the woods

Thank you! Mwahahahahaaaaaa!

This year I actually set him up in a bit of an opening in the woods on our property - you can’t really see him from the house, but if you’re driving up the road you might catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of your eye. I added the prop chain a solar spot light that isn’t super bright.

And then I repainted this prop wrench and added it.