Last year for Halloween, I decided I was going to wear a little witch hat fascinator that I had made long ago but never worn. Once I committed to that, the rest of the costume started to evolve, all with the idea of how can I use up stash? I picked up a whole roll of black tulle for cheap years ago but never seems to run out (spoiler: I still have more tulle in my stash). So I thought about how I might be able to incorporate that into the costume…witches and black, it’s a match made in heaven…or hell…or whatever.
Then it occurred to me that it is pretty transparent, and that if I wore a black skirt underneath, you couldn’t really see it at all. EXCEPT that I could build on it to create an illusion…of FIRE!
I’ve seen costumes before of witches burning at the stake and thought I could do that! I started by painting on some dark scrap fabric to make my flames. This took a while as I started with fabric paint that was getting absorbed by the fabric. Then I moved onto screen printing ink which worked better.
Then I cut out flame shapes to adhere to the tulle. The color kept fading when try so I kept painting…
Here’s a peek at the back; I thought for 2 seconds about handsewing them on, and then quickly NOPED that idea. It’s all glue gun baby! If I was really trying to make this costume durable I would have sewn but I’ll probably never wear it again so it’s all good to me. I also added felt “sticks” at the bottom for the burning wood.
I was determined to make this whole costume out of stash, so for my top I took an old black tank top (so not seasonally appropriate), and stenciled it to fit the theme. Not sure it fits the aesthetic but it’s what happened lol.
Here’s the whole thing together. If I ever wear this out again, I’ll definitely rethink the top half, and invest or make a full sized hat rather than a fascinator.
Here’s the fascinator in question:
