5 halloween costumes from pillowcases

by mari

Ready for some quick and easy costume making? it’s pretty amazing what you can make with a pillowcase, some basic craft supplies, and your imagination!

Making a costume should be all about the fun, and not the cost. I’ve found the best place to start is Savers, because you can find so many cheap costume ideas – and they’re always affordable. The pillowcases in this post were only $.99 a piece – how’s that for a costume?!

So let’s focus on the shapes that a pillowcase turns into best – Capes, aprons, shifts, dresses, and treat bags. I’ve created five different ideas here, but each one is also a perfect starting point for you to come up with your own creative masterpiece!

And remember, Savers is your one-stop shop for Halloween! With new and used costumes and accessories, it’s easy to create a unique, one-of-a-kind look. During Halloween, Savers stocks its shelves with new packaged costumes, makeup, wigs and accessories – perfect to combine with the secondhand clothing and accessories that fill the aisles at Savers for a fraction of their original price.

Make sure to share your DIY costumes using the #thriftortreat hashtag too!

Also, make sure you wash your pillowcases before using them for these craft projects.

diy pillowcase costumes - halloween crafts - kids costumes - pillowcase dress how-to

Flower Fairy Dress Pillowcase How-To

With a floral pillowcase, a bunch of plastic flowers (also from Savers!), fairy wings and a little crown, this fairy costume is sweet without being all about the bling. But this dress can be dressed up or down into practically anything – from a Queen, to a Flapper, to a Cave Man and Cave Woman.

  1. Hold your pillowcase up to your child. Decide how big to make the neck and armholes.
  2. Cut out the arms and neck on the closed end of the pillowcase.
  3. Cut out flower petal shapes along the skirt.
  4. Pull apart the plastic flowers, keeping the leaves and flowers.
  5. Now, with a hot glue gun, add flowers and leaves to your pillowcase – you can focus on the waist and shoulders like I did, or put flowers everywhere if you’d like!
  6. We added flowers to our wings and crown too, but that’s totally up to you and your Flower Fairy.

diy pillowcase costumes - halloween crafts - kids costumes - pillowcase cape how-to

Superhero Cape Pillowcase How-To

Grab some felt, ribbon, and your pillowcase and you’re ready to fly up, up and away! BUt this cape would also work beautifully for witches, goblins, fairies, and queens.

First, turn the pillowcase inside out. Along the open end of the pillowcase, cut the corners of the large edge seam off.

diy pillowcase costumes - halloween crafts - kids costumes - pillowcase cape how-to

  1. Measure out a long piece of ribbon – long enough to tie around your hero’s neck and also lay along the entire width of the pillowcase. Ours is about 56″ long.
  2. Using fabric tape, fabric glue, or hot glue, glue the ribbon along one edge of the open side of the pillowcase.
  3. Turn pillowcase rightside out, pulling the ends of the ribbon out through the holes you cut at the corners.
  4. Cut out a star, lightning bolt, or other shape in your felt. Glue to the middle of the cape.
  5. Cut out a quick felt mask (we used an existing paper mask as a template for the eyes!), glue on ribbon to tie around your hero’s head.
  6. Fly up, up and away!

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50’s Baker Apron Pillowcase How-To

This apron is so simple – and can be used in so many ways. I’m thinking Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy, Fairies, Chefs, Pionneers, Woodworkers (with some modifications of course!) and Raggedy Ann, for starters.

  1. Fold your Pillowcase in half.
  2. Cut a long piece of ribbon, long enough to tie around your little one’s waist with extra for tying. Ours is about 50″ long I think.
  3. Put the pillowcase over the ribbon, with the ribbon in the middle of the fold.
  4. You can glue the ribbon in place, or simply use it with the pillowcase as is.
  5. We added felt pockets with glue.
  6. For this 50’s Baker, we also added a vintage scarf that was also from Savers!

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Fancy Bird Animal Costume PIllowcase How-To

Starting with a pillowcase is like a blank canvas for any animal. You might even find zebra print or other animal print pillowcases if you’re lucky! Cover it with fringe and make it furry, or feathers for a parrot, add a big felt circle for a teddy bear’s tummy. So many choices!

  1. Hold your pillowcase up to your child. Decide how big to make the neck and armholes.
  2. Cut out the arms and neck on the closed end of the pillowcase.
  3. Note – for this bird costume shown, I left the tops of the arm holes attached and cut them to look like feathers, these then hang over the shoulders.
  4. On the bottom, open-end of the pillowcase, cut the back of the pillowcase longer to look like a tail, and cut the front of the pillowcase shorter to be the front of the bird.
  5. We tied a big scarf around the waist to add some feathery details, and a beautiful mask with feathers to complete the look!

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Halloween Treat Bag from a Pillowcase How-To

This bag is so simple – and you could make a bunch of them for any time of year, in any printed pattern you could find!

  1. Along the open end of the pillowcase, cut two large scoops out of each side, leaving a 2″ center area to become the handle of your bag.
  2. I rounded the edges of each end of the handle, then tied them together in a square knot. Your bag is done!
  3. To add the ghost face, grab a sharpie, and draw two circles for the eyes, and an oval for the mouth. I actually drew them first on paper, then laid the paper inside the pillowcase. The white pillowcase allowed the drawing on the paper to show through, and then I just traced the details!

Thanks for hanging out with us today – now go find some pillowcases and get making!

A big thank you to Savers for their support of this project. As always, all opinions are my own.

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