Lazy Last Minute Clown Ruff

Previously, I posted a tutorial for a clown/pierrot ruff. It works pretty well, but is also pretty damn time consuming—it takes a good day or more!

This one is much faster. I’m talking of less than an hour to make. Maybe only ten minutes!

It won't look as good, but this is more of a last-minute party costume piece. It is made using string and crepe paper, staples of my childhood fancy dress costumes :)

Costume Bits! (Tutorial Roundup)

Halloween is lurking ever closer!
Whilst I have no full costume tutorials on this blog, I do have a few posts on 'costume bits': those little accessories that finish off a costume.

Here's a quick roundup of the pieces you'll find at Unfortunately Oh!

DIY Ruff | Customised Top Hat

Witch Fingers Tiara | Jabot with Neckband

Elasticated Jabot | Square Eyepatch | No-Sew Pirate Eyepatch

Hope you find something here to help or inspire you with your Halloween preparations! :D

Elasticated Jabot

Previously I shared a tutorial for a jabot with neckband. Today’s tutorial is for a simple elastic-neck jabot, perfect for wearing with a collared shirt! Mine is messy-looking because I didn't hem ;)

You can also make this without the elastic, and attach the jabot with pins (I’ve done this before too, due to laziness!)

Once again this is easy to make and can be put together using a small off-cut of fabric.

You’ll need:

Fabric

Elastic

Thread

Note: Thin cotton works best for this. The fabric I used in this tutorial has the black stripes printed onto it so it wasn’t completely ideal.

Jabot with Neck Band

With Halloween at the end of October, I’m sure some of you are already thinking of spooky décor and fancy dress costumes (whether that’s for yourself or someone else!)

Today I’d like to share this tutorial for a jabot, or ‘frilly neck thingy’, attached to a simple neck band. The fastening is a press stud.

I'll be posting other jabot variations in future, so if this isn't quite for you, come back again :)

I figured this out by trial and error when I made the one in the picture (hence why the top frill is slightly wonky).

The Curtain Skirt: DIY

Do you keep a list of all the projects you’d like to do?

Something from my project-in-waiting list was this ‘curtain skirt’, made from what I think is a curtain fabric sample, found at a charity shop!

A Top Hat for Halloween

To continue from my recent post about customising hats, here is another that I got my hands (and glue gun) on.

This time around, my inspiration was the hats of Kikirara Shoten, a fantastic purveyor of weird hats, unusual corsets, and unique accessories in Japan.

The hat is a basic top hat from a fancy dress shop. Sadly it’s a bit tight on my head, but I love how it turned out!

I used multipurpose glue to attach gathered lace trim around the brim. This hides the ugly brim edge that screamed ‘I bought this from a party shop’! Then I added a piece of ribbon (to replace the hideous plastic one) and glued on a strip of marabou. 

Everything else is attached with a glue gun. Hooray for glue guns!

This little picture frame feature on one side is my favourite part.

I didn’t buy anything specifically for this hat: aside from the frame and bats, everything was left over from other projects. The frame came from a charity shop (more recently I used another one to make a necklace) and the bats were amongst my Halloween decorations.

Admittedly the bat side doesn’t look as ‘cool’. I didn’t want this side of the hat to draw too much attention from the picture frame, so went for something simpler. In hindsight, perhaps I should add some extra decoration!

Here are some unusual hats I’ve found online that have particularly tickled my fancy.

Source: hautemacabre.tumblr.com via Kei on Pinterest

Source: kikirarashoten.com via Kei on Pinterest

Source: victoriantradingco.com via Kei on Pinterest

Will be linking up to the parties listed below!

Creepy Fingers Tiara

As a cheap Halloween headdress one year, I knocked together this quick, cheap and easy ‘creepy fingers tiara’.

Here’s what I used:

Nine ‘witch fingers’

Alice band

Cardboard

Hot glue & glue gun

Spray paint

Scissors

First off, I cut a piece of cardboard with tapered ends, wider than the alice band, to give it more of a ‘tiara’ shape and appearance.

I glued this on with hot glue and then added the witch fingers in a slightly arched shape, again with hot glue.

After that, I just gave it a few coats of silver spray paint!

This is a really cheap and somewhat ‘slap-dash’ project, but easy to cobble together at the last minute for a fancy dress party, or for a silly accessory to wear when answering all those calls of ‘Trick or Treat’! 

Will be linking up to the parties listed below!

Feather Hat Makeover

Hats seem to be a ‘thing’ in fashion at the moment, especially when you look at some of Louis Vuitton’s ad campaigns (seriously, can those hats get any bigger?)

Inspired by this and a hat I saw in a fashion magazine, I customised one of my old hats with some bits and pieces I had in my stash!

The original hat (a charity shop purchase, naturally) had a wide brim and a fairly shallow bowl, almost what is known as a ‘floppy hat’ but with less flop!.

To change the shape and height of the hat, I cut a rectangle of fabric about 1.5x a loose measurement around the bowl, and just over twice what I wanted the new height to be.

I stitched the long edges together loosely and pressed the fabric slightly so that the seam was in the centre back. Then I put a widely-spaced running stitch through the centre in order to gather it.

I wrapped it around the hat and sewed the ends together (folding in the raw edges).

Then I stitched it to the brim, with a few stitches in the bowl to hold it better. 

I then put stitches in to hold the fabric together at the top of the hat and create more shape, and added a length of velvety ribbon around the centre, stitching it to the hat at the back.

All of this was done fairly carelessly, if I’m honest--I didn’t even use the ‘right’ side of the fabric! I wanted the hat to have a slouchy, uneven appearance. 

When it came to the feathers, first off I used a short off-cut from a cheap feather boa, which I had left over from a fancy dress costume. I stitched this on with the same level of care (hah!) as everything else, and then added the ostrich plume on top.

The plume is pretty old. Apparently it came from my grandma’s place and has some link to funerals. Cheerful, right?! It’s slightly damaged and a little faded but is far more luxurious than the modern one that I stuck in the back of the hat! 

Admittedly, the modern feather was chopped in half in attempt to make it look ‘fuller’. I hope to eventually replace this feather with a number of them as I think it will look nicer!

Sadly I haven’t had the chance to wear this hat out yet--the British weather has predictably turned very wet! 

Will be linking up to the parties listed at the bottom of the page!

DIY Ruff

Ruffs are one of those iconic pieces that have carried through the ages - seen on nobles of the mid-sixteenth century, jesters, pierrot, clowns, and even the catwalks of today.

It’s easy enough to cobble together a quick elastic-and-fabric ruff, but if you’re looking for something that ‘stands up’, it’s necessary to take a little more time over the construction. 

 

These ruffs were all made for ‘cosplay’, therefore the designs are not mine, but having made them I can appreciate how much work went into the originals! (If you’re wondering, I reproduced costumes worn by Kozi, guitarist of Japanese band Malice Mizer).

Ever since making them, I’ve had a few people ask how to put them together! The first ruff I made (black and gold, above) was constructed based loosely on some instructions I found on the internet. Unfortunately the web site with these instructions has gone to the internet graveyard, so I’ve never been able to share links with people.

As a result, I thought I’d put together this tutorial!

I haven’t made a ruff from scratch for this, so some of the photographs are from the ruffs above. I used some off-cuts and fabric scraps to create process shots, so it should all be clear.

I’m not gonna lie. This will take you a LONG time.

So to find out how to make a ruff, read on!

It’s quite lengthy, so go and make a cup of tea first :)

 

Eye Patch Tutorial #2: Scissors & Glue Version--Pirate Style!

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Another repost, from 'Eye Patch Tutorial #2: Ghetto Scissors-and-Glue version--pirate style!'
Apologies for lack of photos; hopefully diagrams will suffice!

(Looking to make a Gothic Lolita-style square eyepatch? Try this!)

Not everyone has the skill, motivation or time to screw around with a needle and thread, and there is more than one way to make an eye patch!
This is a quick, basic tutorial on how to make a more pirate-style eye patch.

You’ll need:
Fabric
Card
Stapler
Scissors
All-purpose glue
Ribbon/similar to tie your eye patch on

You might need:
Any embellishments you want
A glue gun


Note:
Remember you’ll be wearing this against your eye. If making an eye patch from fabric like velvet or fake fur, you might want to consider a cotton backing (just imagine the fibres getting in your eye--ouch!)

Eye Patch Tutorial #1: Square & Sewn

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A repost from 'Eye Patch Tutorial #1: Sewn Version'
Unfortunately I don't have any photographs of the making process; instead there are diagrams drawn for the original tutorial.

(Looking for something more piratey? Check out my pirate-style eye patch tutorial!)

Eye patches are a fun way to change your look, whether it's for a party, a photoshoot, or just for the hell of it. However, it's difficult to get hold of anything beyond the standard black plastic pirate eye patch found in fancy dress shops.
Here's an easy tutorial on how to make your own.

You’ll need:
Scrap card
Fabric
Ribbon or elastic

You might also need:
Interfacing (light-medium weight; for thinner fabrics)
Any embellishments you want to add (lace, trims, roses, etc)


Note:
Remember you’ll be wearing this against your eye. If making an eye patch from fabric like velvet or fake fur, you might want to consider a cotton backing (just imagine the fibres getting in your eye--ouch!)