5 ways to spookify your wardrobe for Halloween!

I love this time of year. When there’s a chill in the air, mist in the mornings and a general feeling that autumn is on it’s way. Once of the best things about autumn (other than it means Christmas is not too far off!) is Halloween!

Although celebrations this year might be a little different to previous years thanks to Covid-19 we should still be able to dress up and have some fun. Today I am going to share 5 ways that you can add spookiness to basic clothes to make quick and easy costumes!

Embroidery Patches

Embroidery patches are a quick and easy way to personalise basic clothing to turn them into something special. There are many types which make it easy to find the one most suited for your costume including velcro, iron-on, self-adhesive, sew on plastic backing and magnetic.

There are plenty of online embroidery patch websites such as Patchion where you can get custom embroidered patches to add a little extra to any outfit. You can even get a pumpkin Halloween 2020 patch which reflects the current pandemic from Patchion LTD.

Halloween Pumpkin 2020. Embroidary patch with a face mask from Patchion LTD

Fabric Paint

If you are feeling artistic why not give fabric paint a go? This works great to add personalised designs to jeans, jackets, or shirts. Use a paintbrush or foam brush to paint the fabric paint onto the clothing, either using a stencil as a pattern or go it free-hand.

These days you can even get fabric paint pens which make it super easy to add cobweb detail to cuffs and necklines or drops of blood for an extra Halloween touch!

Iron on Transfers

One of my favourite ways to personalise clothing is to use iron-on vinyl. You can buy iron-on transfers at a craft store or online that are already designed and ready to be ironed on to your clothing. Follow the instructions on the transfer to determine how long to iron the design, as well as how to wash and treat the clothing.

You can also create your own transfer by printing out a unique design onto transfer paper using your home printer. I am lucky enough to have a Cricut machine which can cut all sorts of spooky designs out of iron-on vinyl which I can then attach to clothes!

Add Lace

You might not think that lace is particularly Halloweeny but – how awesome would ripped jeans look with a lace patch which looks like spiders web? You can match the colour of a thick lace to a tank top, sewing the lace on to create dramatic sleeves.

Or try adding a white lace trim to the bottom of a pair of shorts also creates a customised cobweb look? You could even cut out a spooky shape in your fabric to create lace inserts; sew lace into the shirt where the cut-out is. Use a colour similar to your garment for a subtle look or style it out with vibrant contrasting threads to really make an impact!

Bleach Painting

Create personalised designs on dark clothing by using a bleach pen to draw patterns or words onto your clothes. After shaking up a bleach pen, use the pen to write wording on shirts, draw symbols on jeans, or decorate any other piece of clothing that isn’t a white or light colour.

How long you let the bleach sit on the clothing will depend on the color of the shirt and how bright you want your design. If you’re not too artistic why not just splatter bleach on dark clothing and create a more sporadic, paint-splattered look?

Bonus: Cut it up!

One of the coolest ways to customise clothing is to cut them up and this works great for Halloween! Cut shapes out of your t-shirts and jeans then patch them up with safety pins or use fine metal chains to draw the edges of gaps or connect chopped off sleeves to t-shirts for a Gothic Halloween style.

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