How to Make a Sally Costume from the Nightmare Before Christmas

Making a Sally costume for Halloween requires a little thrift shopping, some hand stitching and creative use of Halloween makeup. With a little effort though, anyone can put together an eye-catching Sally costume this Halloween.

To make the costume, a simple black dress and black boots can be purchased from a local thrift store. Halloween-themed scrap fabric, black thread, multi-colored yarn, red yarn and stitching needles in a variety of sizes should also be purchased from a fabric store. Finally Halloween makeup, one pair of black pantyhose and one pair of nude pantyhose can be purchased from a local convenience store.

Sally is a patchwork doll and, as such, her dress is made from different scraps of fabric. The Halloween scrap fabric can be sewn onto the black dress to make the dress look like it is made from patches of fabric. Before sewing, the fabric can be laid out on top of the dress to see where it would best be placed. When sewing, make sure to fold the edges of the fabric under so that no frayed edges are apparent. The fabric can be haphazardly stitched with the thread to emphasize the patchwork quality of the dress.

Next, Sally's red wig can be made out of pantyhose and yarn. To make the wig, use thread to stitch the legs of the nude pantyhose shut. Once they are stitched shut, cut the legs off to be left with a cap that can be worn on the head. This is the base of the wig.

To add yarn hair to the wig, use a needle and red yarn. Make one stitch, leaving close to two feet of yarn on either side of the stitch. This should result in two long pieces of yarn extending from the wig base. Cut the yarn and tie the two pieces of yarn together to secure the stitch. Repeat this process until the entire wig is covered in yarn. This process does take some time so some people may want to look for a store-bought red wig, which will work as well.

Once the wig is completed, unravel some of the yarn, to create a curly look. Put the wig on and cut and style it to personal preference. Cut bangs if preferred. Once the wig is styled, set it aside until it is time to get dressed.

Now makeup can be applied to accentuate the Sally look. To make a Sally face, cover the face in white cake makeup. Using black eye-liner, draw lines that extend from the corners of the mouth up to the apples of the cheek. Draw intersecting lines on the smile lines to give them the look of stitches. Use the eye liner to create drawn-on lashes that look like stitches extending from the eye. Finish off the look with red lipstick.

When assembling this costume, start with the pantyhose. Put on the black pantyhose or tights. Then use scissors to cut notches in the tights. Using multicolored yarn to loosely stitch these cuts. Pull boots on over the tights. Then put the dress on, finish makeup on the face and apply some stitch marks on the arms using eye liner. Finally, place the wig on and use scissors to do any final styling.

This outfit will surely get attention. Since it is made from scratch, it has an original look that all will notice. Though it takes a little time to create, it is well-worth the finished look.