Make Your Own Harry Potter Halloween Costume

Halloween is coming up and it’s time to make those costumes again for your kids. The most popular costume nowadays happens to be a Harry Potter Halloween costume or some other character concerning the books/films. However, there are times when kids show up with the same costume and it gets to be a little too competitive. The choice would then be to go as another character, like a member of the Slytherin House. If your kid wants to go as a Slytherin this year, then read on.

The Slytherin Robe

First off, you have to know that members of the house of Slytherin have a different robe compared to the more popular (and more visual) Gryffindor House. Their robes are basically like that of other Houses in Hogwarts School except that their seams are dark green. To start with this, get a long a black robe that fits your child. If he’s younger, sew up your old black shirts and make it look like a robe. All Harry Potter Halloween costumes basically have long dark robes so it won’t really be much of a problem. To add effect, make a patch with a snake drawing or just draw a bright green serpent on a black cardboard and sew/glue it onto the robe’s upper right side.

The Basic Shirt

All members of the Slytherin House pretty much wears the same Rugby shirt that all other Houses have. Get a plain rugby shirt that’s colored grey with no other designs on it. If you happen to not have a rugby shirt, then just get a plain grey shirt or a sweatshirt without any zippers or openings on the front. Have your kid wear a collared shirt with a tie underneath the Rugby shirt, too.

The Basic Pants

Like all other Houses, Slytherin members wear basic black long pants. Almost all Harry Potter Halloween costumes have basic black pants so it won’t be a problem if your kid goes as Malfoy or even Snapes. Khaki is the preferred pants instead of Jeans. If you want it to look better, go with slacks so that your child won’t find the costume too hot. Obviously, you’d have to make sure that your child fits perfectly into the pants. That means it must not be too loose or too fit either so that he’d look more comfortable with his get-up and look more convincing.

Miscellaneous Items

You’re also going to need basic black shoes as well as a wand to complement the overall look. The wand can be made out of a new pencil so long as you paint it black and put some glitters on it if you want to add more effect. You could also try to get a cape instead of a robe if your kid wants to go as Severus Snapes or Malfoy’s Father.

A Harry Potter Halloween costume is easy and quite fun to make. To be more precise with your child’s look, make sure to browse the internet for some pictures of which specific character he’d like to go as. Just make it as early as possible because Halloween is already around the corner.

How to Make a Harry Potter Robe

The most important part of a Harry Potter costume happens to be the Harry Potter robe simply because it’s the most visual. So if you’re planning on making a Harry Potter robe such as the one used by members of the House of Gryffindor, then this article can help you out on how to make one yourself.

First off, you’re going to need a black fabric that’s 2 inches longer than your size and at least 2 inches wider too (with your arms stretched). You’ll also need a red fabric (for Gryffindor) to complete the costume as a lined robe. This has to have the same measurement as the black fabric. Then you’ll need a sewing machine (or a sewing kit if you don’t have the machine), scissors, chalk, an iron, and an ironing board.

Fold the black fabric in two to get you started. Then you need to measure your form against the fabric by lying down on it. Use your chalk to draw a wide outline of your body to get a glimpse of the shape of your Harry Potter robe. If you can’t do it alone, get someone to trace the outline for you. Just make sure to stretch out. If you want wider sleeves, draw bigger outlines there. If you want the robe to reach ankle length, draw up to there (or you could draw shorter if you want it to not reach your ankles). Just make sure to make the tracing at least 5 inches or less from your actual body measurement.

The next step will be to cut out the fabric using the scissors. Cut through the traced marking of the chalk. Make sure that the fabric does not bunch or shift while you cut. Also, don’t cut on the top of the fabric where it’s folded. After that, cut out the red fabric to make an identical shape to the black fabric by putting the red one on top of the black one.

The third step to making a Harry Potter robe is to fold the black fabric again; but do this so that it’ll be turned inside out. Sew it by hand or with your sewing machine along the sides of the robe and the bottoms of its sleeves. Make a seam allowance of 1/4 inches and make sure to zigzag the stitch process on the raw edges in order to prevent fraying. After that, trace another centered lining and cut across it with scissors to make the opening. Do not cut both of the layers, just the one which you plan to create the opening on. Do this process with the red fabric also.

The last step would be to iron the raw edges of the openings of the robe; that means the bottom hems, the front openings, and also the cuffs. Fold about 1/2 inches. When you’re done ironing, stitch the red robe onto the black robe from the inside out. After that, you’re done.

A Harry Potter robe is actually quite easy to make. As a final note, make sure to line both fabrics up by pinning them in place when you’re stitching. Stitch evenly and surely along the cuffs, bottom hems, and the front openings, so as to make the robe look authentic as well as amazing.

How to Make A Harry Potter Scarf

A scarf is easy enough to make as long as you have the endurance to do so. This is especially true when you’re making a Harry Potter scarf. You have to style it according to the movies if you really do want to present an authentic appearance on Halloween night (or some other costume party). So if you want to know how to make this sort of scarf, read on.

What You’ll Need

First of all, you’re going to need two house colored yarns. Any plain old yarn will do as long as it doesn’t easily break apart. Second, you’re going to need some duct tape, at least 6 or 8 straws, and then scissors. After that, you need to set aside some time in order to make the scarf as well as the endurance to tolerate how wearisome this task can get especially if you’re not particularly partial to making clothes or knitting. Although technically this doesn’t really require any knitting skills of any sort, you’ll still need to endure it much like knitters do.

Procedure

So now it’s time to make the Harry Potter scarf. Follow this basic procedure listed below.

1. Make sure your 8 straws (or six) are cut the same length. If they have those bending parts, cut them off with your scissors so it’ll be easier for you.

2. Wrap a piece of yarn around your waist in order to measure the scarf (or about how long you prefer the scarf to be). When you’ve done this, add four more inches to it and cut there. Do this with eight more pieces of yarn. You can save time by lining up eight pieces and cutting them according to the length of the first piece of yarn. Of course, you can add more pieces depending on how thick you want your scarf to be.

3. Now, take all the 8 pieces of yarn and string it right through the straws. When you’ve done stringing them through, apply some duct tape to the ends of the string to act as a stopper.

4. It’s now time to start weaving your Harry Potter scarf. It helps if you have a basic knowledge of weaving. But if you don’t, just remember this: Under Over, Under Over, and then Back. To be precise, weave one piece of uncut yarn under one straw, then over the next one, then under, then over, until you reach the end straw. Tie the uncut yarn to this last straw.

5. When you’ve reached about five inches of the uncut yarn and it’s starting to look more like a scarf, cut it off. Take out another piece of yarn with a different color and do the same as in step number 4 until you reach 5 inches thickness. Keep repeating and alternating yarns until you’ve had around 5 overlapping colors. After that, you’re done.

So that’s how to basically make your very own Harry Potter scarf. As a conclusion, try to match which particular House you’re going for. The House of Gryffindor basically has 2 colors; maroon and gold, while Slytherin has green and light grey (more green, though). As long as you know which color goes with which house, you’re going to have fun making scarves.