"Night Of The Living Stolls Costume"

Costume Instructions

Costume Materials
Various old and used clothing items obtained from our closets, garage sales and thrift stores such as suit coats, shirts, pants, ties, dresses and hats.

Costume Instructions
The clothing was distressed using a variety of quick and easy methods to created that "been buried a while" zombie look. Here are the steps to create the aged/rotting look.

1. Using scissors or razor blade create cuts in the fabric at strategic points such as the cuffs, sleeves and under the arms.

2. The scissors or razor bladeS create a nice clean cut which needs to be distressed for that nice rotting look. Use sand paper or an electric sander to break down the cloth fibers along the edge of the cuts. Sanding creates a very tattered and distressed look.

3. To create the look of dirty or aged clothing we used black and white paint.

Note that you could actually age/dirty the clothing by placing them in mud or leaving outdoor, but because the clothing was going to be worn we opted for a painting technique.

Using small amounts of black and white acrylic paint, the fabric was drybrushed to create the look of aging.

Use black paint on light fabric and white paint on darker fabrics. Dip a large paint brush in the appropriate color, then brush most of the paint off onto a piece of newspaper. Lightly brush the fabric so that only a hint of color is applied. Apply the colors along seams, under the arms and edges of the fabric.

The idea is to mimic and exaggerate natural wear and tear.

Finally we accessorized our costumes with hats, ties, scarves and gloves that were distressed in the same fashion. Dark makeup was then applied under our eyes.

This was a fun and creative project. The costumes were worn to a local Halloween festival in our town.

Fun, fast, easy and cheap!