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Costumes, Free Printables, Halloween, Holidays
👻 Easy Ghost Costume Tutorial with a Bed Sheet
When my daughter wanted a ghost Halloween costume, I jumped at the chance to DIY a classic homemade white bed sheet ghost costume.
But, I had to think about how she would see behind bed sheets that are acting like ghost ponchos without the head hole. I didn’t want to just make holes in my DIY ghost costume. You’d see the face inside.
Then, the idea came to me to use screen material. The same thing that keeps the bugs from flying into your house.
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The costume ended up being a great hit. It may be a Halloween costume but it usually makes an appearance well before Halloween night. We’re talking late September. And it isn’t entirely put away until Thanksgiving.
It seems like there are endless costume ideas for kids to choose from. And, if you are planning on going to a Halloween store, you can even purchase inflatable costumes. But for us DIYers, it’s all about scoring supplies at thrift stores and finding creative costume ideas just about anywhere we look.
If you are searching for a spooky costume that doesn’t take a lot of time or lots of materials to make, this is the perfect DIY Halloween costume.
Forget the mess of white face paint or the challenge of making a ghost tutu dress combo.
However, this ghost outfit takes the first-place awards for an easy DIY costume. Martha Stewart would be proud.
Here’s how I made my traditional ghost costume:
Ghost Costume Materials & Tutorial
You will need:
-
- An old white bedsheet or several white sheets in case you make a mistake (mine was a full size fitted sheet. I cut the edges off leaving raw edges)
- Some screen material (mine came from an old screen but any hardware store will have it)
- The ghost eyes and mouth downloadable template at the bottom of this post
- Black thread
- Scissors
- Sewing machine, sewing needle or glue (fabric or hot glue and hot glue gun)
What size sheet do I need to be a sheet ghost?
The size of the white bed sheet needed will depend on the size of your kids. A queen or king size sheet will work best for taller kids or adults. That means this costume even works in the category of women’s costumes.
My sheet for a full-size sheet, which fit my 7-year-old quite well.
Make sure you’re happy with how far the bed sheet hangs before you start cutting. Of course, you can just get white fabric from a fabric store if you don’t have white sheets you can cut for this scary ghost costume.
Flat sheets are best, but if you only have a fitted sheet just trim the elastic out of the corners to make it flat.
How do you cut a sheet for a ghost costume?
How do you cut eye holes and mouth in a sheet for a ghost costume?
Cut the eyes and mouth template and pin them onto the screen material. You will need 4 of the eyes and 2 of the mouth otherwise people will be able to see the little face behind the mask. I just folded the screen material in 4ths so I would only have to cut once.
Choose where the face should be. Usually somewhere in the middle of the sheet.
You can try placing the sheet over your child’s head and noting where the eyes and mouth should be with a black marker to ensure good placement. Position two pieces of screen material on top of each other for each of the eyes and the mouth.
Here the eye holes are 1 inch apart, but you may want to measure your little goblin’s face before you start sewing.
Related post: Halloween Bat Costume & Butterfly Costume DIY
You might think that the next step would be to cut out the holes. But if you do that the sheet will deform as you sew the screen and you’ll end up with a wrinkly ghost. We can’t have that now! So, sew the eyes and the mouth on the sheet FIRST.
A satin stitch works great. I did it with a tight zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine but this step can also be done by hand.
To make this an easy no-sew project, you could use fabric glue or hot glue around the edges of the circles. I would still recommend spending the time and sewing it.
Then turn the sheet around to the back and cut out the sheet material to create an opening for each eye and mouth.
Here you have it. An ooky, spooky ghost costume that your kids will want to wear to the breakfast table.
Put it on and have a great time with this ghostly look!
If the weather is chillier on Halloween night, just put on a white long-sleeved shirt and other warmer articles of clothing under the white fabric.
We didn’t have a problem with the sheet shifting on my girl’s heads, but if you’re afraid the sheet might fall off when your kids run, just use safety pins (or sew) to secure a white knit cap to the inside of the sheet at the top.
If you are looking to create complementary costumes for other kids or the whole family, here are some great ideas:
- A pac-man costume
- Pac-man ghost
- Ghostbuster costumes
- The Ghost of Christmas Past from A Christmas Carol
- Boy and girl ghosts. For a girl ghost, just add a hair bow to the top.
- A friendly ghost costume. Just cut the mouth into a smile rather than a circle.
- The Peanuts’ ghost costumes from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
- A reversed ghost with black fabric and white holes
Go check out the adorable Free Halloween Treat Bags Printables this little ghost is holding:
Please note that this idea is not suitable for a baby costume.
If you liked this Halloween costume, check out my other creations, like the jellyfish costume, bat costume, butterfly costume, and my list of last-minute Halloween costume ideas.
Don’t forget to pin it:
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How do you eat while wearing this costume?
Since there are no arms to the costume, it’s super easy to sneak in candy underneath the sheet.
How did you get the head to stay in place and not move all over when the kids run?
You can put a knit cap on your kids and safety pin it (or sew it) to the sheet. That way it won’t fall.
Brilliant!!! My 5 year old is going to love this. 🙂