DIY Feathered Costume Creation - Black Magic Voodoo Queen


My bestie and I had been planning a Halloween trip to New Orleans since last year. 

Talking about it for ages but finally booked lodging and started planning details around Christmas last year. 

One of the events we planned to attend was the Endless Night Vampire Ball. This year's theme was Black Magic. And it was in New Orleans. SO you combine black magic and New Orleans you definitely get voodoo. So she wanted that woven into her costume.


In March she started showing me ideas for her costume.  Chest pieces, epaulets, feathers....I said, "Hey, I can do something like that." In theory I could but after getting started I wasn't so sure. LOL

I started with the skulls. I purchased 4 inch foam skulls and cut them in half so I had just the face portion to lay flat on the costume pieces.


Then I started painting them. Her color schedule was red, black and silver.


Using acrylic paint I painted some sections red, some black. I let them dry then used silver rub and buff over the top.


Next up came the pieces to attach the skulls to.


She purchased the pre-made feathered epaulets and a chest harness with straps and feathers. I added red feathers, the skulls, and beads around the skulls to the epaulets. I also added better clips to easily attach them to the straps of her harness. 


I purchased the lace chest piece and added snaps to attach it to the strappy harness.
Then put some cute skull cabochon beads over the snaps to hide them.


I glued the skulls onto the shoulder and chest pieces with liquid stitch, then I cut corsage pins to make them shorter so they wouldn't poke through the skulls and poked them in from underneath while the glue was still wet to give the skulls added strength. I didn't want the glue to fail and them fall off. The end result had the skulls cemented in place. They weren't going anywhere.




She also purchased these pre-made feathered wrist bands. They were solid black so I added red feathers. She ended up making ankle ones to match.


I decided the skulls needed a little more pizazz and used corsage pins to make them stand out. I carefully stuck the jeweled corsage pins all around the skulls to border them while not leaving any sharp points sticking out.


I convinced Ilona she needed a headpiece so I made that from scratch. I started with a headband and paper plate then glued on the feathers first, on both front and back. Then I added the skull, hands, and beads. I used black cord to hide where the feathers attached to the headband.






She also purchased these bone garlands. Just a simple Halloween decoration. I spray painted them red and black then used the silver rub n buff on them. She wore it as a belt. She purchased 2 feathered skirts and I stitched them together to make one. Extra feathers were used for the headdress.


Tada, the finished ensemble. I had a black veil she added behind the headdress, which matched perfectly with the tulle skirt she wore under the feathers.

She topped everything off with two silver chain necklaces she found at Kohls, which draped perfectly over her chest for some extra bling.

I think this is one of my best creations. The head dress turned out amazing. I think hats and head pieces are my specialty. :-)




Here we are together at the Endless Night Vampire Ball in the House of Blues Voodoo Garden.


I also made several pieces on my costume including the skirt (post coming soon), the skull brooch and the mini top hat. You can see the Top Hat Tutorial here.

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