Copycat Vintage Halloween Skirt || A DIY Tutorial

Oh my goodness, this project was SO MUCH FUN!! There has been a photo floating around Pinterest for a few years now that maybe you’ve seen. It’s a black and white vintage photo of a woman wearing a Halloween outfit with pumpkins and rick rack on a big black circle skirt. Ever since I first saw that photo, I’ve been dying to recreate that skirt.

Well, it finally came around! Feeling a big too old for costumes, but still wanting to dress up somehow, my 15-year-old, vintage-loving daughter, asked me to make her this fun vintage Halloween skirt to pass out candy in this year. So, I created an easy, DIY version of the viral Jack-o-Lantern vintage skirt and I’m about to share with you exactly how I did it. I’ll even give you a template for the pumpkin appliques!

Side note, though, I recently read a book called Death Makes a Holiday and it was a fascinating look into the history of Halloween and how it has morphed into what it is today, in America especially. One interesting part was how in the Art Deco era, it became trendy to have dress up parties for Halloween, but they didn’t wear full on costumes. They dressed up fancy, in Halloween themed clothing. Like this skirt! I think this Halloween skirt and outfits like it, are still such a great idea, to get dressed up and look festive, but not necessarily in a costume. So fun.

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How to Sew a DIY Vintage Halloween Jack-o-Lantern Skirt

Supplies You’ll Need:

• A full circle skirt pattern. I used Simplicity 5403, a poodle skirt pattern that has a waistband and a side zipper, but there are tons of circle skirt tutorials on YouTube and many with an elastic waist if you’d rather. If you want to try a pattern and are new to the process, check out my series on how to read sewing patterns.

• Black cotton fabric. I used Hobby Lobby’s 108” wide cotton, so I only needed two yards, but if you can’t find it that wide, you’ll need 4 yards of 60” fabric. If you’re tall, buy a little more.

• Orange fabric for the pumpkins. I used a costume fabric from JoAnn and I’m not sure exactly what it is. It’s polyester, shiny like satin, but with texture like taffeta. I wanted a fancy look and a burnt orange color, but orange cotton will work too, as will felt, though it will be trickier to get the fusible web to stick.

• White or cream rick-rack. I used two packages.

• Fusible Web. This can be purchased on a roll in the notions section or by the yard in the interfacing section. My fabric stores have been mostly out of this stuff for months, but you can order it. Steam-A-Seam 2 is a good product for this project.

How I did it:

First, you’ll need to make your black circle skirt according to the instructions. I used Simplicity 5403, but like I said above, you can find simple tutorials for circle skirts all over YouTube.

The next step is to apply the rick-rack to the hem of the skirt. I used my white chalk pencil to mark 2.5” from the hem all around the skirt, then sewed it on using my line as a guide.

Now for the pumpkins! You can draw your own pumpkin, of course, or you can use the one I made by right clicking and saving the printable below. Alternatively, you can grab the pdf by clicking here. If you draw your own, make it about 9” wide, and mine is 7” tall, including the stem.

I traced mine onto a cardboard cereal box and cut that out to use as my template, to make it easier to trace onto my fusible webbing. You’ll need to trace 12 pumpkins to go all the way around the skirt. Trace them onto the paper, non-bumpy side of you fusible web. If you’re using the Steam-A-Seam 2 product, trace them onto the side with the grid. Remember that your pumpkin will be reversed, so if you’re picky about with way the stem goes or if you’re using a different design and the direction matters, trace your pattern backwards.

Cut roughly around the pumpkins, but don’t cut them out precisely yet!

Next, following the directions on the fusible web, iron the pumpkins onto the orange fabric (onto the BACK side if it matters for your fabric!) Once they’re nice and stuck down, cut out your jack-o-lanterns. Small, sharp scissors help with the eyes and nose.

Before placing your pumpkins onto the skirt, you’ll need to divide it into sections. We want 12 sections. So first spread the skirt out as a half circle, then fold it in half so it looks like a quarter circle. Press the edges. Then, fold it into thirds and press those edges. When opened, this should give you 12 sections between pressed edges, which you can use as a guide. Remove the paper backing from a pumpkin, center it onto one section and iron it onto the skirt. Repeat until all your pumpkins are stuck.

The last step can seem like it would just take forever, but I kept track and it only took me three half hour sessions! You need to zig zig around the pumpkins, including the face features. This will secure them and prevent fraying and it just gives it a finished look.

My skirt turned out so, so great, and my daughter is thrilled with it! She thinks she’ll wear it for years to come, and it definitely feels like the kind of thing that will turn into a keepsake.

Natalie really wanted a petticoat of some kind to go under it for extra oomph. I had made one for my younger daughter’s Easter dress a few years ago, so I reworked it by removing the existing trim and gathering black tulle onto the bottom instead. Tulle on a spool was a great sewing invention, I’m thankful to whoever came up with that, ha! I gathered 20 yards of it onto the bottom of the petticoat and it just peeks out from the skirt. It’s the perfect finishing touch!

Cheers and Happy Halloween!

Nikki