Ahead of this weekend\u2019s festivities, Pitt students are working to DIY certain parts of their 2026 Halloween costumes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This Halloween, students are creating original pieces for costumes ranging from cartoon characters to recognizable memes. Many have found that repurposing pieces of clothing and crafting new ones has made their costumes more personal, allowing for stronger feelings of self-expression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Will Lowell, a senior psychology major, will be going as his Star Trek fursona for Halloween. To create this costume, Lowell utilized his love for crocheting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI crocheted a full head, paws and a tail \u2014 it\u2019s all freehand crochet, and it only took a total of about four weeks or so,\u201d Lowell said.<\/p>\n
Lowell began work on the costume in late July, in an effort to get it done before he was too busy with classes to work on it. The actual process required a lot of new techniques, according to Lowell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought a foam base of the head, and I was figuring out, in three-dimensional shape, how to crochet. I would take some notes randomly just to figure it out,\u201d Lowell said. \u201cI crocheted the fabric and then I glued it onto the foam after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowell said he feels this costume perfectly encapsulates his personality and gives him an opportunity to show off his work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love to show it off and show my creativity with it,\u201d Lowell said, \u201cHe\u2019s a green dog, which I have green hair and I also just love dogs. Just everything about him \u2014 he\u2019s handmade, crocheted, and I feel like it reflects a lot of my personality and interests with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mckenna Smith, a first-year biochemistry major, also took the opportunity to incorporate a hobby into her costume making this year, by styling a wig for her Misa Amane costume.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve styled many wigs in the past, and I used normal scissors to get the length right, then I used an eyebrow razor for the layers,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSynthetic hair holds styles by cooling rather than heating like human hair does, so to get the bangs and hairstyle to look right, I heat up the hair with my straightener then hold it into the shape I want as it cools down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith said she utilized Hillman\u2019s Text & conText Lab<\/a> to bind her own book for her costume.<\/p>\n \u201cI began by choosing paper for the book and cutting it using a paper guillotine,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAfter that, I used a tool called a scoring bone to fold the sheets and organize them into groups of four called signatures. Next, I punctured each signature five times using a large needle and sewed them together with waxed thread.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She decorated the book to resemble the Death Note that Misa carries by painting the name onto a book cover. The full costume took about a week and half to create, according to Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many students are doing multiple costumes this year, with a new costume for each day of festivities. Ally McAdams, a junior law and criminal justice major, is doing three different costumes this year \u2014 Catwoman, Toy Chica from \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s\u201d and Fawn from \u201cTinkerbell.\u201d Two of these costumes required McAdams to do some crafting.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Chica\u2019s \u2018Let\u2019s Party\u2019 bib, I got a T-shirt and I drew it all out with markers,\u201d McAdams said. \u201cThen for Catwoman, she wears a beanie with cat ears. I cut it and sewed it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n These aspects of her costume took her \u201ca couple of hours\u201d because she had to handsew, according to McAdams.<\/p>\n Laura Wolf, a first-year psychology major, had to learn how to sew in order to create her costume.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m doing the girl on the \u2018Sorry for Party Rocking\u2019 album cover, so I have to sew zebra print fabric onto fold over shorts,\u201d Wolf said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lindsey Letran, a first-year public policy and economics major, has to DIY both an antennae for a butterfly costume and ears for a Paddington costume.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have my headbands, and then can glue pipe cleaner onto them, but they don\u2019t have to look perfect because I guarantee you that it\u2019s going to be in the dark anyways,\u201d Letran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ava Wahler, a first-year on the pre-physical therapy track, has invested close to $300 in her Frankie Stein, Poison Ivy and Lava Girl costumes this year. She bought most parts, but will have to create Lava Girl\u2019s outfit herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to put orange tape on a pink top and bottoms to make it look like lava,\u201d Wahler said. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly just trying to tape the orange in a way that looks like the broken lava.\u201d<\/p>\n Karleigh Sage, a junior history and psychology major, found most aspects of her three costumes by thrifting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to be very conscious of how I\u2019m spending my money and going to thrift stores has been a big help because I\u2019m not buying costumes, it\u2019s just secondhand stuff,\u201d Sage said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite thrifting, Sage said she also has to DIY parts of her medieval princess costume, like the hennin<\/a>, a large cone-like hat.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI took a cardboard box, [bent] it at my will, and then I put paper around it and then I\u2019m gonna put fabric around that, [and] a bunch of lace and little decorations on that,\u201d Sage said.\u00a0<\/p>\n