Halloween Extravaganza
Another week closer to Halloween, it’s so close now you can almost taste it!!!
For this blog, I wanted to create an all-out Halloween Extravaganza of an outfit made up of stuff I have been collecting for months and since this year I have nowhere to wear it…………. HERE IT IS!
Months ago now, I purchased this Moschino ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ shirt from FarFetch and have been gagging to wear it. Obviously, this year hasn’t been anything like we’d expected, so this was the first opportunity I have had to wear it. It is from the Moschino Spring 2020 Halloween inspired collection so I decided to go all out on a Trick or Treater style outfit. Fun and obvious accessories really helped the overall theming.
I decided to create these jeans from two pairs of the same style, in different shades. I cut and sewed the two together to create a bit of a Frankenstein/Scarecrow look. They were incredibly easy to do. To start with I measured along the seam where I wanted the new cut seam to go on the base pair of jeans. I then went to the other pair and measured the same length and added 1cm for the seam allowance. I then stitched them together, right sides facing then pressed the seam open to make the seam look a little neater. For the stitch detailing I used an embroidery thread and embroidery needle and just started really randomly making it look like the stitching was holding the seam together. The more random and “homemade” (I HATE the term homemade haha) it looks, the better it fits with the theme. I added a pocket cut from another pair of darker jeans and I added this over the pocket of the original jeans and added the embroidery thread over the top. I used a grey embroidery thread just to add another colour to the jeans. I cut a patch out from the same pair of jeans I removed the pocket from and added a Frankenstein style scar to the patch then attached that to the jeans using the black embroidery thread.
The Black washed denim jacket is something I have wanted for a long time now. I picked up this jacket from Primark for only £15. The first change I wanted to make to it was the length. It was a little too long for me, but not long enough to look like a longer style. I measured 20cm from the bottom of the jacket all the way around and then joined the marks with a pair of fabric scissors and removed the bottom part. For the print on the back, I wanted it to be a large pair of monster-like eyes. I drew the design on a sheet of A3 paper and when I had finished I placed the paper on a cutting mat and put an A3 sheet of acetate over the design. Using a sharp scalpel I slowly cut off the parts that I wanted to be in green. I then did the same, using an A4 sheet of acetate with the white and red parts of the design. Like I said in the previous blog, you were going to see lots more screen printing, and here is another piece!!!! To create this piece I did it in 3 stages; the green, white and then red ink. Because the fabric I was printing on was black I did some research and found that if you use a colour discharge paste (sounds disgusting doesn’t it?) I mixed a 1:1 ratio of the discharge paste and ink and it really did make a difference to the quality of the colour of the ink.
I carried out each step of the screen printing over 3 days. Once the ink had been screen printed onto the fabric I then used a hairdryer and applied heat to the ink as a catalyst for the discharge paste to remove the colour from the denim. I did this for around 5 minutes evenly to the whole design. I then placed the jacket in a warm cupboard overnight to make sure that it was dry for the application of the next colour. It was easier than I thought to place the next stencil for the next colour, I just referred to the original drawing and lined the stencil up. Once all three colours had then been printed and allowed to dry out, I ironed the design with a sheet of greaseproof paper between the fabric and the iron. I used a very hot iron and evenly applied the heat, then I used a steamer and steamed over the print to cure the ink and make it washable.
For the hat I used a leather cap I already had, I think I got it from eBay many years ago. I then bought a standard devil horn hairband that lit up. I removed the horns from the hairband and luckily they had 2 holes on the underside of the horns which I used to sew the horns from the seam of the leather cap. To sew the horns on I used a mattress needle and it was pretty easy to do. The horns straighten up when the cap is being worn, which I was EXTREMELY pleased about.
For the accessories I used in this shoot, I wanted the look to be quite random and eclectic………… almost like a child going out trick or treating and throwing on everything they had. I used a Moschino mini leather chained bag in green. To me, green is a perfect colour for Halloween. I obviously HAD to use one of my Moschino Monster bags from the Spring/Summer 2020 collection, so I went for the monster fanny pack. I don’t get to use this bag very often so any excuse to whip it out I’m all over! For years I have had a gold chain with green plastic Vampire teeth. This used to be a favorite necklace of mine, but like the Monster fanny pack, I always forget to wear it so It had to feature in the shoot. I also found 2 pairs of themed 3D cinema glasses in a local charity shop. One was themed to a mummy and the other to a werewolf. These added a fun layer to the shoot, I just wish they were a little larger (as they are kids).
Leather cap - eBay
Denim Jacket - Primark
Shirt - Moschino (FarFetch)
Necklace - H&M
Belt - Urban Outfitters
Jeans - New Look
Fanny pack - Moschino (FarFetch)
Green mini bag - Moschino (Vestiare Collective)
Bracelet - OS Accessories
Socks - H&M
Trainers - Primark