DIY Beetlejuice Costumes- Lydia Deetz Costume

Lydia Deetz Costume

OK you guys. I don’t try to hide how much I LOVE Halloween. I always have. And each year I try to go all out and make original costumes that can’t be bought online. I even wrote about the history and evolution of all my DIY couples costumes a couple weeks ago.

But this year, I took on one of the biggest and most iconic Halloween projects I had ever set out to do: The Lydia Deetz red wedding dress from Beetlejuice.

That’s right. Ever since I could remember, Beetlejuice has been one of my favorite movies. I must have been one crazy kid – because the move came out when I was 3. But I knew even way back when I was a tiny girl, the Beetlejuice weirdness was something I was intrigued by.

Maybe because it embodied all that was fun about Halloween, maybe because of the crazy characters, or maybe just because of the amazing costumes. Whatever the reason, for Halloween 2015 I was determined to make the perfect Lydia Deetz costume.

However, this didn’t come easy. Back in August, I had decided what Travis and my Halloween costumes were going to be. I bought all the fabric, spent hours sewing, and made the most authentic costumes I could (tutorial to be revealed later). And mind you, they had NOTHING to do with Beetlejuice.

Yet, my mind is always racing. And about 2 weeks before Halloween, I was reminded of the Beetlejuice/Lydia pairing I had always wanted to try to create. So I called up Travis and asked if he minded if I changed our costumes. He responded by saying that he didn’t care what we went as, as long as I took care of everything. DEAL! He was in, and right then, our costumes took a 180.

But… now I only had 2 weeks to create the perfect Beetlejuice costumes. Where would I start?

I first set out online to see what was available. Of course, I instantly found the pre-packaged Beetlejuice and Lydia costumes online:

lydia red dress  Beetlejuice Costume Available Here and Wig Here
Lydia Costume Available Here and Wig Here

The Beetlejuice costume was ok… but the Lydia costume looked like a poor man’s version of Lydia’s wedding dress. So I continued to search.

I found a maroon suit that would be PERFECT for Beetlejuice in the wedding scene- but it was $70. Plus the ruffled shirt, bow tie, and cummerbund. I was going to end up spending over $150 on this costume alone… but it is the PERFECT Beetlejuice wedding ensemble…

 ++

Maroon Suit
Ruffled Shirt
Cummerbund and Tie Set

Ultimately, since I had already spent so much money on our original costumes, I decided just to go with the traditional striped $35 Beetlejuice costume. Easy enough…

Now, for Lydia, the costume pictured above is the ONLY costume available online, and it’s on HalloweenCostumes.com. I was NOT happy with the quality, so I decided to take on this project myself and make it a DIY.

So below, I give you the steps I took to make this entire costume BY SCRATCH! I must warn you, this is the largest project I have ever taken on without knowing it. The dress took me approximately 36 hours to complete and over 50 yards of tulle. It’s a huge undertaking, and probably cost a good $100 all in (not including the yards of fabric I scrapped when I initially tried to make it and failed).

But luckily for you, you won’t have to waste fabric with trial and error to get a perfect costume. And I’ve perfected it so that all in (wig, accessories and all) it should cost less than $70! Same price as the pre-made one – but MUCh more authentic!

Just follow the steps below very closely and you’ll have your own exact replica Lydia Deetz costume…

Steps to Create Your Own Lydia Deetz Costume

The Necessary Supplies:

Step 1 (THE SKIRT):
(Skip this step if you’re working with a pre-made hoop skirt)

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • First, take one end of your fabric (this will be the bottom of your dress) and hot glue it around your hula hoop
  • Then, take your tape measure and measure from the floor (or ankle area) up to where you want your skirt to sit on your waist. This is how long your skirt should be.
  • Finally, take your measuring tape and measure that same distance from the hula hoop up the fabric. Cut your fabric at the length of your measurement.

Step 2:
(Skip this step if you are working with a pre-made hoop skirt)

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Measure your waist (where you want the skirt to sit). My waist was 27.5″. So I added a little extra to make it 28″. Divide your number in half (I got 14) and that will be size of your skirt on the front, and on the back.
  • Hang your skirt up inside out- with the hanger in exactly the middle of the fabric. Measure half of your length (14″ was my measurement) and mark on each side.
  • Then, take some dress pins and pin the extra fabric in an A line from the waist of your skirt down to the hula hoop (this will be the shape of your skirt).
  • Finally, put your fabric under your sewing machine to sew seams along where you have your sewing pins placed (to make your A-line skirt). And once sewn, cut off the excess fabric.
    • Leave a little un-sewn at the top 8″ of one of the seams so you can sew in your zipper).

Step 3:
(Skip this step if working with a pre-made hoop skirt)

Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume        Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Now, take a piece of your dotted lace tulle and cut a strip 4″ thick. Make the length of that strip the same length as your waist measurement (28″ for me to have a little extra from my 27.5″ measurement).
  • With your skirt still INSIDE OUT, fold your lace tulle strip in half, and begin sewing it to the top of your skirt (which should now measure 28″ or whatever your waist measurement is).
    • Start on the un-sewn seam (the 8″ part you left un-sewn) and sew all the way around the top of the skirt until you get to the end (do NOT sew seam together yet).
  • Then, fold your skirt RIGHT SIDE OUT.
  • Take your zipper and line it up with the top edge of one side of the lace tulle. Tuck the waist band/skirt fabric underneath itself (see picture 4 & 5 above) and begin sewing the zipper to one side of the skirt.
  • Once that side is sewn, repeat the same process of tucking and sewing to the other side of the skirt/zipper (picture 6).
  • Now, you should have your hoop skirt silhouette and be ready for the tulle embellishments!

Step 4 (THE SKIRT TULLE):

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume (1) Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Measure the top of your skirt (should be the same as your waist measurement) and cut a piece of your crochet headband trim to that size. This will be your first layer of tulle.
  • Then, take your dotted lace tulle and cut strips out of it.
    • The best way to do this is to fold the tulle in half width wise, and cut along the fond. Then fold those pieces you cut in half (again, width wise) and cut again – giving you 4 equally long pieces. Out of these pieces, cut them into 4-5″ strips (see picture 2 & 3 above).
  • Once you have your strips, fold each one in half. Bring it through one of the holes in the crochet trim. Loop the top of the tulle around the bottom, and then pull the bottom of the tulle through the top (exactly like a tutu).
  • Continue along the entire length of the headband trim making you “tutu” with the tulle until you get to the end of the trim.

Step 5:

Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Once your first band of tulle material is ready, position the top (with the tulle “tutu” knots) along the bottom edge of your waist band on the skirt.
  • Then, take a needle and thread, and sew along that edge into each knot and attaching it to the top of the skirt/bottom of the waist band.
    • These stitches don’t have to be good or fancy. Just make sure they go through each knotted piece of tulle and into the skit to attach them well. I did about 2 stitches for each knot, then moved onto the next).
  • Once your pice is completely attached, you may find that the band has stretched and you now have more “tutu” than the original length you cut. That’s ok. Just cut it off and use it to start the next layer!
    • Quick note – I used the dotted tulle on the top of each layer, and then attached (in the same manner) regular red tulle to the bottom of each piece of trim once it was attached (you do not need to sew the bottom of the trim onto the skirt – only the top). See picture 6.
    • If you don’t use 2 layers of tulle for each piece of trim, your skirt will not look as full and may have tulle gaps in it.

Step 6:

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Once your initial tulle piece is attached, hang your skirt back up again.
  • Take your ruler or measuring tape and measure 4-5″ below the bottom of your first trim and make a mark.
    • Make these marks all the way around the skirt in the same spot so you get a straight line around the skirt.
  • Continue measuring in these increments until you reach the bottom 6″ of the skirt. These are how many layers of tulle/trim you will be sewing on!
  • Then, repeat steps 4 & 5 (making a trim/tulle layer) for each layer you’ve marked. Once you’ve sen them all on, your skirt should practically stand up by itself…

Lydia Deetz Costume

Step 7 (THE TOP):

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Now, measure the neck of your t-shirt.
  • Do the exact same thing you did with the first layer of tulle (making a “tutu” with the dotted tulle on the top of the trim) and then sewing it to the neck of the shirt.
    • You DO NOT need to add a bottom layer of tulle to the bottom of the tim for the shirt. The top layer of dotted tulle is enough for the full look of Lydia’s top.

You’re Almost There!!! Once you’ve finished this you have completely finished Lydia’s dress!! Now you just have the accessories left!! CONGRATS! 🙂

Step 8 (THE VEIL):

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume

  • I grabbed about 4 yards of tulle and bunched it together in my hand.
  • Then, I folded it over itself at the top edge, and took my needle and thread and began to sew it down to the comb (over the top edge and through the struts of the comb back through the tulle (see picture 4).
  • Finally, once sewn to the comb, cut the tulle at the bottom any place it’s still folded to make each layer separate from the other layers. Now, you have a perfect veil!

Step 9 (THE CHOKER):

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume IMG_1831   Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Just as you did above in Step 3 for your waist band, cut a 4″ piece of dotted tulle that fits (lengthwise) perfectly around your neck. Fold it in half, and run it through your sewing machine to sew 2 out of the 3 open ends shut.
  • Then, pull it right side out, and close the 3rd end (by hand) while attaching 3 hook closures.
  • Finally, go to the other side of the strip (it should already be sewn shut from your sewing machine) and attach 3 eye closures to match up with the hook closures.
    • You can also just attach velcro if you don’t want to bother with hook and eye closures!

Step 10 ( the Bouquet):

Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume Lydia Deetz Costume

  • Now, put your flowers together by attaching a ribbon around the bouquet with hot glue.
  • Once the ribbon has secured the flowers together, take any leftover pieces of tulle you have and wrap a large hanging bow off the front of the bouquet.

Lastly, and this isn’t really a step more than a tip. But I DO recommend trying on your wig priori to wearing it, and cutting the bangs EXTREMELY short, gelling them so they separate, and then teasing up the back of the hair with hairspray. Lydia had VERY distinctive hair you wouldn’t want to mess up.

Lydia Deetz Costume

And now… FINALLY… YOU ARE FINISHED!!!

Lydia Deetz Costume   Lydia Deetz Costume lydia deetz costume

Crazy close to the real thing, right? This Lydia Deetz costume was SUCH a fun one for me to wear. And my friend pointed out at the end of the night (when my veil and wig finally fell off) that this costume also doubled as the perfect dancing emoji! You know, the girl in the red dress… ole!

And I feel the urge to mention… you can’t really see my shoes in the pictures, but they’re the cutest things EVER! I have to admit, I initially bought them to wear for weddings, parties, etc- but found they went perfectly with this costume. A year round benefit!!

But if you’re feeling like you don’t want to spend 36 hours on one costume, don’t fret. I’m selling this costume in my Etsy shop. If it’s no longer available, just message me and I’d be happy to make you a custom listing. Or you can buy it retail here.

But hopefully you’ve been inspired!! Either to make it from scratch, or save a ton of time by buying a pre made hoop skirt and just embellishing it with the tulle material (that’s the easiest option if you want to save time and $$). Either way, a Lydia Deetz costume awaits! Here’s a recap of all the things you’ll need to DIY.

LYDIA DEETZ COSTUME

BEETLEJUICE COSTUMES

HAPPY CRAFTING!

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