DIY Thrift Store Pretty Woman Halloween Costume

DIY Pretty Woman Costume From Thrift Store Finds

This DIY Pretty Woman Halloween costume is from one of my favorite movies of all time.  We found a lot of our supplies at our local thrift store and put the Pretty Woman costume together in an afternoon.

You could always do a couples costume and have your plus one grab a gray suit from the thrift store and go as Edward.   There are a few things that I would change about the costume if I was to make it again, I’ll share those along the way so you won’t run into the same issues I did.

You’ll need to look for a few different things, again we always start our search at the thrift store.  We happened to head to the Salvation Army on their discount day so everything was an additional 30% off, you can’t beat that kids!

Supplies You’ll Need To Make This Pretty Woman Costume

• White tank top – look for a thicker tank top.  The one I had was a thinner material and had too much stretch in it so the dress didn’t stay in place as much as i would have liked.
• Stretchy blue skirt – extra points if it’s tie dyed pattern or watercolor pattern.  You can also grab some fabric from the fabric store.  They usually have sales around Halloween and online coupons.
• Two rings – These are to be used to attach the top and bottom of the dress together on the front and the back.  I used two bracelets, but the rings were too big.  I would suggest using rings that were closer to the size of  metal shower curtain rings.  The smaller rings would have pulled the costume in a little and not left such a big gap in the middle.
• Red blazer – We found a red blazer at the thrift store and painted the lapels with black fabric paint to have it look closer to the real costume.
• A Few long necklaces – If you don’t have some take a look at the thrift store while you’re there.  In the movie she wears one long necklace with a key and lock on it.
• Gold hoop earrings 
• Short blonde bob wig – we found this one online
• Black newsboy cap – I painted an old one I had with black fabric paint BUT once I went through all of that work the darn thing wouldn’t fit on top of my wig.  If you decide to use the hat make sure you try it on with the wig.
• Black over-the-knee boots – I purchased these a couple years ago at DSW, but if you don’t have a pair you can always get costume boot toppers that go over a pair of shoes like these.
• Fabric glue or sewing machine
• Fabric Paint  – we used this fabric paint to add the black detail to the lapels of the blazer.
• Red lipstick that i totally forgot boo

Some of these steps depend on what you find at the thrift store or what you have on hand.  We found this red blazer at the thrift store, but we wanted to add the black detail to the lapel.

We used sponge brushes and this soft matte black fabric paint to add the black detail to the lapels of the blazer.

I would have loved to add it around the cuffs too, but I ran out of paint. We lined the lapel with paper towels underneath to keep the paint from getting onto the rest of the jacket.  Let the paint dry.

Making The Pretty Woman Costume Dress

Now let’s make the actual dress.  I would suggest trying on the tank top and marking about where you want the openings to be.  You’ll want to mark on the side where you want the top curve to start.  Mark it again in the center where you want the part to come down and meet the skirt of the dress at the ring.

Start with a smaller opening than you’d think.  It’s easy to cut more out and make the opening bigger but you can’t make the opening smaller once you’ve cut it.

Fold the tank in half and make the cuts at the same time so you have the same curve on each side.

Clean up the edges with your scissors.  This was a super long tank so we trimmed some off the bottom and  I trimmed a bunch more off after I connected the rings.

I tried it on and then took it off and trimmed it again a few times.

Fold your skirt fabric inside out so the right sides are both touching each other.  Use one of your skirts in your closet to measure out how large to make your skirt if you need to alter the size.  Make sure you add about 4-5 inches to the top of the skirt in order to add the curve and connect the ring.

Again this is a little overkill, but it’s so much easier to trim away excess material than to try to piece something back together once you’ve cut it too much.  Cut out your skirt pattern. Next, add your side seams either with your sewing machine or fabric glue.  Try on your skirt and mark where you would like to cut your curves for the skirt portion.

This was our first cut at the skirt.  It was very conservative with the openings until we sewed the side seams and tried it on with the tank top to get a better idea of where exactly we wanted the openings to be.  We ended up cutting the openings wider after trying on the skirt, but again you can always cut more and make the openings larger.

Turn the skirt right side out and try it on with the tank top.  Because both of these are a stretch fabric and it’s a Halloween costume we didn’t finish or hem any of the edges.  We just left them raw.

When you have the fit of the skirt figured out and comfortable now it’s time to add the rings. I did this while wearing the dress to get it as close to fitting correctly as i could.  As you can see the flap of the tank goes through the hoop and then back up inside of the tank top.  Pin it in place.

Take the flap on the top of the front of the skirt and go through the bottom of the hoop that the shirt is now attached to and back down into the skirt.  Pin that in place.  I asked my hubby to pin the back of the tank and skirt to the hoops.  Or you could secure the front then take off the dress and secure the back.

Carefully take off the dress and secure those seams with your sewing machine or fabric glue.  Cut off any excess material from the seams. Remember it’s a Halloween costume so it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Now you’re ready for Halloween my dear. “What’s your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’ – this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'” LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!

For more Halloween Costume inspiration check out some of our other posts, Ferris Bueller & Sloane Halloween Costumes and the DIY Back to the Future Halloween Costumes.