Oh no – you’ve got a Halloween party this evening, and to call your costume an afterthought is, sadly, dramatically to over-estimate the amount of thought that has actually gone into it so far!  We’re just back from a lovely week in Cornwall, eating great food and walking the dog on the beach.  I’d completely forgotten about our village pub’s ‘costume optional’ Halloween event this evening until we got home about an hour ago!

But, all is not lost.  Look at my natty outfit (kindly modelled here by Hubby)!

This really is a five minute costume project.  It’s thrifty, too, and no sewing required.  You’ll just need to round up the following –

• A ‘sacrificial’ black t-shirt,
• a white-t-shirt that you’ll get to wear again,
• a cutting mat, small rotary cutter, and a tailor’s chalk / pencil, and
• a basic grasp of human anatomy (google images can help you with this bit!)

Starting with the black t-shirt inside out, mark out the centre line as best you can.  This will be surprisingly difficult to do with any accuracy as the quality control on these things is always shockingly poor, so a decent best guess at it is perfectly alright.

Next, using the tailor’s chalk, mark out a set of ribs to one side of your centre line.  There are lots of rib cages in google images to look at, and I found the PDF template for a much more complicated version of this project on marthastewart.com was a useful guide to the general size and shape of the ribs.  Remember to offer up to the white shirt you’re planning to wear underneath to make sure you’re not massively ‘out’ when it comes to necklines.

Now, fold the t-shirt in half along your centre line, so that you have both halves of the front of the shirt front-to-front and your chalk markings showing, and the cutting mat underneath.

Cut carefully along the rib markings with your cutting wheel, through both layers of t-shirt, so that the pattern is cut as close as possible to identically on both sides of your chest.

That’s it, unfold your t-shirt, and put the cutting mat inside so you can tidy up any bits the cutter hasn’t cut cleanly.

And you’re done.  Simple, or what?

You could do the back now – but don’t cut the same pattern, as the back of the rib cage differs quite a bit from the front!  But if you can’t be bothered, pair it with a cape (or a long dark coat!), dark trousers or a black skirt and knee boots, and – if you’re feeling especially keen! – a scythe made from a broomstick with a cardboard and tinfoil blade.  You’re all set!

Time to get ready to party without feeling like you’ve completely failed to go to any trouble!  Enjoy your parties, folks, and have a ghoulish good time!

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