Autumn is a great time to score sales on fleece fabric. This versatile and forgiving fabric is especially easy to work with for making Halloween costumes. Fleece usually comes in a 60" wide width when bought as yardage from the fabric store, occasionally can be as wide as 72 inches.

Consider the following:

A simple circle poncho pattern can make a ghost costume out of 2 yards or less of white fleece. Fold yardage in half and half again. Draw a quarter circle line the length desired from the folded corner, cut out. For the head opening cut out a slight rounded edge from the folded top corner. Just glue or stitch on black felt for ghostlike eyes and a jagged scary or oval mouth. The edges of the fleece can be cut in one-inch-wide strips about five inches long then each strip tied into a knot or left untied for a fringe effect.

A similar circle of red fleece about 2 yards of 60-inches wide felt makes for a great 50’s style poodle skirt. Cut out a circle in the center for the waist wide enough for gathering and stitch on a length of 2-inch-wide stretch elastic in black for an easy pull-on waist band. Stitch or glue on a poodle shape out of black felt with black pom poms for the top of the head, near the feet and end of the tail. A leash of felt and dog collar can be added as well for the complete look.

Fashion a unicorn or dinosaur using any hooded sweatshirt. Stitch a cone shape of white felt for the unicorn’s horn and firmly stuff with poly fill. Glue on gold braid in a spiral around the horn. Stitch bottom of the horn to the center front of a hoodie. Add felt ears and felt flowers to complete the look. For the dinosaur spiked hoodie, cut out several triangle shapes. Sew the bottom of each of the triangles in a line down center of the hood and continue onto the center back of the sweatshirt. To make the spikes stand up in a pointy triangle shape after sewing, pinch each triangle near the base as sewn to the hoodie to create a temporary fold and tack a few stitches in the triangle fold to hold. The triangle shape should stand up easily.

Some tips for sewing with fleece:

Use "with nap" yardage requirements if using a purchased pattern.

Fleece has a right side and wrong side. Slightly stretch an edge of fleece fabric and it will gently curl toward you indicating that is the right side.

A benefit to using fleece is that its raw edges do not fray, turning under edges for seam finishing especially when making simple costumes is not necessary.

Fleece fabric has a great deal of stretch, especially along the cross-grain.

When purchasing fleece fabric look for labels that indicate made in Fair Trade Certified Factories as every purchase benefit local workers.

Have a Sew Inspired Happy Halloween!