9 pro tips for DIY Halloween costumes

Rifling through his personal possessions, Jim Lauzon felt like a dung beetle.

Today (with an improved outlook), Lauzon owns LaZoom Tours with his wife, Jen Lauzon. Their buses feature costumed characters performing outrageous antics in the aisles and on city sidewalks. No doubt you've seen Sister Bad Habit, the nun in men's footwear, on her sky-high bicycle.

But back when he felt like a dung beetle, Lauzon was in the middle of a move. All his possessions suddenly seemed like, well, dung to him. His outlook seemed dark, but it led to a lighthearted costume for an upcoming parade.

"If something comes into your mind, know that it's really easy to make a great costume for cheap money," he said. "It's so much more rewarding if it's something you're trying to get across to the world."

And so, Danny the Dung Beetle was born out of a vest, some foam piping from the hardware store, duct tape and spray paint. But what is a dung beetle without his ball of excrement? Lauzon created the scatological prop from trash bags, balloons, tape, paint, hay and handfuls of grass from his yard. It weighed in at under 10 pounds and was easy to push through the streets of New Orleans.

"Everything I do is guerrilla for the most part, and it's fun," he said. "I think sometimes you just need the audacity. Anybody could do it. I think sometimes people are just scared."

As Halloween approaches, Lauzon and his colleagues in local costume design share their tips and tricks for creating over-the-top costumes you'll remember for years.

Tip 1: Inspiration is all around you.

A great costume starts with an idea, but don't worry if you don't have something in mind. There are lots of ways to get inspired.

McKinney Gough, who designs costumes at Asheville Community Theatre, recommends finding materials that interest you, even if you don't know what to do with them right away.

"I often work backwards with a product I want to work with," she said. "I do a lot of interesting stuff with textiles and salvaged linens and draperies and upholstery and that kind of stuff, and I also make a lot of things out of paper, so sometimes if I have a cool paper that I like, I say, 'Oh what can I use this for?'"

A lot of times, those fabrics emerge from what designers call the "Goodwill bins." They're not talking about the Goodwill retail store on Patton Avenue where the garments hang neatly on hangers. They're talking about the adjacent outlet, which offers a free-for-all fabric picking experience and an affordable pay-by-the-pound system.

Lauzon walks laps through the bins with his hands behind his back, visually perusing for something that catches his eye. By the time he starts his second look, other people have moved the contents around, so there's something new to look at, no hands-on work required.

Tip 2: Commitment is key.

Ashli Arnold, the resident costume designer at Flat Rock Playhouse, often finds herself in situations that feel like bizarre dreams. While designing a butterfly-themed showgirl costume for "Gypsy," she found herself in Big Lots holding decorative butterflies to her midsection in an effort to determine which insect provided the most appropriate level of coverage.

"Sometimes in this job, you have these moments where you're like, 'Oh, this is real life,'" she said. "I remember for like a week going to all the stores in town looking for butterflies that would be an appropriate crotch cover."

That attention to detail creates costumes that look great, but bringing them to life requires a certain amount of attention to attitude. Lauzon recommends acting the part.

"What I really encourage is to just think, 'Who do I want to be for that night,' and I encourage you to stick to being that for the night because that's the one time you can really play and play out being somebody," he said. "Some of my friends, I've met in costume, and I'm like, 'Oh my god, you're really a frog, I love you, I love you, I love you."

Both Arnold and Lauzon discourage sexiness for its own sake — it's just not that interesting, they contend.

"I'm challenged by the sexy part I guess because my wife and I always go the opposite way where it's not sexy," Lauzon said. "It's gruesome or over-the-top weird. That's what we enjoy is over-the-top fun."

Not sure what to be? Lauzon recommends simply dressing a zombie because it's easy to shred your clothes and dirty your face and come up with a well-executed look, and if you pull a gruesome face, that's all the acting skill you need. "Just don't be a sexy zombie," he added.

Tip 3: Don't sew? Don't worry.

"You can hot glue gun anything," Gough said. "Costumes don't need to last a long time."

When altering garments, Gough recommends preserving machine-sewn hems where they'll show — at the bottom of a dress, for example — and cutting and gluing in hidden places, such as waistbands. If you need a quick hem, hot glue ribbon over the raw edge.

Choosing fabrics wisely also eliminates the need to hem the edges. Arnold recommends non-elastic knits.

"You just cut them into the shape you want, and that's it," she said. "They drape well. They make great capes, things like that."

She also recommends materials such as tulle, which are easy to cut and knot into different shapes. She often sticks the puffy translucent material into waistbands to make skirts. She creates bustles out wide-weave mesh (such as the kind used by rug makes that's easy to find at craft stores) and tulle.

Tip 4: Don't be afraid to cut.

Lauzon calls this concept the best piece of advice from a fashion designer friend in New Orleans the best costume-related hint he has ever received. It's not just useful for altering thrift-store finds. It's also good for altering plastic masks from the costume shop: Enlarge the eye holes. Create larger nostrils to let in more air and avoid condensation, or simply cut off the bottom half.

Tip 5: You have to wear this thing, so make sure it's comfortable.

"You'll have a lot more fun if you're comfortable," Arnold said. "Who wants to be constricted all night? Pick something you're going to be pretty comfortable in and even that you don't mind getting dirty or trashing. Between the fake blood and the booze that everybody has, is it something that you really want to wash and keep?"

And make sure it's not an impediment to socialization. Talking, drinking, dancing, standing and sitting are all important. "Don't exile yourself from the party just so you can be a fish," Lauzon said.

Also, remember you're going to be drinking, whether that's fruit punch or beer, and what goes in must come out. "The one thing you want to consider is your escape plan because you're going to have to go pee at some point," Lauzon said. "That's where I recommend Velcro."

For the ladies, Gough suggest skirts for this very reason, and if large hoops are involved, a wing-woman to help you hoist your hoops.

Tip 6: Mind your head.

There's lots of real estate atop the noggin. Lauzon recommends making the most of it.

First, engineer a sturdy foundation for your cranial creation. Lauzon buys foam heads at wig shops and craft stores, fashions a simple wooden base so they're stable and covers them in cellophane so nothing sticks to them as he works. He cuts the brims off of old baseball caps, adjusts the hat for size and pins it to base.

At this point, he becomes the Dr. Frankenstein of headpieces. Wielding a can of spray foam, he creates a base. atop the cap. Great Stuff is fine, he said, just don't get the super expanding variety. The basic foam will do.

The foam serves as a base and an adhesive. Set whatever you like into it. Birdcage? Doll house? Toy car? Anything works as long as it's light enough for your neck to carry it.

"You can go as big as you want to because it's so easy and it's so possible out of fabric and foam and duct tape," he said.

Tip 7: Light it up .

Arnold no longer competes in the costume contest at Hendersonville's Black Rose Public House. She said it started to feel a little unfair given her professional advantage. But when she won a few years ago as an alien, she attributed the victory to the LED lights she twisted into the costume.

Check the floral section for lots of easy-to-wear, watch battery-powered lights.

Tip 8: Try it on.

Your ingenious creation is probably going to look great on Halloween, but you want to make sure it's comfortable and sturdy, so why not do a dress rehearsal, just like a theater professional?

"You want to be standing there at 6 o clock on Halloween trying to put your hair into a beehive and then realize that you're not doing so hot," Arnold said. "If you're planning on doing something for Halloween or a Halloween party, don't wait til right then and there to learn it. Practice first before you get to your actual event."

Tip 9: You too can be a master costume maker — with the help of your Internet friends.

Designers agree: There's never been a better time to make a costume. Arnold keeps an iPad in the costume shop for pulling up images, and Gough takes to Pinterest for inspiration. Lauzon looks on Youtube for how-to videos to enhance his guerrilla tactics. The trick is to remember that you can make just about anything cheaply, so don't let any online source convince you to buy costly materials.

Sometimes keeping costs down means accepting a wider interpretation of a character, but that's part of the fun, Gough explained. You develop a narrative and build on the story you already like. As she says to her daughter, "Do you think Cinderella only has one dress?"

Flat Rock Playhouse rummage sale

Yes, this entire article is about making your own costume, but Flat Rock Playhouse is providing an interesting short cut to the process that was too good no to share.

On Oct. 10 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., the state theater will clean out its costume shop and host a sale of vintage pieces, worn costumes and more. Some of the wares are a little tired from life on stage, but other pieces have never been used by the theater. Props, furniture, wigs and more will also be on sale at 2661 Greenville Highway in Flat Rock.

Material matters

The costume experts talked at length about supplies and materials. Here are some of their favorite tools.

Acting in character

Baseball caps (brim or no brim)

Baskets (interesting hat bases)

Coupons

Duct tape

Dye

Elastic

Exacto knives

Foam padding (for creating volume)

Foam heads

Headliner (a foamy material easy to find at craft shops)

Hot glue

Iron-on adhesive

Knit fabrics (that don't fray when cut)

LED lights

Packing tape (It's great for mold making.)

Paint stir sticks from the hardware store for use as supports

Paper (for example, a paper tutu)

Pipe insallation for creating bendable structure

Pillowcases (Cut arm-holes, and you've got a base for a costume.)

Ribbon

Rigid wrap (sort of like paper maiche but easier)

Safety pins

Scissors (If you want to go pro, keep separate pairs for different materials.)

Spray paint (Using lots of different shades to create highlights and low lights creates the illusion of fancy.)

Sprayfoam

Tulle

Thrift store finds

Velcro