Vintage Clown Costumes

Classic Costumes with a Twist

I love the idea of a good, classic Halloween costume, especially with a vintage twist. If you haven’t noticed, I have a thing for antiques and all things vintage, so it comes as no surprise that Halloween would be affected by that love of old things. That’s where these vintage clown costumes come in! A good group costume is one that gives you plenty of options for characters and expanding your group, and a vintage clown just seemed like the perfect choice. I mean, the face makeup potential alone had me sold, and then add in the costumes?! I was giddy.

The best part about these costumes is that we already had the outfits, we just had to add the embellishments. Easy! Here’s how to recreate our vintage clown costumes for yourselves:

How to Make a Vintage Clown Costume

Hats

Making clown hats is super simple. All you need is a piece of poster board and this template and you’re set! Here’s what to do:

1. First, use our template to cut out the half circle shape. 
2. Next, roll the half circle up into a cone shape, adjusting to the width of your head. Tape in place.
3. Now all that’s left is to add the embellishments! We used a variety (see our photos for reference), like hearts, pom poms of different sizes, and rick rack. We referenced actual photos from vintage circuses for our clown hats so they’d look extra authentic.

Pom Poms

We had some spare pom poms lying around from past projects, and we also have a pom maker. To make your own, reference this and this post.

To add them to the hats, we glued them on. For the outfits, we attached them using safety pins. 

Face Makeup

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole vintage clown costume. It made all the difference in how the costumes felt and the vibe we were going for! Again, we referenced actual vintage clown photos for inspiration, then went crazy and had fun doing our own twist on the originals. See our photos for help if you’re struggling with face makeup design ideas!

Well, that’s a wrap! What do you think of our vintage clown costumes? Are you going to don your own clown outfits this Halloween? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

Collars

Another element that really makes these clown costumes is the collar. We used a variety of materials and a variety of colors to spice things up. Here’s what to do:

1. For the tulle collar, use yarn to sew a loose basting stitch along 4 yards of tulle. Pull it in to gather and tie it in a bow at the back. Tip: for a fuller look, fold the tulle over a couple times before gathering, then make sure to catch all the folded layers in your gathered stitches.
2. Next is a crepe paper collar. Fold the crepe paper like an accordion, then thread yarn through with an embroidery needle until it’s as long and full as you’d like. Tie in a bow in the back.
3. Now for the paper collars. For this, accordion fold pieces of card stock together, gluing with the addition of each new piece of card stock. Glue the two ends together when it’s long enough. Then hole punch the folds and thread elastic through. Tie the elastic at the end, making sure it’s loose enough to fit over your head.
4. Done!

More Inspiration

For more Halloween costume ideas, check out our Campbell’s soup team costumes from last year! Also see our Wild Things costumes, Rainbow team costumes, and Mommy and Me costume ideas from years past. Then visit our archives for tons more costume inspiration! Interested in more pom pom projects? Click here.