DIY Scarecrow Costume

What you need

A plaid shirt, jeans, and a hat-and-raffia kit.

• Effort: Easy
• Cost: ~$14
• Time: 10 min

The one thing to buy

How to put it together

1. Start with plaid and jeans. A plaid or flannel shirt and a pair of jeans is the whole base. Earth tones beat bright colors, and a shirt a size too big looks more stuffed-with-straw than fitted. Tuck the shirt loosely or let it hang.
2. Add the hat and raffia kit. The kit gives you the straw-trimmed pointed hat, so there's nothing to build, plus a raffia collar, cuffs, and belt. Tuck the cuffs into your sleeves and pant legs so the raffia pokes out at the wrists and ankles. That straw sticking from the cuffs screams scarecrow.
3. Draw on the stitched face. A few black lines for stitches across the cheeks and a triangle nose in brown or black are the scarecrow's face. Add two round circles of rosy blush on the cheeks. Eyeliner and cream makeup are all you need.
4. Patch it up and finish the feet. Safety-pin a couple of burlap or fabric patches to the elbows and knees for the worn-out look. Worn work boots finish it off at the feet, and a piece of rope or twine for a belt sells the homemade angle.

Make it your own

For a kid

Same formula, smaller. A flannel shirt over a long-sleeve tee, jeans, the hat sized down, and the stitched face drawn light. Skip the safety pins and tuck the raffia in tight so it stays put through trick-or-treating.

Pair it up

A scarecrow pairs with a crow on the shoulder or a farmer in overalls. For a group, build the Wizard of Oz crew: Dorothy in gingham, the Tin Man in silver, and the Cowardly Lion, with your scarecrow leading the way down the road.

To level it up

Swap the drawn-on patches for real burlap squares stitched at the seams, add suspenders over the shirt, and stuff a little loose raffia into the collar and pockets so straw spills out of the seams.