I am so excited about these darling ghosts in my trees! Where I live, it rains. And when it rains, it RAINS. The yard floods, the street looks like a river, and lawn ornaments don’t last. I’ve seen pictures of different ghosts and other creatures in front yards on display for Halloween, but that’s a no go. So, I wanted to create something that would last through the storms and the holiday.
These were super easy to make and cost about $5 a piece so you can do one or go crazy and fill the trees with them.
Here is everything that you’ll need:
• one pumpkin bucket ($1)
• one white t-shirt
• 3-4 yards tulle ($3-4)
• fishing line
• scissors
• tape
To make three ghosts, I ended up grabbing 13 yards of tulle, so it’s not an exact thing how much tulle you need. It depends on how long you want the ghosts. You could even go with 5 yards if you want them really long.
When you buy tulle, it will be folded in half on the bolt. Cut your pieces before unfolding it. It makes it easy to cut even pieces. You can even fold it up a few more times to get it skinnier before cutting it into pieces. You want 3 separate pieces of tulle per ghost. So minimum 1 yard per piece in length for your ghost. You can cut exact pieces or you can cut them in different lengths to give your ghost more depth and layers.
Next, cut the handle off the pumpkin. I chose a pink pumpkin because I thought it would be the easiest color to cover up. Orange was too bring and purple was too dark. I also picked the pumpkin bucket because it was cheap! I was originally going to try creating ghosts on stakes with styrofoam heads and discovered a styrofoam ball this size was $17! While walking around Walmart, I came up with this creation.
Flip over your shirt so the collar is toward you and lay it out on whatever your work space is. Mine is the living room floor. Note the doggo assistant. (Fun fact: this dog’s name is Cujo.) Pull down the top layer of the shirt toward the collar so you can open it up. You want the top opening of the pumpkin head to cover the collar of the shirt and the rest of the shirt will bunch around it. The bottom of the pumpkin will be the top of the ghost. I did it this way so when it rains, the pumpkin won’t fill up with water.
Start pulling pieces of the bottom hem to the top of the pumpkin and tape them down. I used blue painters tape (it was the first tape I found), so the last piece of hem I pulled up, I didn’t tape down. Now, set your pumpkin head to the side.
Start unfolding your tulle and layering it together. I used three pieces and staggered them so the corners did not match up. They don’t have to be really flat either. They can even be different sizes. I used two different colors do my ghosts: white and ivory. Snatch up your pumpkin head and flip it upside down and put it in the center of your tulle pieces. You can either stuff the rest of the shirt into the pumpkin or make it part of the body of the ghost. You can use some fishing line to tie it off like in the picture below. You can start gathering the tulle around it.
I found it easier to gather one layer at a time instead of doing it all at once. It won’t get as mushed up together and this makes it easier and cleaner to tie off once it is all together. When you have everything gather together they way you want, tie it off with fishing line again. This next part is a little tricky. You’re going to take a piece of fishing line a yard or more in length. Pinch up some of the tulle. Weave the fishing line back and forth through the tulle a few times. The colored line in the next picture shows where my fishing line does through the tulle. Tie the ends together. This is one hanger to hang your ghost in a tree.
If you string the fishing line straight up through the tulle, when you Hanging the ghost, it will pull and give your ghost horns. Weaving it helps disperse the tension so the ghost looks rounder. Do this a second time on the opposite side. I didn’t go exactly opposite. I brought it in maybe an inch. This way, my ghost leans forward a bit when it’s hanging up.
It may take a couple tries (and some arguing with the tree branches) to get the ghost in the right place. One ghost even got an extra loop added to the top so it did not look as top heavy. I added this after I hung it. I couldn’t get the first loops far enough apart (it was definitely midnight when I did this and didn’t feel like pulling the ladder out). You can even shred up the bottom portion a little with scissors so there is more flow when the wind hits it. I did this maybe four times on each.
Move it around until it is in a good spot, but have a little patience. It will get stuck and takes a little wiggling. All else fails, cut the loop and make a new one. And after the holiday, you can either pack it away or take it apart and wash the shirt and reuse the tulle for another project (snow fairy tutu anyone?!)
Second Tot Fashions 