Plague Doctor Costume

Opening images: “peekaboo”, “cute”, “twirl”, and “leaves”

Having had interest in steampunk and the Victorian for a few years I thought it was time to try the plague doctor. Since I have been dressing more in steampunk style, several of the pieces of this costume I already had, however I will include where I bought the pieces or how I altered things to be what I needed. The main part of this year’s costume that was entirely made was the jacket. In my defence I had four months with access to my craft room for this and the jacket was going to be a first so I didn’t want to time crunch too bad. I have included mostly about my costume as well as tidbits of information I found while researching for this costume idea.

Supplies:

·        Plague mask + balaclava (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0867Q7S73/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

·        Shoes/boots

·        Bottoms (whatever your preference)

·        Shirt

·        Top hat

·        Jacket (mine is leather and wool, gold trimmings of two types, using McCall’s pattern M7641)

Optional

·        Flask

·        Syringes

·        Goggles

·        Gloves

Let’s do this top down:

Hat

The hat was a top hat I bought at the dollar store; however, I have seen Instructables and YouTube videos on making your own. I tied a piece of gold sparkly ribbon around the top and cut to length. There are washers that I stole from Dad’s workshop as a bit of decoration, the bow is hand stitched so that it won’t come undone. The goggles are from value village. I have seen Spirit of Halloween sell them as well, as well as Halloween Costumes Canada online, and Amazon. Of course, DIY options are available (I did not trust myself quite enough to try). 

I did buy my mask as part of a kit online from Amazon to which the link is above. I did look into making one, the main place that I really liked in my research was Dieselpunk.Ro as he has templates and very nice videos about how to put everything together. I had an awful time finding some good leather in my area so I settled with a bought mask. I slathered leather oil on it to soften it up and stuffed some packing foam sheets in the beak as well as a tennis ball, then strapped it to a soccer ball. This was doe not help shape and stretch it out. I recommend a balaclava, which basically looks like a ninja mask from the movies, it covers up hair and neck nicely giving everything a very seamless transition; the set I bought came with one. With the mask being black and a lot of the rest of my upper body being black, there is a lot of blending on everything in the photos. I did originally plan to add gold filigree to the mask, however that didn’t work out for this iteration – perhaps next year. 

The shirt I’m wearing is a thrift find. It is a sleeve-less ruffled top that I found at value village a while back. I do have a Scarlet Darkness top that I usually wear with my steampunk outfits, but I wanted a higher collar to tick the balaclava into since every time I moved the balaclava would move enough that it wouldn’t stay tucked. I have seen people wear standard tee-shirts or regular collared shirts, it depends on preference and what will or won’t be shown. My jacket doesn’t zip all the way up so I new whatever shirt underneath was going to be visible. I have seen the little hooded capes as well as large hooded capes on plague doctors which can be used as cover if you’re interested in that. 

I have mentioned that I made the jacket. It was done using the McCall’s M7641 with the longer option. I bought leather and wool for this project as well has some cotton to do a test run. I highly recommend doing a test run if you aren’t very familiar with this type of jacket or pattern. While I adore McCall’s patterns, jackets aren’t something I usually do. I made a mock up of the jacket just to see how it would all go together and how the fit was. Best choice I made with this project! The mock up worked but with the layering, I would have been too snug to be able to maneuver a lot comfortably (I plan on walking around all day with this costume). Once I figured out the sizing correctly, I cut all the pieces out. My fabric came from Ann’s in Cambridge. I will state this – the fabric I chose was not cheap. If you don’t want to spend a lot for this kind of thing then I recommend another fabric choice or style or even shop around for pre-made jackets. I tried looking online but nothing felt quiet right or what I did like was out of my price range or not in my size. Back on track, with the fabric cut out, I started putting it together. I started with the wool and started building the bodice and skirt. I took pictures after every “work day”, apologies for not many in-progress photos. I used an older model Kenmore sewing machine, which handled everything quite well. When I hit a point that I had to do the leather, I switched needles and rethreaded. I did try using a heavier thread but my machine and the leather did not approve of the idea. As such I switch to a regular brown thread and everything was great. I will say that the edging trim on the cuffs was by far the most annoying to get right as part of it must be hand stitched with a lot of layers. Patience is key for that part. The trim I was using wasn’t very wide which did make it a little trickier. The instructions for this jacket are pretty good, definitely read them a few times and try using sewing clips to test it out so you can be sure (I nearly sewed the cuffs backward, don’t be me). 

I say bottoms because you can wear whatever you want. I adore my skirt, it is a value village buy during their Halloween season a few years back. I have seen many online stores sell skirts and I have seen patterns as well as hacks. I personally like the skirt I have. It is a cheap skirt but I love the colours so much that I don’t mind if in some lights you can tell it’s a “costume skirt”. I do usually wear tights or pants underneath. Fun fact: I did a photoshoot in costume and because it was a cold day, I decide black jeans underneath the skirt was the way to go – you can’t tell. Dress pants would work too. It depends on the individual person and their vision for the outfit.

I opted for some knee-high black boots with a solid sole since I was going to be walking around all day. I have seen a very wide variety of styles and colours worn by other people, as well as spats. My first steampunk costume iteration featured dark faux-leather magenta spats that matched the faux-leather magenta accents I had on the costume at the time. I simply choose shoes based on what I’m going to be doing in them and if they match the colour palette. 

For some added fun I carried a bag of gummies I bought that were “assorted body parts”, and for those people that came up to me I would ask if they needed spare parts.