How to Make a Cute DIY Cow Costume Bustier for Halloween

Tools and materials:

• Faux leather in a cow pattern
• Rotary cutter
• Scissors
• Pins and/or binder clips
• Sewing machine
• Leather needle for sewing machine
• Old t-shirt for lining
• Pattern for the bustier by Kiana Bonollo
• Eyelet kit (eyelets with tools - available at most fabric stores)
• Ribbon, cord, or string for the eyelets

1. Get the pattern

Download and print the pattern, then cut the pieces out. You can also refer Kiana's video on How to Sew Your Own Corset.

2. Cut the lining

Once I cut the pieces of the pattern, I laid them directly on the old t-shirt lining. I use a rotary cutter because this way I don’t have to pin the paper pattern to the fabric.

There will be lots of little pieces. 

3. Sew the lining

I sewed all the lining pieces together to make sure they fit me properly. I tried it by putting it on my body and it really looked good. Phew! So now I will go ahead and cut the cow-patterned faux leather.

4. Cut the faux leather

Follow the same steps as the lining by laying the pattern directly on top of the cow-printed fabric and cut with a rotary cutter.

You’ll have a lot of small pieces as well.

5. Sew the faux leather

In order for thicker pieces of fabric, like leather, to stay together for sewing, I use binder clips. This way there are no visible holes when you pull the pins out. However, this faux leather wasn’t that thick and the pins slid in easily.

An important thing to consider is putting in a new thicker needle made for leather or denim. You don’t want the needle to break on you when you’re sewing! Thicker fabric requires a heavy-duty needle. 

I sewed the faux leather using a straight stitch, right side to right side, so there are no obvious seams.

6. Attach the lining to the (faux) leather

This faux leather is fairly stiff so I won’t need to add boning or other stiffening material so that the bustier stays up.

I pinned the lining to the leather and sewed them right sides touching because I don’t want any visible seams. I left the bottom open to flip it right side out to check how it looked. 

It looked good so I flipped it back to the right side touching to sew the bottom. I left a small hole so I could turn it right side out and then finish sewing it up.

7. Add eyelets to the back

I bought an eyelet kit with the little tools. I had to watch three different YouTube videos to understand how to do this step myself. Here is the link to the one I used that helped me add them to the back of the bustier: How to Insert an Eyelet in Fabric.

This is how it should look when the eyelets are in. 

Once the eyelets are in, thread a coordinating ribbon, cord, or string to close up the bustier.

I wanted to make something cow-themed for Halloween but I also wanted to make something I could wear again. This cow bustier totally works for both. Plus, this bustier stays up without needing boning.

Here's the finished DIY cow costume with black pants.

Here's the bustier over a black body con dress.

DIY cow costume tutorial

I hope this inspires you to make your own DIY cow Halloween costume this year or just a cute cow print corset. Happy Halloween!