Sacred Heart Dia De Los Muertos Costume

By popular request, I’ve created a blog post on my 2017 Sacred Heart Dia De Los Muertos Costume!

A few years back, my husband and I started attending the Dia de Los Muertos Festival at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. We had such a great time! The vibe of the festival with it’s music, the food, the culture, the people, the costumes, and the celebration of loved ones that are no longer with us is really the place to be! So ever since then, we decided to attend again & again, but really go all out with our costumes! It’s now a fun tradition for us!

Last year was no exception. I was inspired to create something really feminine, chic and detailed with a Sacred Heart as the center focus of my otherwise pretty classic black dress.

The response to the costume I created was really awesome! It even got some fun write ups! Check out the links below:

https://fierce.wearemitu.com/no-pos-wow/21-dia-de-los-muertos-makeup-looks-you-wont-believe/

https://fierce.wearemitu.com/decor-get-inspired/dia-de-los-muertos-costumes/

https://www.peta2.com/vegan-life/day-of-the-dead/

https://belleza.trendencias.com/maquillaje/sincerely-jules-sabe-como-celebrar-halloween-su-maquillaje-seguro-que-te-va-a-inspirar-manana-por-la-noche-te-animas

https://www.ladayofthedead.com/gallery/nggallery/gallery/2017-Photo-Gallery-1—Mauricio-Hoyos/page/2

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmgnG8bA-U6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

But even better, my Instagram community / family, also really loved it and I received a lot of requests on how to recreate this costume: from the halo crown to the sacred heart embroidery patch. So, I thought the easiest thing to do is to write up a blog post about how you can create this look for yourself at home! ♥️

90% of my costume was handmade by me, but I’ve attached a bunch of links from some talented folks in the internet world, where you can find similar items, as well as some tips on how-to recreate the halo crown and the embroidery sacred heart!

Every costume starts with a quick sketch. I come up with tons of costume ideas, so to keep me on track, I have these costume detail sheets that help me stay organized and focused on all the details for my costume. What I need to make, buy or even order online. It’s like my visual action plan!

I originally had this costume for the Dia De Los Muertos 2016 Festival, but instead ended up going to the VooDoo Festival in New Orleans that year. So I had I to wait another year before I could bring this one to life. Worth the wait!

My completed look! I Love how it turned out!!…I felt like a dark and edgy Disney Princess! Lol!?

Last year’s DDLM Festival was really special because my sisters came with us and dressed up too! My sister Ari (@ari.sari.loves) and I can’t wait for you to see this year’s costumes! I’m going to try and make all 3 costumes myself! Eek!!

Hollywood Forever is the most peaceful and beautiful place to take pictures. I also loved my sister Julie’s (@sincerelyjules) (and so did everyone else! lol) take on her Dia De Los Muertos costume. She looked stunning in her boho chic look! ?

? SISTERS ARE FOREVER ?

Ok, so how to create this costume? See details below.

To make the halo head piece yourself is super easy! You will need some supplies (listed in video), and can be as inexpensive as going to the local dollar store. I found a video for an easy way to make this crown, I have linked it HERE.

To make the rose crown, I have attached a link HERE for you to take a look. I would replace the marigolds in the video with red roses of course. Only glue them to the sides of the headband. I also used velvet type roses, which gave the look a more luxe and realistic vibe.

Now for that Sacred Heart Patch! Again, everything starts with a quick sketch.  Rough out a quick heart design, for size and style on a piece of paper. Losely place fabrics and lace above drawing and start to play until a design you like starts to form.

1) Once you narrow down a design, place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper over your design, this will help the glue from sticking to the table or your paper design. Also cut a large square of tulle and place over wax paper. You should be able to see the drawing underneath. Start placing your heart cut out and different lace trims.

2) If you love it, sew or glue together and play with additional trims to narrow down your preferences. You will be playing quite a bit until its just right. 🙂

3) Move the heart aside and start cutting your halo (rays of light) for your heart. Make sure all trims and ribbons are symmetrical.

4) Start to fill it in as much or as little as you like. I filled mine pretty full.

5) Once you are happy with your trims and their placement, you can start glueing the trims to the tulle. I used hot glue. But wished I would of used fabric glue, less messy- hot glue was too thick. Next time.

6) Now that all of your ribbon rays are glued down, you can start shaping a heart out of additional trims that will frame your red lace heart.

7) Glue all those trims down and place the faux flame on top of the heart, glue down too.

8) Once that is also glued down, grab your pre-glued trimmed heart and also glue in place.

9) Last touches, add jewelry around the heart or anything sparkly you can get your hands on. Cut out the left over tulle and then glue or hand stitch to your sheer black top. I was in a hurry so I glued mine. I also added additional gems, stars and metal bits to my top, to help blend sacred heart patch with the rest of my shirt

Voila! You end up with a custom made Sacred Heart Piece!  ♥️

If Do-It-Yourself is not your thing- no worries! I’ve gathered a bunch of links to similar items that will help you re-create this look with items found online. Links below:

1) HALO CROWN – Etsy.com Halo option 1 or Etsy.com Halo option 2

2) ROSE CROWN – Etsy.com Rose option 1 or Etsy.com Rose option 2

3) FACE GEMS – The Bead Factory or Michaels Craft Stores

4) SACRED HEART PATCH – Etsy.com Large embroidery patch

5) BLACK SHEER VEIL – Amazon black veil

6) BLACK SHEER TOP – Forever21, Shein.com

7) BLACK CORSET – Light in the Box, Amazon

8) SKELETON GLOVES – Amazon Gloves

9) PATTERNED TIGHTS – Amazon

10) LONG BLACK TULLE SKIRT – Doll Kills, Amazon, Tulle Skirt

11) BLACK PLATFORM SHOES – Jeffrey Campbell 1, Jeffrey Campbell 2

Lastly, I almost forgot to mention Make-Up! The key to achieving my soft pale makeup is all in the products you use. DO NOT USE cheap Halloween costume make up. It’s terrible! especially the white makeup in the tube! Nooooooooooooo!

I actually use real make up…I’m pretty tan, so when I put on the fairest foundation from any brand, it looks pretty white on me! lol – I also buy the fairest setting powder and go for a soft ghostly look. I continue to do my make up (blush, lipstick etc) similar to my regular make up.

I also use regular eyeliner ( I love Kat Von D’s black eyeliner) to draw out any black lines on my face. The real make-up eyeliners give you more control and fine lines, WAY better than a costume black makeup crayon. Noooooooooooooo!

But to really stand out last year, I used gems with setting around my eyes. I bought them from Bohemian Bead in DTLA, link to their website HERE, but you can also find all kinds of gems from Michael’s Craft Store- link HERE.

I glued them with eyelash glue. Just brush on some glue to the back of the gem and wait a few seconds for the gems to become tacky, carefully place around your eyes. I used Ardell eyelash glue, link for the product HERE.

Well, hope this has been helpful to all of you that requested some info on the making of the costume. Look forward to seeing all your lovely pics from this year’s Dia De Los Muertos! Tag me or DM on Instagram… would love to see your costumes! Viva Dia De Los Muertos!

Cheers!!

<strong>Walmart’s Hottest Toys for This Holiday Season</strong>
November 11, 2022

Festive Dia de Los Muertos Dinner
October 29, 2020

Making Memories with Claire’s
June 3, 2018

Memories of a Clean & Fresh Home
May 22, 2018