DIY Kiki Costume and Accessories

For some reason, I never thought I’d dress up as Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. Costuming for me was always about challenging myself so I put Kiki in the category of characters I thought I’d never do. I was convinced it was too simple and that I couldn’t make anything interesting for it. Shallow as it seems, I also didn’t want to be another standard Kiki and I didn’t think it ever stood a chance at winning my family’s annual costume contest.

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Fast forward to this year when deciding on costumes. Nothing was clicking, but then Kiki came up and the idea of making a giant bow and witch broom sounded fun and ideal for my energy levels.

Yes, this costume is easily purchasable (available as a set), but I didn’t want to be a stock Kiki so I decided to find the components separately. Doing so meant I could make this costume unique while picking pieces I could reuse.

Costume Overview

Black dress: Purchased from Uniqlo Japan. (similar options)
Red radio: One of the coolest things I’ve recently purchased! It takes two AA batteries and has a wrist strap and retractable antenna.
Crossbody bag: I got the camel-colored one and removed the exterior tag. The bag has a zippered closure and a couple of small interior pockets. It has been so useful already and I wish every costume had a bag.
Bow, broom, birdcage: Made or altered by me. Details below.

Main Outfit

For my dress, I used one we originally bought in Japan for my daughter. She’s always referred to it as her witchy dress which makes it perfect for Kiki. My socks, which are hard to see, have an embroidered Jiji image on them. I bought them in Japan as well, before I decided to be Kiki, so that was a happy coincidence. Instead of purchasing red flats, I wore black sneakers for a convention and my black Chelsea boots everywhere else, including in these photos.

Red Bow

Because it’s a key component for the character, I wanted to make the biggest red bow possible. I achieved this by using iron-on interfacing before sewing the bow together and attaching it to a headband. I was surprised by how well this worked and second guessed the size, but decided to keep it since it is Kiki after all.

I used a 1″ plastic headband as my base, wrapped it with fabric, and sewed the finished bow onto the headband by hand. It was comfortable enough that I kept forgetting I had a giant bow on my head. I use these headband blanks and have a bunch of them on hand for different projects.

Corn broom diagram labeled “Keep these. Wrap in twine”, “Remove metal and plastic strings”, “Bundle and wrap in twine” — How to make a witch broom

Witch Broom

The thought of making my own witch’s broom got me, but it was more complicated than I was ready for. In the end, I altered a regular corn broom with a wooden handle ($17 from Home Depot) by undoing the lower metal band and plastic strings and replacing them with cotton twine. I also wrapped the upper metal bands with cotton twine to match.

Some tutorials tell you to purchase another broom to use the bristles to round it out, but I opted not to so I could stay on budget and reduce waste. If you have clamps, you could use them to help bunch the bristles into a circular shape for wrapping too. I didn’t have those so, instead, I had someone help me hold the bristles while I wrapped them as tightly as I could. The way I did it was pretty simple and I didn’t love it at first, but it’s grown on me.

Jiji’s Birdcage

This simple project was the perfect last-minute addition to my Kiki costume. After researching and browsing Dollar Tree, I chose these gold-wired baskets to create the birdcage. The wire I used to hold the baskets together are actually hooks intended for Christmas ornaments. I added a strap using leather scraps and a KAM snap. To finish it off, I tied a red ribbon to the Jiji plush (also purchased in Japan).