My son LOVES Owls – so it wasn’t a complete surprise when he told me he wanted to be an owl for Halloween. I wasn’t sure I had ever seen an owl costume before so how on earth would I be able to make one?? Googling didn’t help. None of the pictures really captured what I knew he wanted. So I figured I would just draft something myself. It turned out better than I had imagined and my son absolutely LOVES it! If you are looking for how to make a kids owl costume then keep reading as I detail step by step how I made this costume!
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What you need:
- A brown long sleeve shirt (purchased or handcrafted) as the base to the kids owl costume
- 1 meter of dark brown medium weight fabric for the wings (I used a sweatshirt material on sale from fabricland)
- 1/4 meter of trim fabric (I used a textured brown minky for the collar and finishing the wings piece to add a bit of a fur look)
- Multiple colors of craft felt for the feathers (white, orange, brown, gray, black. I got mine from Dollarama but Amazon.ca has various options as well)
- A sewing machine & coordinating thread
- Optional: Cricut to cut the template (or you can print and hand cut)
- Optional: If cutting by hand use a rotary cutter and you can cut multiple layers at once
Create the SHIRT base:
- I used the Patterns for Pirates the basic tee youth pattern, long sleeve version to sew a shirt base (you can also use a brown long sleeve shirt).
- Sew according to the pattern instructions using the same material as the wing base (I suggest using a medium weight fabric to ensure it can support the feather additions)
- I made the shirt one size up since weather is so unpredictable here I had to have it big enough to fit over a jacket!
- IMPORTANT! If you are sewing the shirt, don’t sew on the collar yet!
Create the WING base:
- To figure out how big to make the wing base you need to measure TWO places.
- Distance between sleeves (along the top around the collar)
- The length of the shirt PLUS two inches.
- Fold fabric in half and mark the fabric:
- Half the width (distance between sleeves) along the top edge
- Along the folded edge mark the length needed
- Cut a semi-circle out connecting these two points
Cut out the FEATHERS:
- I drafted a template and cut it out of different colored felt (white, orange, gray, brown and black) that I got at the dollar store.
- You can download the pattern here.
- It can be printed and cut by hand or used with a circuit. (interested in buying a cricut? See our post about buying a cricut in Canada)
- I ended up using about 90-100 feathers for mine which was size 3T (~20 per color and a mix between the two types)
Start sewing!
- Lay out the first row of feathers (alternating colors and feather type) so that the feathers hang halfway off the bottom (along the curved edge), overlapping the feather next to it by about half an inch (adjust to fit the space)
- NOTE: Start from the bottom and work your way up to the top. This way the top layer will hide all of your sewing lines.
- Pin into place
- Sew with coordinating thread (I used a normal straight stitch)
- Use the same steps to sew feathers to the front of the shirt
Attaching textured trim:
- Sew a piece of textured trim on the top of the wing piece (straight edge) to hide the stitching of the top layer of feathers.
- Wings: Cut a piece of fabric the length of the wing piece by 4″ wide.
- With right sides facing out, fold the piece of fabric in half and pin to the outside of the top wing piece.
- Sew with a regular stitch
- Collar: Sew the collar onto the shirt using the textured trim as per the pattern instructions (note since trim is thicker than typical shirt material you may need to make it wider than the pattern instructions).
Attaching the wing piece to the shirt:
- Press the trim open (flat) on the wing piece
- Pin the wing piece to the shirt along the top of the sleeves and tight around the collar.
- Sew by hand (I know this part sucks and if I knew of a way to do it by machine then trust me I would have!)
- Pair it with some brown pants and enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed making your kids owl costume as much as I did! My son has enjoyed his costume so much that we have made it two years in a row now! I made one a snowy owl costume and used white and light grey felt for a different look. What has been your favourite costume to make for your little one?
Happy sewing!
Jo
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Jo sent me pictures after each step of creating this Halloween Costume…and it blew me away. Watching it all come together was incredible…and then getting to see her sons face when he wore it sent it over the moon. Just picture a 2.5 year old feeling like he can fly… absolutely amazing JO!