No-sew Owl Costume

Have you picked your costume for Halloween? Would you like to be a hoot owl this time?

As Halloween is around the corner, I wanted to share this DIY owl costume, which I made last year for my 2-year-old for the carnival. This 3 piece costume includes a mask, a sleeveless beige dress and a feathery wing.

It is a very simple no-sew project that anyone can make. Once you read this tutorial you will say "Hey! This sounds easy and I can make it"

1. Beige Fleece blanket (approx 130 x 170cm)
2. Felt sheets in 4 shades of brown (5 sheets(20 x 30cm) in each color)
3. Hot glue gun
4. Scissor
5. Button
6. Elastic band
7. Punch plier and eyelet plier

The measurement given in this tutorial is suitable for 2/3 years old. If you are making this for elder kids or for an adult, You can follow the same method but modify the measurement & increase the quantity of the fabric accordingly.

You need your dress as a reference to mark and cut the owl dress.

First, we are going to make a sleeveless line dress with beige fleece fabric.

1. Fold the fleece fabric two times( such that it has 4 layers)
2. Then, fold the dress (taken for reference ) in half and place it over the fleece fabric.
3. Mark the outline of the dress with a pencil.
4. Now using a scissor cut the fleece fabric along the line.

The front and back of the dress are ready.

Next, we will prepare the fringe for the front side.

1. Cut 2" wide strips of fleece fabric.
2. The length shall be equal to the width of the dress
3. I made 25 strips for this dress. Make as much as you need.
4. With a scissor, make fringe along one edge of the strips.
5. Fringe approximately 1.5 inches of the strip leaving 0.5 inches uncut.

Now add the fringe to the dress starting from the bottom and add layers until it is fully covered. For this, we need either a hot glue gun or fabric glue.

1. Apply glue along the uncut side of the strip and glue it to the dress.
2. Add the next strip such that it slightly overlaps the uncut portion of the below strip.
3. Add layers this way till you reach the top.

The front and back are now ready and we will have to glue both the sides.

1. Apply glue along the inner edge of the back part and press the front part over it.
2. Likewise, glue either side of the dress from the armhole to the bottom.

The owl body dress is ready.

This is how the dress looks when completed. I used glue to attach the pieces together. But If you would like to sew them instead, you can follow the same steps and sew wherever needed.

Next, we will make owl wings with a beautiful intricate pattern of feathers. First, we will measure and cut the wing base.

1. We need the "shoulder to hand" length to mark and cut the wing base.
2. Add 8" to the measured length.
3. With the final measurement mark a semicircle and cut it out of the fleece fabric.
4. Please check the picture for reference.
5. Also, make a semi-circular cut near the neck part.

Now, Let's make the feathers

1. Make a feather shape template with thick paper
2. Place the template over the felt Sheet and use a precision scissor to cut them out.
3. Cut as much as feathers needed to cover the entire wing.

Cutting the feathers is a major part of the whole process and it takes a lot of time. I am sharing a few more details of how I cut the feathers

1. Each feather measures 4.5 cm x 6.5 cm
2. I used 4 different brown shades of 1.2mm thick soft felt.
3. I had cut around 375 pieces
4. One 20 x 30cm sheet yielded 21 pieces of feathers.

The wing turns very beautiful when the feathers are small and the pattern is too intricate. But you can choose as per your preference. A bigger size feather might also look good and considerably reduce the cutting workload.

1. Mark concentric circles with a pencil on the semicircle wing base. This is for reference to glue the feathers. (In this image the drawn line is not visible)
2. Now apply hot glue to the line and add the feather.
3. Add the feathers one by one on the line after applying glue over it.
4. Each Succeeding feather should slightly overlap the previous one.
5. Make sure to form a rhythm with colors. I have used 4 shades of brown in order from darkest to lightest.
6. Repeat the process until you complete the full line or half of it.
7. Repeat the process on the next concentric line.

Sharing some progress pictures. About 40% of the work is complete here.

Continue adding the feathers until the base is fully covered with feathers.

And this is how it turned out. I really loved it!

What do you think?

To wear the wings we need to add lace or a button near the collar.

I have added a big Button on one side and an elastic loop on the other side. This is a no-sew dress but this button and elastic hoop have to be sewed.

If you do not know to sew, you can skip and use a safety pin while wearing it.

• First, I roughly drew an owl mask and used it as a reference to cut the base and the tiny feathers.
• The base is cut with a dark brown felt and the feathers in different shades of brown
• Made 2 holes using punch plier(To tie the elastic band)
• Added 2 Eyelets using eyelet plier
• Tie the elastic band
• Finally, glue the tiny feathers one by one over the mask base.

Here are the front and the back pictures of the mask after completion

Tadaaa..And finally, the owl costume is ready!

Look at my kid flaunting her wings during the last carnival when she was 2.3 years old. She was enjoying and running everywhere flapping her wings. Everyone's eyes were on this owl. Really!

Sharing some more photos which were taken recently. Now she is 3 years old and I am sure the wing & mask can be worn at least till she turns 5 years.

The materials used here are very durable and all you need is an iron before wearing.

Felt and hot glue are great combinations to make costumes like these. The traditional way of sewing will take forever to complete.

And with this method, I believe you will be able to make any bird costume by using different color feathers.

Macaw, flamingo, Swan, Pigeon would also be great choices. What do you think?