How to Make Easy Owl Wings for Costume

An absolutely gorgeous No-sew owl costume for kids!

You can make this pretty owl costume for your child even if you have zero sewing skills. This tutorial will show you how.

This is a 3 piece costume that includes a mask, a sleeveless beige dress, and a feathery wing.

What you need to make this No-sew owl costume:

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

The measurement/quantity given here is suitable for 2/3 year old. If you are making this for elder kids, still you can follow the same method and increase the quantity of the fabric accordingly.

Instructions to make a No-sew owl costume:

To be easy to understand, I have split the tutorial into 3 sections and have added ample pictures, step by step instructions to explain the making process. Let's start!

Part 1- Sleeveless line dress (Owl body)

Cutting the Base

First, we are going to make a full-length dress with beige fleece fabric. For reference, You need your child's dress to mark and cut the owl dress.

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

Preparing the Fringe

Next, we will prepare the fringes to attach to the front of the dress

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

Attaching the Fringe

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
2. Glue it to the bottom-most part of the dress.
3. Add the next strip such that it slightly overlaps the uncut portion of the below strip.
4. Add layers this way till you reach the top.

Finishing

The front is ready with the fringes.  Now, we have will have to glue the sides.

1. Apply glue along the inner edge of the back part
2. Now place the front part over it and press.
3. Hold together for few seconds till it dries.
4. Continue to glue them till the bottom end. Likewise, stick the other side.
5. The owl body dress is ready. This is how the dress looks when completed.

I used hot 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.

Part 2- Owl Wings

Measuring and Cutting the Base

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.

Cutting Feathers

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.

Adding Feathers

First, Mark concentric circles with a pencil on the semicircle wing base. This is for reference to glue the feathers. (In the below image the drawn line is not visible)

1. First, apply hot glue to the line and add a feather.
2. Add the feathers one by one on the line after applying glue over it.
3. Each Succeeding feather should slightly overlap the previous one.
4. Repeat the process until you complete the full line or half of it.
5. Repeat the process on the next concentric line.

Make sure to form a rhythm with colors. I have used 4 shades of brown in order from darkest to lightest. Keep Adding Feathers. About 40% of the work is complete in the below image.

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?

Adding Button

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.

Part 3 – Making the Owl Mask

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
• Make 2 holes using a punch plier(To tie the elastic band)
• Add Eyelets using eyelet plier
• Glue the tiny feathers one by one over the mask base.
• Finally, Tie the elastic band.  The mask is also done.

Tadaaa…And finally, here is the owl costume!

It is actually time-consuming DIY. Yet I would say it is so simple and you will love making this for your child.

That's my kid flaunting her wings during the carnival when she was 2 years old. She was enjoying and running everywhere flapping her wings. Everyone's eyes were on this little owl and I was really proud of my work.

A year later, we used it again and it fitted very well. Undoubtedly, Felt is very durable and all you need is an iron before wearing it.

Felt and hot glue are great combinations to make costumes like these.

Surely, any bird costume can be made with the same method. Macaw, flamingo, Swan, Pigeon would also be great choices. Just change the color of the fabric.

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Don't forget to check our No-sew quiet book

I hope you found this post inspiring and useful. I would be very glad to hear your thoughts in the comment section!

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Source: https://www.littleladoo.com/no-sew-owl-costume/

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