Make a Child's Red Bird Costume

"Please Grandma, would you make me a red bird costume?" I asked my granddaughter what she would do if she was a red bird. She responded, "I'd fly, of course!" As you can see, she now can spread her wings and try to fly! 

As I gave her this red bird costume, we talked about how she really wouldn't be able to fly but she could have fun pretending to fly. I didn't want her jumping off her two story deck thinking she'd be able to fly! You know how children's imaginations can go wild! 

Occasionally, this red bird was able to flap her wings and jump just enough to get some air. Now, on to how I made the costume!

For the main body of the costume, I used a super soft, jersey knit. The wings and half of the feathers were made from a metallic red spandex. The stomach and the other half of the feathers were made from a stretch knit, red splattered velveteen fabric.

The pattern I used was McCall's M6785.  I used the body for view C. 

The only thing I wish I had done was make the neck smaller because when I sewed the wings in place, the fabric feathers made them kind of heavy and pulled the neck down. You can learn from my errors. 

Notice the back tail feathers (you can see it a few photos below). I redesigned the back pattern piece so that the bottom had a long curve down like the size of half of a luncheon plate. Then I sewed on the feathers just like I did for the wings. (More about that in a minute.)

A while after I began working on this costume, I came across these bird feet in my costume bag. I created these when my son (my granddaughter's father) was about her age. It makes me laugh to think that I wore them with a blue bird costume I made out of a high school prom dress - sorry, I don't have any photos (that's probably a good thing). I washed these bird feet, cut them down to fit a six-year-old's feet, and added new elastic.

Lastly, I re-positioned the Velcro on the back straps to fit a child's ankles. Who would ever guess these bird feet would come in handy when they were first made so many years ago?

One of my favorite things about this costume is the mask. I started with a Mardi Gras mask that I purchased and never wore. I pulled off all the elements from the original plastic mask form and using spray glue, I added the same red splattered velvet fabric to the entire mask, that I had used for the wings and on the stomach. Before adhering it to the mask, I traced with a pen the eye openings onto the wrong side of the fabric. Then using scissors, I cut out the eye holes. 

The beak was made from yellow felt which I reinforced with iron-on interfacing. Once the beak was in place, I embroidered the brown markings onto each side of the beak. Then I glued on gold sequins along the top edge of the beak.

The final touches were to glue a yellow rhinestone to each to corner of the mask. Then, I glued the original gold trim around the eyes and the outer edge of the mask. 

Lastly, I glued a piece of leftover red boa onto the top of the mask. This element kind of looks like hair, doesn't it?

The wings were made by cutting out a lot of fabric feathers. I overlapped these feathers and sewed them onto a wing shaped piece of fabric. I alternated the rows of feathers with a row of shiny red and then a row of velveteen red splatter. After the wings were filled with feathers, I sewed them onto the back seam of the bird top. 

To keep the wings attached to her the red bird's arms, I added elastic straps that went over her sleeves. One strap was added to the wrist and another right above her elbow. For the one above her elbow, I cut a piece of the red shiny spandex fabric. That way this strap blended in with her costume.

I sewed the red boa onto the neck, around the sleeves, and around the stomach piece of the costume using a large zig zag stitch. I sewed as close to the middle of the boa as possible. 

To wear under this red bird shirt, I purchased red shorts. Some things in life just need to be easier. I'm sure you'd agree! 

Once I sewed the costume together, I took a long, long trip before my granddaughter could try on this brightly colored bird costume. 

I'm really curious to know what her Australian neighbors thought this crazy little American was squawking about? But maybe they just thought it was one of the local birds because they all seemed to have a loud squawk. 

Halloween is just around the corner! What are your children or grandchildren dressing up as? xoxo Grandma

Other costume ideas:

Mermaid Costume

Baby Carrier Shark Costume

Flintstone Family Costumes

Make a Child's Mermaid Costume

How many of you have a child that likes to pretend they are whimsical creatures? A few months ago, this little girl and I were Facetiming and she asked me to please make her a mermaid costume for her birthday. I can never turn down such a request-- especially from a grandchild. So I whipped out my favorite mermaid pattern and got to work! 

When I was visiting her family in Australia, they took me to the beach for several days and I had a chance to photograph her as Seaena the mermaid. She made-up a story of her life off the coast of Australia and how she and her mermaid baby liked to sit on the rocks and sunbathe.

It's always nice to have a fun story to go along with your costume. Such imaginations! 

To make this mermaid costume, I used the following two patterns: 

Butterick #5597, I liked the top of this mermaid pattern. I used the pattern piece to make the scallop shells-- only my granddaughter wanted orange shells, so these were made out  of an orange taffeta. I also liked the idea of sewing these onto a ready made, nude, long sleeve leotard. 

To make the mermaid skirt, I used the pattern from Simplicity #8198. The spandex fabric I used had wonderful fish looking scales. It was really easy to sew on. I purchased my fabrics and the leotard from Onstage Dancewear. They are a family owned dance store that custom makes dance outfits. They have an amazing assortment of fabrics for costumes.

To make the crown, I used some ivory lace that I already had. I sewed it together to form a circle. Then with hot glue, I added seashells of various sizes. The final touch was to hand sew a few pearl-looking beads onto the lace. 

With the leftover fabric, I surprised my granddaughter and made her a costume for her American Girl doll. I had plenty of fabric leftover to make three more additional doll mermaid costumes. 

Here's a close-up of the doll's mermaid crown, which looks very similar to the child's crown. The only difference was I used the smaller shells on the doll crown.

My favorite part of this costume was walking to the beach with my little mermaid. It was fun to hear the comments she got and to hear my granddaughter exclaim, "Grandma, did you hear how much they like my mermaid costume?!" Yes, I did hear and I'm so happy I could witness her joy at the beach!  

xoxo Grandma

Make a Halloween Baby Carrier Shark Costume

Get ready to turn heads with the cutest baby in town on Halloween! 

Last year when the cute baby in the photo above was born to my niece, I asked my niece what she wanted or needed for the baby. She told me all she wanted was a baby carrier costume. Music to my ears! Costumes I can do! They're one of my favorite things to create! But a baby carrier costume? I was stumped. I honestly had never heard of such a thing. 

I asked my niece to share photos with me of what she had in mind. She showed me this image of a shark costume. Since the article only explained how to create this costume, but failed to offer a pattern or photos, I'm expanding on this Halloween Baby Carrier Shark Costume idea with a FREE pattern. Trust me, it'll make things a lot easier! 

So... here we go! Get ready to create the easiest, most darling baby costume in town!

HERE is the link to the free baby carrier shark costume pattern. Make sure you print the pattern without shrinking it. 

Let's get started!

Supplies needed

Grey felt

Black felt

Red flat bias tape

White pellon, 1/8 yard

Fiber fill

Grey thread

2 large googly eyes

Glue

4-6 Medium to large safety pins

Directions:

1. Cut out 2 of the bodies from grey felt. Cut a hole for the shark mouth in one of the bodies. 

2. Cut a piece of black felt a little larger than the mouth opening.

3. Cut out teeth from heavy white interfacing like Pellon.

4. Sew the teeth in place. 

5. Sew the black backing behind the teeth.

6. Sew red flat bias tape around the mouth mitering the bottom corners so you get a sharp pointed edge.

7. Right sides facing, sew the grey felt bodies together, leaving an opening to turn them right side out.

8.  Clip the corners and rounded edges.

9.  Turn the shark body right side out.

10. Lightly stuff the shark body with fiber fill.

11. Sew the opening closed.

12. Glue the googly eyes in place

13.  With large safety pins, from the back side of the baby carrier, safety pin the shark body to the carrier.

To complete the costume, dress in black, add swim goggles for you and your little one, and throw on a multicolored blue tutu skirt... you know... because your outfit is going to need a little splash too (pun intended)!  

Happy costume making! And Happy Halloween! 

xoxo Grandma

More costume ideas:

The Flintstone Family Costumes

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The Flintstones Family Costumes

Are you and your family Halloween fanatics? Are you into choosing a theme for your family costumes? If so, and you love dressing up, you'll love this post. 

My youngest daughter's family loves Halloween and getting all decked out every year. She's a redhead and so is her daughter, so she thought it'd be perfect to choose a Flintstone family theme. To prep her young kids, she let them watch a few episodes of the Flintstones, since they had no idea who they were. Talk about making me feel old!  

The Dino costume was created by using Simplicity pattern #2506, view C. I used a light weight fuschia cotton fabric. If you live somewhere that's colder in October, I'd suggest using fleece. 

The Dino name tag was made out of felt. I cut out two bright yellow circles and with black floss, embroidered the name onto one circle. I added heavy interfacing to the circle and then sewed the pieces together. With black embroidery floss, I sewed the name tag onto a turquoise neckband. The neckband was 3/4" wide and hook and loop were used to hold the neckband together.

On the back of the Dino costume I added random back spots. The black strands on top of the head were made of black fleece. In retrospect, I wish I would have inserted pipe cleaners inside the strands so they would have stood up.

Pebbles shirt was made from a simple lime green cotton fabric. The pattern used was Simplicity #4927, view B. I cut out random black triangles and machine embroidered those onto the fabric before I sewed the top together.  With this shirt, she wore a blue shorts that she already had on hand.

Of course, a white bone is necessary for a cave girl's hair. I cut out two bones out of white felt. Then I sewed the bones together leaving a small opening to turn the bone. I hand sewed an elastic onto the center of the bone to make it easier to attach to hair. If you want to make a bone too, here is the free pattern for the bones I made for Pebbles and the Bam Bam costumes. 

For Bam Bam's costume, I used a basic boy's short pattern. Before I sewed the shorts together, I sewed onto the fabric random, black triangles. The best part is the shorts hem was cut randomly to give it a tattered look. I used a solid brown fabric and cut two slit like buttonholes into the bottom of the strap piece. I made two white bones to put into the slits. 

My grandson's favorite part of the Bam Bam costume was the club. My recommendation for the club is to use a good sturdy fabric. I used felt and felt just doesn't hold up well. I also inserted a dowel into the club before sewing it up, so it wouldn't flop over. The club has dark brown wood type lines machine embroidered onto it. 

Bam Bam's hat was purchased here. I hand sewed the black triangles onto the hat. Then I hot glued a jumbo white pom pom onto the middle of the hat. 

The parents were on their own for their costumes. 

Do your children or grandchildren know who the Flintstones even are? Happy dressing up! xoxo Grandma

Some of the items used to create these costumes can be found here:

  

The Witch & Her Witch Hat

If you've waited until the last minute to make a costume, keep reading because this is an easy, one hour witch costume that will be a crowd pleaser.

This granddaughter, pictured above, inherited the The Very Hungry Caterpillar costume from her cousin.  The costume wasn't what she wanted because while she was visiting me a few weeks ago, she would look at me and say, "Dama, do you know what a witch says?"  Then she'd say, "Look at me, look at me," and I'd look at her and she'd say, "He he he heeee....Dama, I want to be a witch!" 

How could I deny this darling girl, who can not pronounce her "G's," from having a witch costume? The next day, this little helper became my "pin" girl and handed me pins and more pins as we refashioned this old black lace dress of mine into her new witch costume:

To make this costume, you'll need:

• An old black dress or skirt
• A long sleeve black knit top
• A dollar store witch hat

To make this costume, here's what I did:

• Cut off the lace skirt from the dress. 
• Cut off 3" from the bottom of the black shirt.  
• Baste over the top of the skirt black, glittery tulle. 
• Add gathering stitches all around the skirt.
• Pull the gathering stitches until the skirt is the same size as the bottom of the knit shirt. 
• Pin the skirt to the shirt.
• Sew the shirt to the skirt.

The witch dress is complete. Wasn't that easy? 

To glamorize a dollar store hat:

• From the inside of the hat, tack in place leftover tulle.
• Tack or hot glue bright orange ribbon and stripes of black glitter tulle to the side of the hat.
• Tie the ribbon and then the tulle into a knot.

 

I'm not sure why the umbrella is in the above photo but I do know she loves her "zoo" umbrella and who knows, she just may need an umbrella on Halloween night.  I know, I used one quite often when I was a child but I grew up in the rainy part of Oregon and my costumes were never this much fun!  Year after year, I usually dressed as a hobo.  Yup, pretty boring costume. So, this little witch is much cuter. 

In an hour, this witch costume was ready for this happy little witch whom I'm positive will enjoy this costume and laugh her cute little witch laugh whenever she wears it.  Happy Halloween everyone...he he heeee!  xoxo Grandma

Make a Queen Bee Costume

You're going to love the simplicity of this costume.  Make or purchase a bee costume.  

Purchase a crown.  Add additional plastic jewels onto the crown with hot glue. Hot glue 2 jumbo sized yellow pom poms onto the tops of two black pipe cleaners.  

If the stinger on the costume doesn't have any glitz, hand sew tiny clear beads all over the fabric using black thread and wallah, it'll shimmer.

That's it, your queen been is ready for some Halloween fun.  xoxo Grandma

How to Make a Simple Mexican Poncho

Need a last minute, super easy to sew costume for a baby?  Try a simple Mexican poncho.  Then add a sombrero and maracas and that little one's costume is ready for Halloween in under an hour.

Supply List:

• Fabric
• Bias Tape extra wide double folded
• Mini pom pom trim
• Thread
• 2" long x 1" wide triangle of black fabric

Measure your child's length from the top of the shoulder to the middle of the thigh or however long you want your poncho to be.  Multiply this number by 2 and add 1" for the seams.  

Now, measure from wrist to wrist plus 1" for seams.  The will be the width of your poncho.

Purchase fabric according to the above measurements times two if you want the lining to match the poncho.  

In the center of the fabric, cut an oval and a 4" slit. This will be the area the head goes through. Repeat this step for the lining fabric.  

Sew mini pom poms to the bottom of both widths of the poncho.

Now, pin the lining to the poncho, wrong sides together.  Sew around the large rectangle shape using 1/2" seams.  Leave at least a 3" long area to turn the poncho.  Turn and iron.  Baste the neck opening together.  Pin bias tape around the neck opening starting with the slit area and sew.  Sew the black triangle on top of the bias tape ends as shown below.  Wasn't that so simple?

Hopefully, your little one will entertain himself with the maraca and be happy.

 If not, at least you tried, right?  xoxo Grandma

Linked to: Project Run and Play

Wedding Dress Costume From a Tablecloth

While I was ironing a white tablecloth to get ready for a party at my house, I remembered why I hated using it.  It was an extra long tablecloth and every time I used it, I had to iron it!  Anyone else hate ironing as much as I do?  I swear it's the worst task on earth. Well, as luck would have it, my granddaughter had recently requested I make her a wedding dress for Halloween. When I saw this white tablecloth, I knew that ironing it must come to an end... it's fate was to be a wedding dress. 

The pattern I used to make the dress is Simplicity 0631. Yes, it is from the Wizard of Oz, but Glenda the Good Witch's dress turned into a lovely wedding dress.  I added sequins to the bodice and a lot of tulle under the skirt. The great part about using a tablecloth was that the hem was already sewn!

When my granddaughter tried her costume on for the first time, this four year old proudly exclaimed, "All my wishes came true!"  May you have fun making wishes come true for all your little ones too.  xoxo Grandma

Linked to:  Nap Time Creations, Project Run and Play

How to Make a Spider Costume

A spider costume is just so much fun to wear for any active little boy in your life!  

Download this free spiders arm pattern here.  Make sure your print option, "fit to page" is not checked.  For the hood pattern, I used Butterick #5597.  

Supplies Needed:

Large 3" orange Pom Pom

Black sequins

Red sequins

White sequins

Black fabric

Clear elastic

Black Velcro 

Black thread

Black ready made long sleeve top

Black leggings

1.  Sew together the spider legs leaving the bottom of the pattern open.

2.  Stuff the legs with fiber fill.

3.  Sew the legs onto the black long sleeve top at the sides.

4.  5" from the end of each leg, run a gathering stitch around the width of the legs and then attach the arms together by sewing clear elastic to these areas. Leave about 4" of elastic between each leg.  Do not cut the tread until all the arms have been sewn to the bottom of the long sleeve top.  Tie the elastic thread off securely.

5.  Sew the hood according to the directions on the pattern.  

6.  Onto the eyes, sew the white circle of fabric and then onto the center, the black circle of fabric. 

7.  Sew the eyes together leaving the bottom open.

8.  Stuff the eyes with fiber fill.

9.  To the eyes, sew white sequins in a circle.  Then to the black pupil area sew a circle of red sequins and then around the interior of the eye, sew a circle of black sequins.  Now sew more black sequins to fill in this area.  Onto each sequin, sew a clear bead.  This step will keep the sequins in place.

10.  In the very center of the eye, add one white sequin.

11.  Hand sew the eyes onto the front portion of the hood.

12.  Hot glue or hand sew the orange pom pom in-between the eyes.

13.  Sew together the fangs leaving the bottom open.

14.  Lightly stuff the fangs with fiber fill and hand sew these to the edge of the hood, right below the eyes.

 That's it, your spider costume should be done.  My grandson loved watching his arms move together and the sequins made his eyes glow and shimmer.  Enjoy making costumes!  xoxo Grandma

For More costumes with free patterns, see these posts:

Free pattern for a moppet hat here.

Pikachu Free Pattern & Tutorial

Shared at:  Project Run and Play