My Little Owl Baby Costume

For most of the week, I have been working on my daughter's Halloween costume. As I previously mentioned (here), I have been planning it for many months, and as usual, I'm doing it last minute. Well, at least I finished it this morning for Nancy-Raven's party, which is tonight (as opposed to say, 5 minutes before leaving for said party).

Originally, I wanted to use Simplicity 2788 as a base for the costume, but as luck would have it, when I went to buy the fabric and pattern, this pattern was sold out. So this is what I used instead:

McCall's 5648

I know, it looks nothing like a costume yet, but trust me. What I wanted was some sort of puffy romper and that did very well. I made View D out of white poplin.

For the "feathers", I used one of the numerous frozen juice can tops I have lying around as a base and I drew myself a pattern.

"Feather" and pattern

I cut 42 individual "feathers". I then over-locked the top edge in white and the curved edge in lilac (as it is a cartoonish owl costume for a little girl, I made it lilac and white). Then I pinned each feather in place on the front of the romper, before sewing them on one at a time.

I also made a pair of padded wings which are sewed in the back of the romper. I had to "wing" the pattern (pun completely intended). I used one of my baby's sweaters as a base and I drew them directly on the fabric. I added a tie on each to attach the wings to each sleeves.

Here is what the owl romper looked like:

Feathered Owl Romper

Then I needed a hat. While I was looking for a new pattern to use, I found this one which included an owl costume:

Simplicity 2527

I used the hat pattern in view C which I made in lilac poplin, the same fabric used for the wings, and I padded it.

To go with the cartoonish look, I wanted to add a pair of owl eyes to the hat. I made a pattern for them using a frozen juice can tops, a pill bottle (which I use to store sequins - very practical) and a small thread bobbin. I added two centimetres all around, one of which being for the seam allowance.

Owl Eyes Pattern

The irises and pupils were quilted on the white eye piece. The whole thing is also padded. I then fixed the finished eyes piece on the hat by hand.

Baby Owl Hat

And this is the finished costume:

Lilac and White Baby Owl Costume

My daughter will be wearing the romper over a white velour coverall. I made it in the largest size the pattern had, so with a bit of luck, it will still fit her next year, say, for Otakuthon?