Now that I’ve spilled the beans about attending my first music festival over Halloween, I have to share my plan for a DIY costume!

But I also want to see what YOU are planning for Halloween, so link up your fall inspired projects and Halloween ideas/costumes to the party too!

Typically I do dress up every year for our annual Halloween party, so I’m no stranger to making my own (and usually the hubs’ costume). Sadly this year we won’t be hosting a party, obviously, so I have a little more time to make an extra effort on mine. After a few weeks of thinking about what to be, I decided on an owl 1) because I love owls, they are all over my house and 2) feathers are fun.

Obviously an owl has to have wings, but I wanted to avoid the large-stiff-wire-like variety for fear of being a general nuisance in a crowd. I did a quick search around Pinterest to see if I could find any examples and came across a few versions using felt “feathers” on a cape like piece of fabric. I took a cue from this tutorial at Natty Jane Sews, except I used real feathers!

I decided to lay out the feathers in a few different arrangements to see which one I liked best. I’m 100% sure that none of the options are actually representative of any real-life owl. Methinks no one will notice.

feather arrangement 1

feather arrangement 2

feather arrangement 3

I liked the totally random look the best, with the spotted feathers sprinkled throughout. I decided ultimately that sewing the feathers on would be the most fail-safe idea, since I’d be traveling with this costume and won’t really be able to fix it on site. It actually didn’t take as long as you might think. I just sewed them in rows, backstitching several times over each one then adding another.

owl wing costume

diy feather owl wing costume

 

I’ve only finished one, just because I ran out of feathers and had to go out and get more. I think it took me a couple of hours to do one wing-not too bad considering it would take at least that long to cut feathers out of felt!

DIY feather wings

So now it’s your turn! Remember to visit some of the other links and show some love!

 

7 Responses

  2. Cathy

    Rachel, this costume is going to be amazing – love that you are using real feathers. Thank you for hosting the party – have a great rest of the weekend. Cathy

    Reply
  3. Niki

    i’m looking into making my own owl wings. where did you purchase the fathers you used?

    Reply
  4. Caroline

    I’ve been reading your blog for home improvement ideas and best practices on paper bag flooring. I was SO excited when I read that you made this costume for Hulaween! I was there that year too and String Cheese is my favorite band ever! I wish I could share pictures here because I want to share a pic of the costume I made, probably one of my favorite costumes yet, and I’ve made LOTS…..I was a rainbow slinky! It was SO fun to dance in because it bounced and wiggled all night. I had little slinkies in my hair, down my arms, and of course the big one was a short dress and when I bounced it went all the way to the floor.
    Anyhow, I’m currently brainstorming costume ideas for Hulaween this year, wish me luck!

    Reply
  5. Natasja Rothe Lund

    I’m in love with your owl wings! I to am a huge fan of owls and i want to make these myself. Do you have a number on the amount of feathers that you have used?

    Reply
    • Rachael Evans

      Hi Natasja – I’m not really sure, I’m sorry! It was several bags of different kinds! I would buy plenty and return the ones you don’t use.

      Reply

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