DIY owl costume

When Halloween came around and I was figuring out what Hunter was going to be (he didn’t really have much of an opinion about it not knowing what halloween was), of course an owl popped into my head.  We’re big on owls here, especially for Hunter since it’s the theme of his room, so it made sense that for at least one year he had to be an owl.

And he sure was a cute one! For his costume I focused on a mask and wings.  Both sewn, and for both I followed different tutorials.  Let’s start with the mask.

I got the owl template (along with the raccoon and fox templates I also made) from here.  The original masks are made with felt, but since I have access to leather scraps from my mom’s book binding business, I made them in leather.  I thought they would last longer that way, since I’m hoping Hunter uses them for pretend play.  And also because leather is just super cool.  However, leather is kind of uncool to sew with.  It was my first time sewing with leather and all sewing was slower in general.  I didn’t have too much trouble with it sticking, just that it look longer than anticipated.

The wings were sewn and I’m so happy with how they turned out!  I love the fading of the colors.  The tutorial can be found here.  The actual sewing of the wings was easy and quick.  Cutting out the feathers is what really took the longest.  Instead of a ribbon tie for the neck I added elastic loops to go around his shoulders/armpits.  It works well at staying on and doesn’t pull on his neck.

Like I mentioned above, I made fox and raccoon leather masks as well. I’m hopeful for lots of fun woodland creature play in Hunter and Zoe’s future!

Did you DIY any halloween costumes or decor?  Tell me about it!

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