Birds of a Feather: Halloween Costumes, Early Stages

After asking everyone on Facebook for good story character costume ideas for the girls, I naturally decided to go with something entirely different.  Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas though, I may use them in the future. 

 

I saw this beautiful peacock costume on Pinterest and decided that the girls should be birds.  T will be the resplendent peacock (and we'll just ignore the fact that the male peacocks are the colorful ones, not the females).  And D, since she now says "ow"  and "hoo", will be an owl. 

 

The base of both costumes will be the same, just different colors.  Following the peacock costume tutorial I made a shirt pattern from one of the girls 2T shirts I bought for the fall and winter.  It was my first time making a pattern from one of their existing shirts and I'm very proud of  how well it turned out. 

 

It was also my very first time really sewing with a stretchy knit fabric.  Although the stitches are a mess, the shirt actually turned out great.   I needed to buy special ballpoint needles to work with the fabric which helped a little.  I think having the special foot for my machine would also be helpful but I haven't gotten it.  Perhaps I should, since the knit fabric turned out so well, I may want to make more cloths for the girls and myself out of knits.

 

 

Here is T's shirt all done except for the neckline and hood. I decided to go with a hood for two reasons:  I think the hoods will be less annoying than a mask and if they pull them off, at least they are still attached.  They won't get lost and I won't be bending down to pick them up every few seconds. 

 

I haven't sewn D's shirt yet but it is all cut out in the tan color and pinned.  I still need to decide how I want to do her costume's feathers and tail.  I think she should have the nylon tulle and felt feathers as wings instead of a tail like the peacock, or maybe with a smaller tail.  I'll have to play around with it and see what looks good. 

 

I drew the pattern for the hood by getting ideas for the rough size and shape online. I cut out and sewed a mock up that turned out too small and had a funny bulge in the back. But it was easy to fix.

Now T's shirt is finished except for the neckline.  I have also cut out the peacock's beak and tail feathers out of felt.  I'll need to sew the tail feathers together, sew them to the ribbons and attach them to the half tutu tail.  I also have to cut out and sew the skirt.  And get going on D's owl.  Lots to do and a little over one month to get it done.