There is no need to spend a lot of money to make a perfect costume. Bird costumes, in particular, are easy enough to create if you have some time and patience. However, making certain costumes can be more laborious, so before you begin, be aware of the undertaking you are embarking on.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Raven Costume
Step 1. Cut out a basic pattern of the beak
Sketch a hooked beak on a scrap of black felt. Cut out the two halves of the beak with a sharp pair of scissors.
- If you prefer, you can draw the shape of the beak freehand. Remember to draw from a side perspective, not from above. The base should resemble a rectangle, while the beak should have a hooked or curved triangular shape.
- Alternatively, you can be inspired by the model proposed on this site.
Step 2. Sew the beak
Bring the two parts of the beak together and sew along the edge. Place the beak on top of the hood, just above the opening for the head, and secure the base of the hood to the fabric of the hood with a seam.
- Since the felt does not fray, there is no need to turn the fabric inside out while working. Be careful to make neat and even seams, so that the work does not take on a sloppy appearance.
- The beak should be placed right in the center of the hood, and when you wear it it should hang down to the height of your face.
Step 3. Cut out the eyes
For each eye you will need a yellow, a black, and a white crescent disk.
- The yellow one must have a diameter of about 7.5 cm.
- The black one must have a diameter of about 6.3 cm.
- The white crescent disk, on the other hand, must have a diameter of about 2, 5 cm.
Step 4. Assemble the eyes
Place the black disk on top of the yellow one, centering it perfectly. Stick it. Place the white crescent disk on top of the black one, so that the flat side is in the exact center of the other. Stick it.
- Use fabric glue or hot glue.
- Before pressing, let it dry.
Step 5. Glue a few feathers to the back of each eye
Tear off a few feathers from the strip. Turn the eye over so that the back side is visible, and glue the feathers all the way around the middle of the eye.
Attention: the feathers must extend like a fan starting from the part facing the flat side of the semicircle
Step 6. Fit the eyes to the hood
Place each eye on one side of the beak. They must be placed on the sides of the beak, but higher than the actual base of the beak itself. To weld them, you can sew them or glue them.
The curved side of the two white semicircles must face inwards, towards the beak, and the feathers surrounding each eye must fan out to the sides
Step 7. Sew a fringe of feathers on the outside of the sleeves
Cut out a strip of feather fringe that is long enough to cover the entire sleeve, from the shoulder seam to the cuff. Pin and sew.
- Keep in mind that the direction of the feathers should be downward and outward when wearing the shirt. Remember this as you sew the fringe.
- Repeat with the other sleeve until both are covered with black feather fringes.
Step 8. Put it all together
Wear black pants and black shoes. Put on your black feathered hoodie, and then pull the hood over your head, to show your beak and eyes. And lo and behold your raven costume is complete.
Method 2 of 3: Owl Costume
Step 1. Cut out a gray wing
Cut a piece of gray felt as wide as the opening of your arms, and as long as the distance between the neck and the back of the knee. Give the fabric the shape of a wing.
- Place a serving plate face down on top of the center of the fabric. Trace half of the outline with fabric chalk, and then cut out along the drawn line. It will serve as a neckline when you put on the wing-shaped dress.
- Place a ruler on the corner of the neck line. Slide it diagonally at an angle of about 20 degrees until it reaches the edge of the fabric. Trace this line with chalk, and repeat on the other side. Cut along the two lines. This will be the top of the dress.
- Draw a zigzag line all the way around the bottom of the dress. Sketch a semicircle that extends from one end of the wing to the other. Draw triangles with the vertex up and triangles with the vertex down, alternating them along this curved line until you reach the opposite side. Cut along this line.
- This will make up the top wing of your dress.
Step 2. Cut out a black wing
Place the first wing on top of a piece of black felt, wider than the previous one. Trace the neck line on the top edge of the wing, again with the help of fabric chalk. Always draw zigzag triangles, but go over the edge of the gray wing, Cut along these lines, and then proceed with the zigzag design on the bottom edge of the black wing.
As you go, make sure that the triangles with the vertex up and the triangles with the vertex down alternate in reverse order of the gray wing. In other words, when you align the two wings you must see a black triangle with the vertex up in the empty space of each of the gray triangles with the vertex down
Step 3. Sew the two wings together
Line up the two pieces of fabric so that the neckline and top edge match perfectly. Sew the neckline with a straight stitch.
You can either use the sewing machine, or sew by hand
Step 4. Attach two pieces of ribbon to the neck of the dress
Measure two strips of black tape. Sew one end of the first ribbon to one corner of the neckline of the black fabric, and sew the second to the other corner.
- The webbing should be long enough that it can be wrapped around the neck in just one loop.
- If you don't want to sew them, you can secure them with hot glue.
- Here is the wing-shaped dress.
Step 5. Make some simple black and gray feathers
Get a gray sweatshirt that you will use for the swimsuit, and measure the distance between the sleeves and the bottom of the sweatshirt. Also measure the width of the front. It will be necessary to obtain a quantity of feathers that completely covers the fabric.
- For each feather, cut out an almond-shaped piece. The feathers should be about 7.5cm long and 5cm wide.
- Divide the width in centimeters of the sweatshirt by 5. The number you will get indicates the number of feathers for each row.
- If you want the total number of black feathers, multiply the number of feathers per row by 3.
- If you want the total number of gray feathers instead, multiply the number of feathers per row by 2.
Step 6. Attach the feathers to the sweatshirt
Glue each individual feather to the sweatshirt with a small amount of hot glue. You need to alternate between black and gray rows, and start and end with a black row.
- Start at the bottom. The base of each feather should just protrude from the bottom edge of the sweatshirt.
- Go gradually. The feathers of one row should slightly overlap those of the row below.
- Line up each feather so that it is perfectly even with the one next to it.
Step 7. Make an owl mask
On black craft foam, sketch a mask shape, or trace a ready-made model. Cut out along the contours of the shape, and make two holes for the eyes. Glue the mask on top of a pair of cheap sunglasses.
- If you are not comfortable with freehand drawing, see if you can find a free and printable template at this link.
- After making the mask with the holes for the eyes, cut out two rings from a piece of gray sponge rubber. The diameter of each ring must be large enough to form a contour. Then glue the rings around the outer edge of the eye holes.
- After assembling all the parts of the mask, let the glue dry.
Step 8. Put it all together
Wear your feathered sweatshirt over a pair of gray sweatpants. Lace up the wing-shaped dress, and complete the outfit with the owl mask. With this, the costume is complete.
Method 3 of 3: Dress up as a Bluebird
Step 1. Glue a feather boa to the petticoat
With a hot glue gun, glue one end of the feather boa to the bottom edge of your blue petticoat (or your tutu of the same color). Apply a strip of glue all the way around the bottom edge of the skirt, and press the boa into the glue until the edge is completely covered.
- Please note: if the petticoat, or tutu, has a fringe at the bottom, that's where you need to glue the feather boa, but don't cover the fringe with the boa.
- If you want a more elaborate feathered skirt, repeat the procedure with a feather boa always blue but of a slightly different shade. Glue this second boa around the bottom of the skirt, directly above the first one.
- You can also repeat the operation with a third buoy of an even different shade of blue.
- Let the glue dry before proceeding.
Step 2. Attach the blue feathers to a mask with eye holes
Find a simple mask that covers your eyes. Glue small artificial blue feathers around the eye holes so that they stretch out to the sides.
- Start at the outer corner of one of the two holes. Glue the feathers with a hot glue gun to make them fan out diagonally.
- Move gradually towards the inner corner. Glue a second layer of feathers so that they fan out in the same direction, overlapping the first layer but without covering the eye hole.
- Repeat the procedure on the other side of the bezel.
- Cut a few feathers down to about 2.5cm in size. Glue these small pieces of feather in the center of the template to cover the space between the two halves.
- Let it dry.
Step 3. Put it all together
Wear a white tank top or white leotard over black tights and black shoes. Cover your arms with a light blue shirt, then wrap a brown or tan feather boa around your neck. Put on your feathered skirt and mask.
- The blue feathered skirt corresponds to the bluebird's tail, and similarly the blue mask corresponds to the bird's snout.
- The bluebird's chest is usually a little brown, a little white, which is why the boa around the neck and the top are not blue, but brown and white respectively.
- The blue shrug (or the blue shirt) represents the blue wings of the bluebird.
- Note that the costume is only complete at the end of this step.
