"Baby Owl in Nest"
His mom bought the hat & I created the costume to go with it. I purchased 5 colors (light blue to match tassels on hat, orange to match beak, brown to match hat, grey and white for contrast) felt squares at 25 cents each. A long sleeved onsie size 6 months $2.98, 12" of brown fuzzy rug fabric approx 45" for $3.10 and a pair of brown sweats $3.88 at Walmart, have to keep the legs warm! All items were easy to find and I had coupons or they were on sale.
To make the costume, I measured from his shoulder to 1" past his finger tip and cut brown fuzzy faux fur wings using a scallop design. I folded a piece of notebook paper in half and cut the pattern I wanted to make a stencil, then cut the fabric with 'stencil' on top). I cut the brown felt slight wider than the fuzzy fur piece and added the light blue felt to add 1/2 to 3/4 inch edging around the fuzzy wing and brown felt. The blue felt does not cover the entire underside of the wing, only the edges. The brown felt covers the entire underside of the fuzzy wing and gives it the support it needs. I used fabric glue to make fuzzy fabric stick to brown felt and to add light blue edging. The back of the costume is fuzzy brown fur as well. I measured 1" below his neck (so it wouldn't itch him) to right past his bottom. I cut it to fit across his back with a 1" overlap on each side. I hand stitched the wings to the top corners of the back fuzzy piece and hand stitched the top and elbow of each wing to the t-shirt sleeve. Be sure to leave room for the infant/child to fold his arms! I found it better not to stitch the back to the t-shirt, limits their movement too much.
The body is made of random scalloped patterns of felt. I used 2 handmade templates to cut rounded edges and sharper edges. You can cut a 2.5" strip of felt as wide as the child's' stomach (when they are full) and add 1" to 2" to that. Fold felt strip in 1/2 and cut using either rounded or sharper pointed edging. You may have to open it and see if it looks ok to you. I trimmed mine up a bit - I like the more sharp edges for feathers. Layer the felt in alternating colors onto onsie. Make sure you like the pattern and alternate the pointed feathers for a more natural look. Insert cardboard or a large piece of felt into onsie before gluing fabric pieces on. Only glue across flat top edge of felt. Remove inserted piece of felt /cardboard after glue dries.
The brown felt feet are 2" longer than his little shoes and the orange felt accent is cut to fit approx. 1" inside the brown felt. Use fabric glue to attach orange felt on top of brown felt. They are a webbed foot design with the center 'toe' 1" longer than the others. Note: there are only 3 toes in this webbed foot design. I cut an X in the center of the webbed foot piece so his foot can fit into it...then you put the shoes on.
The costume took less than 3 hours to make, including all my adjustments and color changes. It was my 1st attempt.
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