DIY Baby Owl Costume

Fall feels like it is slipping away quickly.  There is only a little over a month left for making Halloween costumes (who am I kidding…I usually procrastinate anyway).  Last year I whipped up two homemade costumes, a baby owl and a spider.  I still have a soft spot in my heart for this baby owl costume.  I thought long and hard about what the baby’s first costume would be and how to workaround his CranioCap helmet (treatment for flat spot on his head caused by torticollis).   Finally, I was inspired by this last minute kids owl costume…leading me to work with (not around) the helmet.

The inspiration owl mask included eye holes for the child to see through.  I knew a 7 month old would not enjoy such a mask.  Instead I made a layered felt mask and attached it to his helmet with stick on velcro.  He did not even know it was there (he was just sleepy in these photos).  This could easily be adapted for a non-helmet wearer by sewing a piece of elastic to hold the mask on the child’s forehead.  I used three different colors of felt to create the mask and eyes.  I layers the felt and sewed it to give it more dimension.  I even sewed in a few feathers from the craft store to get the owl horns or ears.

I used tips from the inspiration costume to create the “feathered” onesie.  I used a solid grey long-sleeve onesie as the base.  In the discount bin at Joanns I grabbed a few remnant fabrics in browns and greys.  I played with subtle pattern and texture by mixing a pinstripe, flannel, and solid grey jersey.  I cut out a bunch of “feathers” with my pinking shears (to prevent fraying) and then stitched them in rows on the onesie.  He loved playing with them.  This was a relatively unfussy baby costume.  He wore it all day at daycare without complaint.  If he had been a little older (at least walking), I would have considered adding wings to the costume a la Hedwig the Owl from Inchmark Journal.

If owls wore socks, I know they would be argyle…don’t you agree?