Peacock Costume

Danielle and I finished most of her Halloween costume today.

First we made the skirt. We used 5 different colors of tulle, cut into strips, and alternated them around a piece of elastic I sewed together to fit Danielle's waist. There were only supposed to be 4 colors, but the 2 rolls of turquoise didn't quite match, despite being the same brand from the same supplier. Thankfully it didn't matter. (The rolls were each 6" by 25 yards. The 6" width was perfect.)

The skirt was actually very easy to make. We worked together to cut all the tulle at once, and then made the skirt in about an hour. It's huge and poofy. Just perfect!

The tail took a bit more time, but it really wasn't difficult. We started with a piece of cardboard cut into a fan shape. We used tacky glue & hot glue to glue a 6' turquoise boa to the cardboard. (We covered the entire cardboard, I just didn't post a picture of it completed.)

While the boa was drying, we sorted our peacock feathers by eye size. We started with the feathers with the big eyes and worked our way to the smaller ones.

This part was definitely easier with two. I held the peacock feathers in place while Danielle added the hot glue. I won't lie. It was painful at times. I have a nice little 3rd degree burn blister on my thumb, but it was all part of the experience. I loved working on this with Danielle.

Once all the feathers were meticulously hot glued to the tail, we turned it over and hot glued a piece of ribbon onto the cardboard. The ribbon is long enough to wrap around her waist and tie in a bow in the back if we decide to do that. If we don't, I'll just cut off the excess. I left it long so we had options.

The finished tail and skirt. We still need to make a headband, but that should be easy. If I get ambitious, we might add a couple more feathers here and there. Can't wait until Halloween!

I snapped a cell phone pic of the tail on her so she could see how it looks. She hates this picture because she thinks she looks short and like a little kid, but I'm posting it so you can see how the tail lays on the skirt. I'll post a better picture of the complete outfit on Halloween.