DIY Angry Bird Costumes

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that our boys are just a wee-bit obsessed with Angry Birds.  In fact, we’ve accumulated quite a collection of the plush toys (thanks to grandparents and uncles).  So when I asked the boys what they wanted to dress up as for trick-or-treating, they naturally requested to be Angry Birds.  Rather than buying the costumes (which would have been WAY easier), I decided to make my own DIY Angry Bird Costumes.

I’m not gonna lie…these costumes took a good amount of time to make.  But the boys love them and they seem higher quality than the ones you can buy (plus, they were way cheaper to make).  I didn’t have a pattern, which made it a bit more difficult at first, but the second costume went much faster than the first.  :)

Here’s what you’ll need:  1 1/2 yards of fleece per costume (we used red and yellow), coordinating colors of felt (black, white, orange, yellow, tan),  permanent marker, ribbon, sewing machine, polyester stuffing.

 1.  To make a circle, I tied a piece of string onto my Sharpie, tied a knot and held it firmly in place while circling around the fabric (folded in half).

 2.  Cut the double-layers out, then cut arcs for the neck-holes and arm hole.

2.  Trace onto a double-layer of white fabric.  This will be the inside of the costume, so you can use whatever fabric you have.

 3.  Use the sharpie-ribbon trick (in step #1) to make a half-circle in your coordinating color for the bottom of the angry bird.  Trim off the excess and pin it onto the bottom of the front piece.

4.  Sew directly onto the red fabric.

 5.  Create the face.  I eyeballed everything and sewed it onto a black felt background before sewing onto the front piece of the costume.  When I sewed the yellow onto the black for the beak, I stuffed it with a little polyester filling while it was still on the sewing machine.

6.  Arrange all the elements onto the costume prior to sewing them on.

7.  Once the face has been sewn onto the front, pin the white fabric (inner lining) piece onto the top (the face will be on the inside).

8.  Sew a 1/2 seam.  Leave an opening of about 5 inches at the bottom of the costume.

9.  Stuff the inside with some polyester filling…not too much, but enough for the costume to keep its shape.  Sew the bottom opening closed.  Repeat for the back of the costume as well.  You should now have two pillow-like pieces.

 10.  Pin the shoulders and about 5 inches on each side underneath the arms.  Sew together (and be sure you backstitch).  You might have to put some of the polyester filling down while you sew.

Repeat for round 2…this was the only picture of the progress of the Outer Space Yellow Angry Bird.

I forgot to take pictures of how I made their hats, but it was really simple.  I used stocking caps, poked two small holes in the top, threading a pipe cleaner through, and sewed a felt flap over the pipe cleaner.

Prince Charming and I were the pigs…made by sewing felt eyes and a stuffed snout onto a green t-shirt.  :)

Here we are at our church’s “Trunk-or-Treat” on Saturday night…it was chilly, so we all had lots of extra layers on!

Have you ever made a homemade costume?  Was it worth the extra effort?