Flower Fairy Costume Tutorial

So my husband and kids told me that they wanted to do the trick or treating event at my husband's office.  This afternoon.  They told me this morning.  And of course we didn't have costumes figured out yet.  I thought I had a whole nother week to nail them down to an idea!  So this morning and afternoon has been an explosion of activity and craft supplies, and whew, we're set.  A whole hour early.

May I present a very last minute flower fairy!

If you're looking for last minute inspiration, here's what you'll need to make this flower fairy costume:

• colorful wig
• fairy wings (bought at Party City, but easily found online, too)
• green felt
• velcro
• green tulle
• silk flowers
• real or silk leaves
• hot glue gun
• scissors

Start by making or buying a simple tutu.  I used four yards of sparkle tulle for Niamh's skirt.  

I cut rectangles of tulle approximately 36 inches long and as wide as my fabric.  I folded the tulle in half, so I had a double layer of tulle skirting that was about 18 inches long.  I then sewed a quick line near the fold of the fabric and ran some baker's twine through it to create a simple tie-on skirt. 

You could easily make a no-sew tutu, too.  There are tons of tutorials out there.  

Next up, the bodice.  It's basically a trapezoid of felt, with scallops cut at the bottom.  The top width is the measurement of my daughter's chest plus two inches.  The bottom width is the measurement of my daughter's hips plus two inches.  

I decided I wanted an asymmetrical bodice after I'd already cut the felt, so I just glued a triangle of felt right on top.  Nobody's going to see it.

I glued the velcro to the bodice so it's easy to close up in the back, and started adding my leaves.  You could use fake leaves for this, but I didn't like the selection of silk leaves at the one craft store I had time to hit this morning.  So I went out to our lemon tree and did some much-needed pruning, and came back with my natural bounty.  I just used a glue gun to glue the leaves to the felt bodice, just like how I make real leaf table runners.  I'll have to rip off the leaves and re-do it for next week and Halloween, but that'll be easy to do, and the real leaves look so cool that it's totally worth that extra bit of bother!

Hot glue some silk flowers to the skirt and the bodice, if you wish. Here's the tutorial for making the easy twig fairy crown.  

You think she's excited?

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go teach my older daughter how to style proper 80s mall hair.