How to Make a Fairy Costume

Make an Elfin Outfit with Bells, Ribbons, and Flowers for Your Child

Sep 10, 2007 Melissa Howard

Make a fairy costume with flowers, ribbons, and bells that will make your child dance with delight.

Sometimes little girls want to be super-pretty and pretend to be someone else. Make your little girl this fairy costume complete with skirt, hair wreath, wings, and jingle bracelets. Featuring ribbon, flowers, and jingle bells, this costume will delight any child’s heart.

To make the wings and jingle bracelets read the tutorial How to Make Floral Hair Wreaths.

Supplies for Skirt and Wings

light weight (sheer is ideal) fabric
a simple elastic-waisted skirt (optional)
felt, fleece, quilt batting or some other non-fraying material
a large quantity of ribbon (this project is a great way to use up extra ribbon bits)
lace
fake flowers
buttons
jingle bells
scissors
needle
thread

To Decorate the Skirt

Make a simple elastic-waisted skirt from the fabric or buy a skirt. Make sure that the waist is snug. If the skirt is not snug enough, the weight of the decorations will drag the skirt down.
Dismantle the flowers by pulling off the stems and the plastic pieces that hold them together, keep the petal circlets and leaf groups. Discard all plastic material.
Stack flower circlets until you have a nice flower. Place the ends of several lengths of ribbon beneath the center of the flower. Work your way around the skirt, sewing flowers to the waistband using the buttons as the center of the blossoms. The buttons will help anchor the flowers and ribbons.
On every second or third blossom, sew a jingle bell to the middle of the flower rather than a button. Note: It may be necessary to use fishing line when sewing on bells. Some bells will fray the thread.

To Make the Wings

Measure your child’s arms from fingertip to fingertip. Measure your child from shoulder to knees.
Use the measurements to cut out a rectangle of fabric. This rectangle will be your wings.
Hem the fabric.
Cut a length of non-fraying material to four to six inches wide by the length of the shoulder to knee measurement.
Fold the strip in half length wise and sew a 1/8” seam all the way around the strip. This will be the body of the wings.
Find the middle of the rectangle that creates the wings. Run two rows of basting stitches down the middle about a quarter inch apart. (The measurement from shoulder to knees.)
Use the basting stitches to gather up the middle of the wings until the center is about half as wide as the ends.
Cut a 90” length of gross grain ribbon fold in half.
Fold the body in half. Enclose the bunched up center of the wings inside the fold of the body. Make sure that the open ends of the body are at the top. Tuck the fold of gross-grain ribbon in the open ends. Sew the open ends of the body closed, enclosing the folded edge of the ribbon.
Sew down the center of the body of the wings so that the wings are stabilized. (The gathered portion of the wings will be enclosed beneath the stitching and between the body halves.)
Measure around the palm of the child’s hand.
Cut two lengths of ribbon slightly longer than the palm measurement. Form the ribbons into loops.
Tack the ribbon to the top outside corners of the wings. These loops will hold the wings out when the child’s hand is slipped through them.
Cut two longer pieces of ribbon and tack on to the top edge of the wings at the child’s elbows.
Decorate the body of the wings similarly to how you decorated the wreath and skirt.
Add lace and other decorations as you desire to the wings. (Don’t forget to sew on a couple of bells).

Putting on the Wings

Pull one strand of the grosgrain ribbon over each shoulder. Cross over the child’s chest. Wrap around her waist ending at the front and tie in a bow.
Slip loops over the palms of the child’s hands.
Tie bows at the child’s elbow.
Send your child flying.

The copyright of the article How to Make a Fairy Costume in Crafts is owned by Melissa Howard. Permission to republish How to Make a Fairy Costume in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.