Awesome Homemade Peacock Costume

This awesome homemade Peacock Costume was a labor of love. My lovely daughter Mitrian decided she wanted to be a peacock with a giant tail with real feathers. She asks and I do my best to make it for her!

First of all, I will say that I do know how to sew, but this could be done by someone who cannot sew by just gluing trim and such to an already made dress or skirt and shirt. The outfit that I made consisted of a taffeta peasant shirt done with green shiny taffeta, a royal purple silk long tank top with any trim that I could find to match the colors. The skirt was two layers of green and blue satin, simple skirt with the top layer cut into petals and then I ironed on peacock eyes that I cut out of the green, blue, and purple fabrics. I sewed a sequin in the center of each eye on the skirt to give it a bit of sparkle. I ironed on the same eyes around the bottom of the purple tank. These fabrics were all pretty cheap to buy and any fabrics would work, I was just concerned with getting the right colors. The tights were bought at Wal-mart and are usually available as witch tights in purple and green.

Next, I made a large tulle bow with green and blue tulle and safety pinned it to the back of the skirt. I stuck two of my broken peacock feathers on the bow and tied a few to the streamers hanging down just so she would have feathers when she wasn’t wearing the large tail piece.

The mask was bought plain at hobby lobby and then we glued blue and purple and green sequins of different sizes to the whole mask. On the nose of the mask, I glued an orange triangle of construction paper and coated it with modge podge until it was thick and hard. We also glued a few peacock feathers into the top of the mask. Mitrian had fun designing the mask and gluing the sequins on so even though it looks complicated, it is easy enough for a child to do and really adds to the costume.

Now for the tail! This is the showstopper! For the tail I bought some wicker “rug beater” looking decorative wall hangings that I found at a Dollar store for $2-$3 each. I believe that I used three of them wired together with floral wire to make the tail. Then I wrapped feather boas around the frame and secured them with wire. Next, I placed the peacock feathers along the tail where the eyes stuck out on top. Then I filled in all the spaces with various green and purple loose feathers. The peacock feathers cost $1 each at hobby lobby, but were on sale for 40% off when I bought them and I bought all they had. I secured the tail onto an old pair of feathered angel wings that I already had and added extra feather boa straps around the waist to help support the weight of the tail.

This costume took 2 weeks to make working on it every day for a few hours! It was very expensive for all the pieces and feathers. BUT it was well worth it!! Everyone loved it and she won her costume contest. It was memorable for sure! I love making costumes with a lot of detail and I’m sure a similar and just as beautiful costume could be made easier and cheaper, but I loved this costume just as much as my daughter did!