DIY Butterfly Costume

by jbfalle 7:16 PM 0 comments Crafts DIY Kids Recycling Refashion

My eldest daughter finished Nursery last March 25, 2014. For their program they will present a song and dance number about different animals. The girls were required to wear a Butterfly Costume. I was looking for a cheap costume and found the butterfly wing sold for 300 pesos at Toy Kingdom, so I have to purchase the blouse and skirt separately. But then, the crafty me, told myself that I could save much if I made it myself. So I would be sharing with you how I got to create my little girl's butterfly costume from scratch.

Day 1: The Blouse

I have an old white shimmery blouse, that I used when I was still fat, and it no longer fits me. So I thought that it would be nice to make it into her blouse for the costume.

I used a shirt that fits her and used it as my pattern in creating her blouse.

Total Time to Create: 1.5 Hours

Day 2: The Wings

I used a metal wire cut two pairs, one pair slightly shorter than the other.

I wired the pairs of metal wires together forming somewhat like a number 8.

Then I intertwined the two pairs in the middle part. I added a piece of cloth on this portion so that it would be padded and won't injure my girl at her back.

After forming the wire to my desired shape, I started putting the sheer cloth (from an old night gown) using pins. When the cloth was in place I hand-sewn the cloth using blanket stitch. Then I cut the excess cloth when I was done sewing.

This is how it looked like after putting all the cloths on the wing. I put some sequins after that.

Total Time to Create: 3 Hours

Day 3: The Shoes

This shoe was lying around because the flowers were detached. I decided to repurpose it by adding tulle flowers.

Here are the tulle flowers I made to attach and embellish the white shoes above.

Total Time to Create: 15 minutes

Day 4: The Skirt

I made a skirt using a 2 inch elastic waist band and a blue glittered tulle. I also made another skirt for baby.

Total Time to Create: 2 hours

Now it's time to calculate the costs:

My Expenses in creating the costume:
Blouse = Free
Wings = Sequins 3 yards = 18PHP
Shoes = Free
Skirt = Tulle Cloth = 2 yards = 140PHP
       Elastic Waist Band = 1 yard = 6PHP

Total Expenses = 164PHP

Time to Finish the Project: 
Blouse: 1.5 Hours
Wings: 3 Hours
Shoes: 15 Minutes
Skirt: 2 Hours

Total Time to Finish the Project: 5 Hours and 45 Minutes

And here is my little girl wearing my finished project:

She loves it, for sure. My project was meant to create a set of blouse and skirt that can we worn even after her school presentation. I also made her an antennae headband from scratch to match her outfit.

I hope this article inspired you to make costumes for your dear ones too. :-)