Hedwig Baby Owl Costume DIY That’s No-Sew… Really!

Accio, adorable Hedwig baby owl costume!  My dream of having the family dress up as Harry Potter characters is finally coming true this year!  Well, at least my younger kiddos anyway.  My daughter begged me to be Hermione this year, which led my son to want to dress up as Harry, which led me to the question- what about the baby?

While there are lots of Harry Potter costume ideas for adults, there weren’t a whole lot of Harry Potter baby costume ideas.  Then it hit me- what about a Hedwig costume?  Visions of a fluffy white baby Hedwig costume consumed my thoughts until I finally sat down and came up with a plan.

The result is this darling owl costume that was actually very easy to put together.  If you have a Cricut Maker machine this costume is even easier- it will do all the cutting for you!  You can learn more about why I LOVE my Cricut Maker HERE.

Did I mention that this baby Hedwig costume is NO SEW?!  Yep.  I’m very crafty, but sewing machines just scare me.  You can make this baby owl costume without ever going near a sewing machine.

You’re welcome.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase, I receive a very small commission at no extra cost to you.  

Baby Owl Costume Tutorial

Supplies:

• Long sleeve onesie
• White diaper cover, bloomers, leggings, or ruffle tights
• White felt (I buy mine at Joann with a 50% off coupon for super cheap!)
• Fabric scissors or Cricut Maker (optional)
• Glue gun
• White craft feathers (Mine came from Michaels but these ones on Amazon look just like what I bought)
• Nylon headband (or a pair or old nylons you don’t mind cutting would work too)

Cutting the owl costume feathers

You are going to be cutting a lot of feathers out of white felt.

If you have a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore Air 2, then you’re in luck!!  Your machine can cut all the felt pieces for you and all you have to do is glue them down.

Get the cut file for feathers I created, then cut with your Cricut machine.

Helpful Hint:  When you go to cut the feathers with your Cricut machine and it says “Project Copies,” change the number from 1 to 41, so it fills a whole 12 x 12″ mat with feathers without wasting any felt.

UPDATE: Please Read!

Cricut Design Space recently changed from being web based to app based. You need to download the Cricut Design Space app now in order for my cut file links to work. When you click a cut file link you’ll see this page…

• Click “download,” open up the app-based Design Space, then come back and click on my cut file links and they should open right up for you.
• If you previously downloaded the Cricut Design Space app, then click on a cut file link and then click on “Open.” The cut file should open right up for you.
• If you go to the old Design Space for web, the cut files will NOT open. You need to download the new Design Space to access them.

If you don’t have a Cricut machine, don’t worry.  You can still make this baby owl costume.  You will need to cut out one feather that you like from felt and use it as a template for cutting more feathers.  Keep cutting until you have a LOT of feathers.

Gluing the feathers on the Hedwig costume

Place a piece of cardboard inside the onesie to the hot glue doesn’t go through to the other side.

Starting at the bottom center of the white onesie, add a strip of hot glue to the top of the feather, then carefully press down to adhere to the onesie.

Glue another feather a bit higher, overlapping slightly and to one side of the first feather.  Repeat to create a bottom row of feathers on the owl costume that goes up on the sides.

Keep repeating until the center portion of the onesie is filled with feathers.  I left the arms plain.

Around the top, I glued a little “collar” of feathers to finish it off.

Making the baby owl costume wings 

This part is optional, but if you want your Hedwig costume to have wings, then measure your child’s wingspan (okay, arm span), then cut a piece of white felt to that length.  Cut a semi-circle from end to end to create wings.

Add felt circles to the owl wings just like you did for the owl costume, starting at the bottom.

Adding feathers to the baby Hedwig costume

This is my favorite part of the owl costume DIY because it’s where you will really start to see this owl Halloween costume come to life and look more realistic!

You will need white craft feathers.  I cut off some of the end of the feathers and used more of the smaller and medium feathers.  Lift up a section of feathers, add a dab of hot glue, then carefully press the top of the feather onto the hot glue, being careful not to burn yourself.

Repeat to add texture and softness to the baby Hedwig costume.  You can add as little or as many feathers as you like- you’re done when you say you’re done and when the costume looks just the way you want it.

Repeat to add feathers to the wings.

Creating the owl costume mask

The final touch on this baby owl costume is the mask.  The mask is the final touch that will reallymake your child look like an owl.

The owl mask isn’t meant to go over your child’s face, but should go on their forehead, well above their eyes.

I created a darling mask in Cricut Design Space, then cut it out of white felt with my Cricut Maker.  I used yellow and black felt to cut the eyes and black felt to cut the beak.  You can find the mask cut file HERE.

If you don’t have a Cricut machine, you can hand cut a simple mask shape and use a bottle cap or other round object to make the eyes, then cut the beak.  Glue them onto the mask.

I also glued more white craft feathers onto the back of the mask to make it appear softer.

I glued a nylon baby headband that I had to the back of the mask with a little strip of hot glue.  You can also use a piece of elastic measured to fit your baby’s head.

I cut a small circle of felt and glue it over the spot where the headband was glued onto the mask to make it nice and soft.

I also added a small ring of elastic to both ends of the wings to hold the ends of the wings onto my daughter’s arms.

To attach the wings to the costume, I just used a couple of safety pins.  I wanted to be able to remove the wings and not have them attached permanently, and this worked great.

So what do you think?!  I’m absolutely in love with how this owl costume DIY turned out!

I dressed my baby girl up in her baby owl costume, then took her and her Harry and Hermione siblings out to get a few photographs.

I printed out an envelope addressed to Harry Potter that I found online, then gave it to my little snowy owl to “deliver.”

Well, come to find out, owls get hungry too, and before lunch she had snacked on poor Harry’s letter.  Good thing Harry loves his little Hedwig to pieces and didn’t mind one bit.

If you love all things Harry Potter too, then I’m sure you’ve seen the fantastic new Harry Potter LEGO sets.  We are obsessed.

We have bought almost every single set.  All we still need to get is the massive Hogwarts Castle set.  Did I mention we love Harry Potter? 😉

Our friends at LEGO sent us the LEGO Hogwarts Express set, and my kids could barely contain their excitement about putting it together.  I mean, look at those tiny little Daily Prophets!

I can’t tell you how proud I was to hear my son calling “Expecto Patronum!” while Professor Lupin was saving Harry from the Dementor.

My daughter summoned her best British accent to portray the witch with the tiny LEGO chocolate frog and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans… “Something from the trolley, dears?”

If I’m being 100% honest, I’m really not sure who is more excited about the new LEGO Harry Potter sets… my husband and I or the kids. #notkidding

Want to know our favorite things we did at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios this past summer?  Just check out our post.

I literally still dream of drinking pumpkin juice from the amazing Three Broomsticks.

P.S.  Stay tuned for much more Harry Potter goodness coming your way!

In the meantime, have you seen our Fantastic Beasts party?  My daughter and I made the niffler ourselves!

If you love Harry Potter, you really need to check it out!  The Fantastic Beasts cookies are absolutely incredible.  

Accio cookies and a big glass of milk!