DIY FAIRY COSTUME - UPDATED

Hello, dear readers! Are you as excited for Halloween as I am? Sooooo excited!

If you haven't started thinking about a costume yet, don't give up! There are so many great DIY costumes out there you can throw together last-minute. For a quick, cheap one, check out my DIY deer costume post from last week.

I've been thinking about this fairy costume for weeks. I just put it all together this last weekend, and I'm super excited to share it with you. I had soooo much fun putting it together. (I've always wanted to go all out on a fairy costume...)

(Check out my DIY Fairy Wings post for instructions on the wings.)

Man, I love fairies.

All right, without further ado, here's an overview of my fairy costume:

• A DRESS FROM MY CLOSET, adorned with scarves, some extra tulle, and glittery flora from Michael's (It's this dress, from American Eagle.) 

• HOMEMADE FAIRY WINGS, made from wire hangers and cheap nylon socks (you know, the ones that come in those little plastic eggs for 30 cents - here's my post with instructions for the wings)

• FAIRY HEADPIECE, made from glittery flora from Michael's, assembled with wire

Pull a fairy-ish dress out of your closet, and start draping some scarves. If you have time, go buy some tulle. Tulle is perfect for this: you don't need much to give a fairy effect, and you can get a little bit for cheap. I tacked most of the tulle pieces with a needle and thread, using a quick, large stitch that comes out easily. I was also able to attach some of the pieces with a safety pin and hide the pin.

As for the glittery adornments, I used snippings from a few Christmas stems I caught on sale at Michael's. I spent less than 5 bucks on all of it. Regular silk flowers are great, too, of course. You can even paint them!  What about some cheap fake greenery, painted metallic? Metallic spray paint, anyone?

I attached most of the flora with safety pins, and for the rest I used wire.

Okay, the wings. (For details about my wings, you can check out my post about them!) Now, I really enjoyed making these wings, but I did spend a lot of time on them. You can of course go much simpler on the decorating. You could certainly just spray paint them.

The headpiece is simple. I shaped the wire around my head, and wired snippets of glittery floral stems to the main wire. Alternatively, you could make an ear cuff like this one, or just add some flowers to your hair-do ;)

I made one side of the dress off-the-shoulder (pictured above). I hooked a strong, elastic removable bra strap (just regular elastic would work, too) to the dress and lined it up with the real strap, then I positioned it comfortably off my shoulder and attached the lavender scarf loosely to the straps. It stays up perfectly and is comfortable. (This picture reminds me that I have to get rid of that paper clip!)

Hope I've inspired you! Of course I plan to wear sparkly shoes and have some killer fairy makeup. I will try to post pictures of the wearing it :)

Have a great day and rest of your week. Happy Halloweening this weekend!

UPDATE
One year later, as we're nearing Halloween once again, I'm posting a few pictures of me wearing the costume last year (makeup and all) for further inspiration.

DIY FAIRY WINGS

Hello, dear readers! I hope you're having a great week. I just finished putting together my fairy costume, and I'm really excited about it. I'll post pictures of the whole costume soon!

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make beautiful fairy wings. And for less than $4!

Here's what you need:

• 4 wire hangers
• 2 pairs of cheap nylon socks (you know, the kind that come in those little plastic eggs for like 30 cents each)
• twine or strong string
• masking tape
• small piece of cardboard
• several feet of ribbon (for tying the wings onto yourself)
• paint, glitter/glue, silk flowers, decorations, etc. 

• pliers 
• scissors

Like I said, I spent less than $4 on these wings: 30 cents each for 2 pairs of nylon socks (Wal-Mart, but you can get them at Walgreens, too), and $3 for the hydrangea (also Wal-Mart).

With the help of the pliers, untwist and straighten out each of the hangers. Now bend the hangers into wing shapes. Take the top and bottom of one wing, put the corners together, and tie tightly with twine. (If you have ends of hangers poking out of the outline of the shape, you may want to wrap the end with masking tape so it doesn't poke a hole in the nylons.) Next, pull one nylon sock onto each the top and the bottom hanger. Tie at the bottom (like you would tie a garbage bag). Repeat steps with the other wing.

Now put the two wings together, and wrap the center connecting point with twine at every angle. Wrap well until the wings feel secure. You can use masking tape for extra reinforcement.

Now, to reinforce the center of the wings (and to give you a place to mount flowers and other decorations), cut two small cardboard rectangles, one for the front and one for the back. Attach them with masking tape, like this:

Next, cut two very long pieces of ribbon, and tie each around the new cardboard center. The knots should be on the back, and the ribbon should hang down evenly. You'll use these ribbons to tie the wings around your arms.

Now it's up to you to make them beautiful! Use acrylic paint, spray paint, glitter, flowers, rhinestones, and other fairy things. I glitter-fied mine by painting on ModPodge.

Voila! Happy fairy-ing!

For a video tutorial with a similar process, here's a great video from Threadbanger:

DIY COSTUME INSPIRATION: DEER

Happy October, dear readers!

Happy fall!

Happy Halloween-costume-dreaming time! (yay)

I love Halloween. Actually I love any excuse to costume up. That's why I love theme parties (and I get super into them when I'm a guest... probably too much sometimes...).

I have to say, I've created some pretty rad DIY costumes, from Pocahontas to Mystique (yeah, I painted my whole body blue... it was one of my favorites). Sadly, though, these last few years I didn't find enough spare time or effort to make any elaborate costumes.

Last year, I found a solution which was not at all time or money consuming - painting my face:

I stapled (yes, stapled) little brown felt ears to a headband, and voila!

This picture is at Buckshot Bar in SF. Haha, it's the only picture I took with my ears :)

It was a ton of fun painting my face each night, and then I just wore something super simple. One night I wore all brown, and another night I wore brown tights with a brown-and-other-earth-tones floral dress. When your face is the real package, the clothes are so easy!

And deer are adorable. Right?

Here's some more:

Megan Blair on lookbook.nu.

LOVE these antlers made of twigs. 

Tutorial for this pretty deer face painting.

Great ears and antlers.

Have a great Saturday!