Download Article
Follow these simple steps to make a chicken costume for a child or adult
Download Article
A DIY chicken costume is a fun choice for Halloween, a themed party, or another festive occasion, and it’s surprisingly easy to make. All you need are some common materials and a little patience to create a feathered body suit, a chicken hat, and chicken feet. Turn yourself into a cute feathery friend or create a costume for your child. Read on for the full tutorial to craft your chicken costume—and get ready to master the chicken dance.
Steps
-
Get one or two white leotards with long-sleeved arms. For a slim chicken costume, you can stick with one white leotard. For a plump chicken, you will need two. When you get dressed, you’ll add stuffing between them to fill out your chicken costume’s belly.
-
Attach up to four white feather boas to the leotard. If you're using two leotards, only attach the feather boas to one of them. Flip the leotard over and place the first white feather boa’s tail at the center of the neck. Secure the boa to the fabric with safety pins as you wrap it around. Repeat with additional boas until you have your desired amount of chicken feathers.
- Position the boas as closely as you can to each other so your costume has full coverage.
- For a more durable costume, sew the feather boas to the leotard instead of pinning them.
Advertisement
-
Print and cut out a chicken comb template. Search online for a coloring page or craft template that features a chicken comb like this one from Joann fabric. You can also use the ‘muffin top’ part of a muffin coloring page instead. Print and cut it out so you can trace around it.
- Your chicken comb template should look like a cloud with a straight or slightly curved bottom edge.
- You can also draw one freehand to make your own template. Draw it using black marker on a white piece of paper. Cut it out so you can trace around it.
-
Trace and cut your chicken costume comb out of red felt . First, fold a 12 in (30 cm) piece of red felt in half. Place your comb template over the felt and trace around it with a fabric pen . Use scissors to cut through both layers of red felt along the traced pen lines. Now you have two matching felt combs.
-
Sew the combs together along the top. Layer the two pieces of felt with their insides facing out. Sew the top edge of the comb (the curvy sides of each felt piece) together. Once you’re done, turn the felt comb right-side out.
-
Stuff the comb and pin it to a white cap. Stuff the comb with wool batting . Sew the remaining edge of the comb shut to seal in the stuffing. Hot glue or sew the felt comb to the top of a white skull cap or a white baby or child bonnet (for a child’s costume), attaching it from the center front to the center back like a mohawk.
- The wool batting will keep the comb stiff. Tuck more into the comb before you finish sewing if you think it won’t stand up straight.
- If you can’t find a white skull cap or you’d rather not sew your own chicken hat, purchase a novelty chicken hat instead.
Advertisement
-
Stuff two large yellow rubber gloves with wool batting. For a child's costume, find a small pair of gloves. For an adult costume, find extra large rubber gloves. Use your hands to stuff the fingers of both gloves with wool batting so the fingers stick straight out. These fingers are the ‘toes’ of the chicken feet.
-
Slip a sneaker inside each glove. The end of the sneaker must be flush with the fingers of the glove—touching the base of the fingers so there’s no gap between the shoe and the chicken ‘toes.’ A simple low-top sneaker works best, such as a pair of Converse or Keds.
-
Tighten the gloves and cut small slits for your feet. Pull the top of each glove tightly over the shoe until the fingers point upward a little. This will prevent the wearer from tripping while wearing the chicken costume. With scissors, cut a small slit from the heel of the shoe to just over the sneakers’ laces so you can wear the shoes. Pull the laces through the slit and tie them in a bow.
- Pulling the laces through is optional, but the laces may look bulky under the gloves if you skip this step.
-
Gather and glue excess glove material to itself. Gather the extra glove material around the slit you cut and press it down into the shoe’s opening to better conceal the shoe. Wrap the glove material around itself and glue the pieces to each other with super glue—do not glue the glove to the sneakers.
- Allow the glue to dry overnight.
- Avoid gluing the rubber to your shoe so that you can dismantle the costume later on.
Advertisement
-
Wear bright yellow tights underneath your leotard. Choose sweater tights or lined, opaque tights so that your skin doesn't show through. The tights' bright yellow color resembles the legs of a real chicken.
- Try to find tights in a color that matches the yellow rubber gloves that form the chicken costume’s feet.
-
Put on your leotard. If you made a slim chicken costume, simply pull the feather-boa-adorned leotard over the tights. If you want a plump chicken costume, put on the extra leotard without the feathers. Wrap several layers of white wool batting around your torso to make a plump chicken. Then, pull the feathered leotard over the wool batting.
-
Put the rubber glove shoes on over your yellow tights. If you’d like to add more plumage to your chicken costume, wrap your ankles with an extra piece of white feather boa. Tie the boas securely at the back of each ankle.
- For added realism, wear a chicken mask with a beak.
Advertisement
Community Q&A
Search
-
QuestionHow do I make a beak?DeanCommunity AnswerUse orange construction paper taped together with tape. Add two holes in the sides with string going through them that can be fitted around the head of the person wearing it.
-
QuestionTo make it look better, can I add more boas on to the costume?Community AnswerSure. It might be cheaper to buy some yarn in the color of the chicken you would like to be and then glue or sew it onto a body suit.
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
Advertisement
Video
Tips
Tips from our Readers
The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
- For the body, you could use a white fluffy coat instead of a leotard.
Submit a Tip
All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
Name
Please provide your name and last initial
Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
Things You'll Need
- 1 white leotard (slim chicken costume) or 2 white leotards (plump chicken costume)
- Wool batting
- 3 to 4 white feather boas
- Safety pins
- Bright yellow tights
- Red felt (12 inches (30 cm))
- Fabric pen or marker
- Scissors
- Paper (for template)
- White skull cap (for adult costume) or bonnet (for baby/child costume)
- Needle
- Thread
- Pair of yellow rubber gloves
- Sneakers (Converse or Keds)
- Super glue
- Hot glue and hot glue gun (optional)
About This Article
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 138,019 times.
Reader Success Stories
- "This is seriously the best thing on wikiHow. Not too expensive or difficult, definitely going to do this soon."
Advertisement
"This is seriously the best thing on wikiHow. Not too expensive or difficult, definitely going to do this soon."
