DIY Peacock Costume

Recently I’ve had several inquiries as to how I made Adelyn’s peacock tail last Halloween.

In all honesty, it was pretty easy to do. I winged it and only really worked on it during Addy’s naptime or after she was in bed for the night. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a ton of pics as I was working on it because I wasn’t sure I would actually write up a DIY post… but, as it turns out, I am! I’m just doing it a year late! This is my first DIY post, so hopefully my directions are decently clear.

So, let’s get started. 🙂

Supplies needed:

• wire coat hangers
• electrical tape
• pipe cleaners
• pliers
• fishing line
• feather boas
• hot glue gun and glue
• felt
• sequins
• elastic
• needle
• thread

The frame for the tail was made with wire coat hangers, electrical tape, hot glue and fishing line. That’s it, nothing fancy!

Step 1. Measure and cut coat hangers
Straighten out the coat hangers. Decide how wide you want the tail to be. This will be the bottom bone (marked “1” in the photo below). Cut that length by bending the hanger back and forth with pliers until it weakens and breaks. Next, decide how tall you want the tail to be and, again, “cut” the second straightened coat hanger for the perpendicular support (marked “2”). Repeat the same process for bone “3” (although you can simply fold the hanger into a V shape instead of cutting it into two separate parts… cuts down on the number of bones you have to join.)

Step 2. Assemble coat hangers into frame
To assemble the bones, wind electrical tape around the one spot where you want them to connect (marked “midpoint”). You can even try hot glue-ing the bones together at the midpoint. THEN, wrap pipe cleaner around that same spot to help support it a bit more. {{I also wrapped each limb of the tail in pipe cleaners so that the feather boas would stick to the frame when I hot glued them, although you may find this part unnecessary.}}

Step 3. Add fishing line to help keep frame steady
At the 5 endpoints, bend the coat hanger into a loop and string the fishing line through all 5 loops. Tie the fishing line tightly at the ends. You should end up with a fairly solid frame.

{{Side note: I ran a second line of fishing line about halfway between the midpoint and the end of the bones, although I did this after I had covered the frame in boas, so in hindsight, it probably would have been easier if I had done it at the beginning. It helped make the frame even sturdier.}}

Step 4. Wrap frame with boas
Working one bone at a time, hot glue one end of the boa to the midpoint and wind the boa around the bone, working up and out. Be sure to add spots of glue along the way to ensure that the boa stays fastened to the bone. Hot glue the end of the boa to the end of the bone.

Step 5. Fill in empty spaces with more boas
After covering the frame entirely with the feather boas, you will have empty space between the bones. Here, string more boas from the midpoint out to the fishing line (hot glue them at the midpoint, wrap the other end of the boa around the fishing line and glue it there too).

{{Sorry, no pic :(}}

Step 6. Make the peacock eyes
This step can be completed whenever you have spare moments. Cut out various shapes from the felt colors you’ve chosen (be sure to stack them before you glue them down so you know whether you like the way they look together). If you decide to use sequins for a little extra sparkle, hot glue the sequins around the perimeter of the felt. Then hot glue the pieces on top of one another. Repeat, repeat, repeat until you have enough eyes for the size of your tail.

Step 6. Glue the peacock eyes onto the peacock tail
Arrange the eyes on the tail. Note that when you wear the tail, some of the eyes may be covered up by your back. Hot glue the eyes in place when you are happy with your arrangement.

Step 7. Make the harness
I didn’t take any pictures of this process, but the idea is simple. On the person who will be wearing the costume, measure the distance between their shoulder blades. Take a thick strip of elastic and sew a loop at both ends (arm holes), making sure that the distance between the loops is the same as the measured distance between the person’s shoulder blades. You should end up with something that looks like this: 0____0

Step 8. Connect harness to the tail
Weave the harness through the boas and around bone “2” so that both arm hole loops are on the side with the eyes. After making sure you like where the tail will sit on the costume wearer’s back, use lots of hot glue to fasten it in place.

{{For added reinforcement, I also ended up using a giant safety pin to secure the tail to Addy’s back.}}

Voila! You have made a peacock tail!! If you do end up making a peacock tail yourself, please leave me a comment and/or send me a picture because I’d love to see how it turns out! 🙂

A few shots of Addy’s finished costume:

Adelyn is 2 years, 4.5 months old and Colton is 4 months, 4 days old.