So I have mentioned that Miss S requested a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween, and you guys know me, I had to take that as a challenge and make one, instead of spending like two dollars to buy one (seriously, maybe you should just buy one).
I took inspiration from a bunch of places, including this awesome homemade costume I found through some creative googling. I already shared with you how to make Homemade Fairy Wings and the Tutu I whipped up as a sort of petticoat. Now I’ll share the full tutorial for the costume. This will work for pretty much any fairy/princess get up your little one requests.
At the end of the day, I’m really glad I did it, I mean, the look on her face when she saw it…priceless.
Get the full Homemade Tinkerbell / Fairy Costume Tutorial after the jump…
And remember, leave a clever, cute, or kind comment on any post this week and you could win that 1/2 yard of Nicey Jane Oilcloth!
Homemade Tinkerbell / Fairy Costume Tutorial
To make this complete costume as is, you’ll need to purchase or make some wings: Here’s our Easy Homemade Fairy Wings Tutorial.
You’ll also need to make a tutu: Here’s my Tinkerbell Tu Tu.
1. Take some measurements of your costume-wearer.
-Chest measurement & Waist Measurement (on scarlet this is 20 inches for both)
-Bodice length: Measure down from the top of where you want the bodice to where you want the waist (on Scarlet, 8 inches)
-Skirt length: Measure from where you want the waist to the bottom of the skirt (on Scarlet, 9 inches)
2. Acquire your materials. For the tutu you need 4 yards of tulle and some elastic, see the tutu-torial for details. For the dress you’ll need 2 yards satin;(if there’s anything I learned from Project Runway it was don’t sew with satin, but actually it wasn’t that bad) and some grommets (or you can use a zipper).
3. Make the straps. Tinkerbell doesn’t have straps but her actual outfit is too, ahem, slutty for my two year old, so I made it a little more modest by adding straps and reducing the cleavagey-ness. So cut a 2.5 inch wide strip of fabric the length of your yard:
Fold it in half right sides facing and sew up the length:
Use a safety pin to loop turn it right side out:
Iron it flat with the seam to the middle of one side:
And cut it in half so you have two straps:
4. Now let’s make the bodice. Cut two pieces of fabric the width of your chest measurement plus two inches (so 22 inches for Scarlet) and the height of your bodice length measurement plus one inch (so nine inches for Scarlet):
To give it a little tinkerbell flair without doing a deep-v i marked the center, measured down one inch and 1.5 inches to each side:
then another inch away on each side (to allow a one inch area for the strap to attach):
And cut the bodice one inch down all the way to each end:
5. Now lay a bodice piece right side up (this will be the side that shows on your final garment) and lay the straps right side down (so you can see the seam) at the points on the front of the bodice:
Lay your other bodice piece right side down on top and pin:
Pin all the way around all three sides:
Sew all the way around the three sides, leaving the bottom unsewn:
Turn inside out and iron flat:
Now fold the bottom unsewn edge under 1/4″ to the wrong side and iron a sharp crease into it:
Set your bodice aside:
6. Now we make the skirt. The skirt is made up of five petals. To make the petals, start by cutting petal shapes. I made three bigger ones and two smaller ones. For each finishes petal you’ll need two pieces of satin. The bigger ones I cut matching size shapes 11″ long and 9″ wide, and the smaller ones 9″ long by 8″ wide and free handed the petal shape. So take two matching petal pieces and lay them right sides facing, and sew around the two curved sides, leaving the top open:
Trim the edges and cut score marks around the curves, then turn inside out, push the edges out and iron flat:
7. Now open up your bodice and lay it right side up (so the seams in your straps are facing away from you). Arrange the petals inside the opening at the bottom of the bodice. I did the three larger ones on the bottom and the two smaller ones centered on top. Pin in place, so the petal tops are enclosed in the bodice opening:
Here’s the wide view:
Sew in place with a straight stitch along the bottom of the bodice. Don’t worry if it’s a little crooked, we are going to cover it up later:
8. Now let’s make a simple sash that we will tie around Tink’s waist later. So cut a long strip of fabric 6″ wide, fold it in half with right sides facing and sew up the long side with a straight stitch, then trim your edge:
Turn it inside out with a safety pin like we did for the straps in step one. Iron flat with the seam to the center of one side:
Fold the edges of the ends in, making a point, and straight stitch across:
Sash complete:
9. Now attache grommets along the back opening of the dress. I used three on either side. Follow the instructions that come with your grommets. It’s very simple, you just cut a hole for the grommet, assemble the two pieces and hammer them together. You could also use a zipper, but the grommets are nice because it allows for a little flexibility in your sizing, whereas with a zipper it needs to fit just right.
Now cut a strip of fabric about 2″ wide, and follow the instructions for the sash above to make a strap to tie your dress on the wearer. You can thread it through after you put it on the girl, but here is what it will look like:
So that’s it! Assemble is all so you get an idea of how it will look:
Joy Joy.
So fancy for a little halloween fairy.
Soooo I didn’t have the timing right to do an all-out photo shoot in full costume with daylight and such, but here’s a few pics of her prancing around on our bed last night.
So, that’s that. Think you might try it? It looks harder then it was, I swear it’s totally do-able this weekend if you stay up late Friday and Saturday. Or am I nuts? I might be nuts.
OMG! It's gorgeous! Way to go!
My niece wants to be Tink, too, but we never do store bought costumes. It's worth the late nights to look amazing in costume, so I sent her this link. If I still lived in the same state (boo) I'd so make it for her!
Oh, and the comment about Tink's outfit being a little too, ahem, slutty for these little prudent babies, bahaha! SO true. Thanks for keeping it G rated and still oh so adorable!
That is Beautiful! Maybe you should come over and help me make a Tornado Super hero coustume.
"slutty" – so true! ha ha My two year wanted to be Tinkerbell too! I made the same costume as the homemade one you linked to (it is a Simplicity pattern) 🙂
aw, it's very sweet! Great job! Okay, now here's another challenge for you. My three year old wants to be a dragon. My three year old girl. She said this based on some strange raggedy colorful adult dress costume, I'm not sure how that's a dragon but obviously this can still be girly as long as it can be declared dragon. Aaaand… go! No? Fine, I have a backup, my SIL has an actual dragon costume. sigh.
Thanks for the final pictures. I LOVE your costume! You are so talented! You are right, the best payment is that huge smile on their faces.
You did an awesome job! That costume is WAY better then anything you find in a store! Plus you inspire me to make more things, thank you!
This is the prettiest costume I have ever seen! I have a granddaughter that would wear this everyday, not just at halloween! She is definitely a girly-girl & green is a great match for her red hair!
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing how you did this!
Just made an Ariel costume for my Maddy girl. SUPER CUTE and way worth the time!
Super cute!!!
That is soooo cute! It makes me want to drop the costume I started making for my daughter and make that one instead! I love it.
So cute! I'll have to bookmark this for when my girl is older. I'm trying to figure out how to make a Dorthy costume for a 9 month old. Her brothers are going as the Lion and Scarecrow. (Oh yeah, how do you make a lion costume for a 9 month old?)
Beautiful! I am up to my eyeballs in Halloween costume sewing right now. Last week, I finished my two-year-old's Purple Pirate costume (per her specific request) and it was a cakewalk compared to my son's choice, an "Evil Dark Night." I'm using Simplicity patterns for both of them, and the pirate was an easy slam-dunk that I made out of purple glittery cotton, purple polka-dot cotton, and dark and light purple ultrasuede. The knight, though? I finally finished making the chain mail hood and the ultrasuede/ chain mail tunic and working with the metallic knit I picked for the chain mail, even with the use of a serger, was such a giant pain in the neck that I am almost sort of thinking that the next step, quilting together cotton broadcloth, batting, and FREAKING TISSUE LAME, will be less of a hassle than easing stretch metallic knit sleeves onto an ultrasuede bodice. Because I must be high. Next year, no carte blanche pattern choices for the kids! I decree that my son must be a vampire instead of anything that involves either lame or metallic knits.
What a beautiful costume! Can't wait to have some little ones to sew costumes for 🙂
SO cute! My daughter wanted to be Minnie Mouse for Disneyland and so I could have just bought her a costume….but there is something in me that physically can't buy a licensed costume! Being rational goes out the window completely and is replaced by craft craziness! What is that? My husband would like to find a cure…
I love this(!)- especially the straps and the no toddler cleavage. I can picture this in different colors too.
I love the fabric! I love the bright green!
I actually had a prom dress (a few…..lots of years ago) made out of a satin fabric like that but mine was a pale green/blue color. I actually picked out how I wanted it made and a lady made it for us! Funny story behind it. It had this piece that came down in the front then there was the skirt part. It also had an almost tail part like a man's suit coat in the back. Well, we went out to dinner before prom and I had to use the restroom. Well, I go walking back to the table and realized that OH NO! My skirt part was up around my waste and all that was down was the little portion hanging down in the front! I was MORTIFIED!! I ran back and fixed it….I still wonder if anyone or who saw!
Anyway, I would love to have a dress like that for my little one. She loves to play dress up and this would be something she would love too. Seems like little Miss S really likes it! Oh, it would be pretty in any color I thing too. Red, bright yellow, burgundy, orange, royal blue, purple – simply beautiful. :0)
I love getting your e-mails letting me know what you have created. It makes me miss my sewing machine while I'm working. I dream one day of being at home and getting to create things. It's just awesome what you do. Keep it up because I'm reading. 8^)
Angie
super cute.
So "fairy" cute….awesome costume!
Its the perfect tinkerbell green too!
homemade is so much nicer!
You have surpassed your level of awesomeness by sharing this with us. Thank you so much. You have made this Prudent Mama and her fairy loving babies very happy ladies.
Yeah you could have bought a cheap outfit that might, might last though one night of Halloween parading around, but your dress is amazing! And will be used for dress up until it no longer fits. I've got a princess request from my four year old this year and although I was planning on using one of our old, frumpy Disney-knock off dress, now I'm inspired and tempted to try this. It doesn't seem too complicated.
Oh, and yes, Tinkerbell's outfit is so slutty! My kiddo has a place mat of the fairy and she looks more like Marilyn Monroe in her underwear than a Disney princess!!
Adorable! Have you gotten your daughter to take it off yet? I really really want to send a link on this to a very big Peter Pan/Tink fan who is a dear friend of mine, but I'm scared she will want me to make her a costume. In her (adult) size. I type this as I have yet to start my son's costume. What will he be? A pierogie. Oh my.
Oh my gosh, she looks so happy! That's the best moment, those first moments of putting on a dress that makes you feel so delightfully girly. =D She looks great, and the dress is TOTALLY cute!
Well I think I'll just throw the tinkerbell costume that I bought away now that I see this! I can't have my girl prancing around in something that looks like crap compared to this. Alas I guess I will have to make it doable on my weekend before Halloween…will send pics when its done though!
Should we use your slippers tutorial to make Tink's shoes? I'm thinking it's a must!
This is amazing! I wish it had been around for last Halloween when my daughter decided she wanted to be a sunflower fairy! I just winged it. (pun intended 🙂
I'm bloody terrified of the idea of sewing a costume but you've broken it down so concisely that I think I might give it a try. Now I just have to turn a tinkerbell costume into a sheep. Clap you hands if you believe!
Hello!
We love your Tinkerbell costume! I’m writing from bulbinblue.com, a new, non-profit website for creative ideas and crafts. Bulbinblue.com provides a space for creative individuals to interact and share ideas, tips, and projects. We’d love to feature your tutorial (text and pictures) in our upcoming costume section. We would also like to translate your tutorial into French and German so that it can be accessible to an even wider audience! We will do all the work of putting the tutorial on the site and translating it, and you will be clearly indicated as the project’s author. If you are interested, please email us at blueteam@bulbinblue.com!
Have a good day!
Olivia from the Blue Team
I made this today and it turned out lovely and WAY more easier than it looks!
This is SO adorable and your little girl looks so happy to be wearing it! I just featured it on my blog's Cutest Handmade DIY Kids Halloween Costumes! Thanks for sharing!
I have a princess loving daughter that would absolutely LOVE this. Think I'm going to have to give it a shot!
Great tutorial! i will make it for my daughter. thanks for sharing.
Made one for my daughter today, and posted pictures too!! Thanks for the great tutorial…
http://pauline-lifewiththeboo.blogspot.com/2011/10/tinkerbell.html
[…] Click to see how this Tinkerbell costume was made … […]
Hi,
I just wanted to tell you, that I actually made this dress for my niece. and I also wanted to thank you so much for this tutorial. I love it. And so well explained. In Germany we celebrate a holifay called Fasching (kinda like Mardi Gras) and for a party in her Kindergarten she needed a dress. You can see mine on my blog. The Link is: http://bilingual-crafting-sewing.blogspot.com/2012/03/tinkelbell-costume-tinkerbell-kostum.html
Greetings from Germany
Catrin
oh my goodness! so cute!
What an awesome pattern!! Thank you for sharing!!
[…] Halloween for kids: DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume So I have mentioned that Miss S requested a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween, and you guys know me, I had to take that as a challenge and make one, instead of spending like two dollars to buy one (seriously, maybe you should just buy one). I took inspiration from a bunch of places, including this awesome homemade costume I found through some creative googling.  I already shared with you how to make Homemade Fairy Wings and the Tutu I whipped up as a sort of petticoat.  Now I’ll share the full tutorial for the costume.  This will work for pretty much source: prudentbaby.com document.write('Visit link →'); […]
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I love tinkerbell. and this costume beautifully captures the fairy. Featured it here:
http://sewprettysewfree.blogspot.com/2012/09/peacock-costume-diy.html
sorry wrong link please delete.
http://sewprettysewfree.blogspot.com/2012/09/tinker-bell-costume-sewing-tutorial.html
Love the use of the gromets instead of zipper or velcro closure. Very clever! Beautiful costume!
[…] DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume […]
[…] DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume […]
Beautiful! When I find some of this fabric (I live in Saudi Arabia, so fabric is not the easiest to find!), I will DEFINATELY be making one for my little 2 year old too! Thank you for the tutorial! 🙂
Love it! My neice jut requested this for a cosume for Halloween. I am a quilter and not a clothes sewer but I think I could do this! Thanks for the details and pictures!
Thank you for the awesome tutorial– just the pattern I have been looking for for my daughter’s (age 4) Halloween costume this year. Off to cut out the fabric now! (pink, of course!)
Do you attach the tutu or is it two separate pieces? I just finished the bodice and plan to do skirt and tutu this week…thanks for the tutorial!
[…] How to make a Tinkerbell Tutu Halloween Costume. […]
I only sew once a year, and I followed your tutorial, and my daughters costume came out perfect. Thank you for the tutorial. I wish I could add a picture to this comment.
I love this so much!! The shop bought costumes are always too long for my little lovely, will give this a go. You could easily change the colours and go for a totally different look. At my speed, she’ll be the Christmas fairy!
[…] even for toddlers. I’m proud of my first time garment sewing and I give all credit to Prudent Baby’s online tutorial. What a great one it is too! Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like […]
[…] DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume […]
Thank you for this tutorial! I just made this costume for my daughter (almost 4), and it is absolutely adorable! She *loves* it. This is so much cuter than the store-bought costumes and I just love making Halloween costumes if I can swing it.
[…] wanted to be a mermaid this year. I found this great mermaid skirt tutorial, and then modified this Tinkerbell costume to make a top out of the same mermaid-y material. I think it turned out well, although certainly […]
[…] Kostüm – Tinkerbell […]
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Thank you for the tutorial with such detail, I made the twinklebell dress for my baby girl and made it reversible! So happy and look forward to making the Peter Pan too.. thanks!!
Feel free to check out my outcome here (i added referral link back to this page 🙂 http://funwithlittleones.blogspot.com/2013/07/it-tinkerbell-diy-reversible-costume.html
[…] How to make a Tinkerbell Tutu DIY Halloween Costume. […]
Thank you so much Prudent Baby for this fabulous tutorial!!! I made the whole thing from scratch & it didn’t nearly take me as long as I thought it would! I just need to acquaint myself with the grommit’s & then it will be complete! Will link your tute to my page once everything is complete 🙂
Very rapidly this web site will be famous among all blog people, due to it’s nice content
I just got a request from my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter to make this for her. I have 2 weeks to make it. It will be made out of blue material because she wants to be Periwinkle, Tinkerbell’s friend. I hope I’ll be able to pull it off. It is a beautiful little costume. Thanks for sharing.
I bought all the materials yesterday to make this for my toddler and she is SO excited. What does it mean in Step #3 to cut the fabric “the length of your yard” for the straps? Could you please specify if this cut piece should be 36″ long or the width of the bolt? I want to be sure before I cut anything. Thanks!
Beautiful and worth every bit of your time to see Scarlett’s happy face. jennylarking at gmail dot com
[…] Tinkerbell Costume- Prudent Baby […]
I think your costume is awesome looking and you did a really great job, it looks like something you could sell for a lot of money. Have you thought about doing that? Selling some of your clothing? I ask because I had this page pinned….until I came and realized that amount of ads I was going to be encountering. Every time I hit my scroll button, another ad popped up. Way too annoying to deal with so I deleted the pin and will not be pinning another page of your pages while the ads run rampant. I bet you could sell your clothing and make just as much if not more, since your sewing abilities are top-notch, than these ads are paying you. Then you could remove some of the ads. Just an idea. 🙂
[…] DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume […]
After looking at countless Tinkerbell costumes, I stumbled on your DIY…Stunning! Both the dress and your little girl :). Wish I could sew as this is this is the best costume I have seen. Love.
That is amazing! How much would you need for a thirteen year old?
I don’t leave a response, but after looking at a few of the comments on DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume
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Could it be simply me or do a few of these comments appear like they are
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[…] I love this adorable sunflower hat and think it could be perfect for a Halloween costume. There are even wonderful hat ideas for birthdays and everyday dress up days. This lovely Rose Bloom crown could be a great addition to our fairy costume. […]
Bonjour, j’ai trouve votre petite robe de Fée Clochette magnifique
. Je m’en suis inspirée pour faire celle de ma petite-fille.Vous pouvez la voir sur mon blog . http://atelierdetina.fr/ Merci pour le partage. Bonne journée
I love it!! I’m going to make it this week! it’s the best tutorial I’ve found so far!!
Amazing dress. Looks exactly like a Thinkerbell’s dress! And, whats the most important, your tutorial is very readable.
Cheers from Poland!
C’est très jolie, je vais faire un costume de fée clochette pour l’anniversaire de ma fille. Je vais m’inspiré de votre article. Merci.
I am going off of your design but using scraps of minky fabric and I’m loving it for the softness and the fact that I don’t half to hem it <3 it all I need to add is the straps yet and the ties up the back is there a way I can send u a picture ?
We’d love to see it! You can send it to us on facebook at http://facebook.com/prettyprudent
[…] DIY Tinkerbell Fairy Costume […]
HI there —- this post is real old, but STILL fantastic. I do not sew. I have no desire to sew. How much would you charge to sell me this costume, or make me a new one? No, really….. seriously. If by some miracle you still have it after 6 years, I would love to buy it from you. 🙂 208-241-9231
I love it!! I’m going to make it this week! it’s the best tutorial I’ve
Love the pattern/idea I don’t have a toddler, but made the costume for our church pre-school’s dress-up collection. Our local store had no green satin, so I used cotton broadcloth and it turned out great. Thank you for sharing this.
nice
At the end of the day, I’m really glad I did it, I mean, the look on her face
do do war
ji