Dragonfly Costume

Materials Needed

Wings:
Heavy-duty Wire (Mechanic's Wire)
Pipe Cleaners
Knee-High Nylons (Color of your choice)
Spray Adhesive
Glitter (Any Color)
Zip Ties
Piece of Heavy Cardboard

Body:
White Tube Sock
Stuffing (old pillows work great)
Zip Ties
Spray Paint (Color of your choice, OPTIONAL)
Long Strip of Material (for straps)

Eyes:
Stretchy Head Band Cardboard or Felt Zip Ties or Needle and Thread

Dragonfly Instruction Illustration Chart

Using the wire, bend into the shape of four long oval wings and attach in the middle with the zip ties, overlapping the top set over the bottom set. (You can bend the wings to the desired position later) (See 1)

Using the pipe cleaners, make the "veins" in the wings. (You can also do this with a black Sharpie after you have covered the wire wing frames with the knee-high nylons if you are worried about snags)(See 2)

Cover the wings with the knee-high nylons, securing the ends in the middle of the wings with zip-ties. Set aside. (See 3)

Take your cardboard and cut two slits. Slide the fabric strip through the slits, so the strip will come out the side facing the wearer's back, and having enough of a strip to loop over the shoulders, under the armpits, and tie around the back. Set aside. (See 4)

For the body of the dragonfly, take the tube sock and stuff it with whatever you choose to use as stuffing materials until roughly the size of your leg, and stop stuffing about 3 inches from the opening in the sock. Use a zip-tie to close the opening.

Take some more zip-ties and make the sections of the body. When you get to the last section, fold the un-stuffed section of sock over and secure with the last zip-tie used on the "head" of the body. (See 5)

Using more zip-ties, attach the body and wings to the cardboard. Be sure to secure the strips that will be used as straps as well.

Use a larger (longer) zip-tie around the "head" to secure the body to the cardboard. Make sure all the pieces are facing away from the wearer's back. (See 6)

You may choose to secure other "body" sections to the cardboard. You may cut away any excess cardboard if desired.

If you wish, use pipe cleaners to make legs for the dragonfly.

You may choose to paint the body of the dragonfly. You can use the color of spray paint of your choice. Keep in mind that the tube sock will soak up the spray paint, so you may need to do this several times to get the coverage you want.

At this point, add glitter to any portion of the wings and body you wish. (I did just the tips, about 3" into the wing and left the rest white)

For the eyes, take a few scrap pieces of cardboard and draw some circles about the size of the rim of a small coffee cup. Draw two smaller circles inside the larger circles and cut them out. (These will be eye holes so the wearer can see).(See 7)

Using the spray adhesive, spray the cardboard rings and cover with the glitter color of your choice. (See 8)

When the adhesive has dried, attach them to the headband. You can also use a thin piece of elastic and thread it through the grooves in the cardboard and make a mask instead.

NOTE: If you choose to paint the wings or the body, do it before you attach it to the cardboard.

View other homemade bug costumes from the "insect" theme.