How to Make an Adult Tinkerbell Costume

Commercial Tinkerbell costume (Amazon)

If you love Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, here's how to create your own costume for an adult. You can buy one, but making your own is fun.

Instructions

1. See the links below to find pictures of Tinkerbell. You need to see what you are trying to create. View pictures from front, back and sides to get the full picture.

2. Once you've seen the pictures, visit the local thrift store to hunt for green dresses, shoes, wigs and gauzy material for making fairy wings. With luck, you can find items that can be adapted to use with the costume.

3. 

   To create Tinkerbell's hair, you need blonde hair or a blonde wig. She wears it pixie style around the face, but with a bun on top. Get a green ribbon to tie around the base of the bun. If you're not blonde, you can get temporary hair dye to use that will wash out. If you opt for a wig, try finding one at Good Will or the Salvation Army store. Then style it like Tinkerbell's hair.

4. Her dress is green and very short. You can probably go a little longer without losing the effect. If you have great legs, then stick with the original skimpy skirt. The top is strapless and backless. The ideal thing to create the form fitting top would be a strapless bathing suit. Finding a green one might be difficult, but you could dye one green.

5. 

   If you go with the bathing suit, then you need to add the skirt. Since it uses a varied hemline, you could get a green skirt and cut it short, making the bottom edge in vees. If you get a nylon green skirt (or dye one), then you can skip sewing the edges of the hem and just leave them raw.

6. The shoes need to be green with large silver pompoms on them. You could probably substitute silver or gold shoes or even white ones. If you have an old pair of shoes, just spray paint them or use shoe dye.

7. The wings are in two parts. The top part is elongated and pointed at the top. The bottom part is short and rounded. Party stores with a costume section will have wings. At Halloween time, many stores display costumes and usually you can find wings and fairy wands there. I've included several links for making your own wings. I like the one that uses craft wire and pantyhose stretched over the wire for a gauzy effect.

8. 

   To make the wand, you need a short dowel. Paint it black (or silver or gold) and attach a star to the top. Hot glue is probably best for this. You can add ribbons if you like.

Resources

• Site to buy a Tinkerbell costume
• Lots of Tinkerbell pictures
• Lots of pictures of Tinkerbell costumes