I made this pink flamingo costume for my niece last year. I love the Pottery Barn costume but I thought I could created my own version of their pink flamingo kids costume and save a little money.
Pink Flamingo Body:
I needed a pattern for the body of the costume. I used Simplicity 2070 pattern pumpkin costume (Design A in the pattern) using a light pink fleece fabric. It looks almost exactly like the Pottery Barn version. You can make it without the arms as in the Pottery Barn costume but since my niece lived in New England she needed something warm to wear. The Design A pumpkin version comes with long sleeves. Since you are using fleece you can easily cut them short without the need to hem since fleece does not fray very much or not add the sleeves at all.
Pink Flamingo Hood:
Next, I made the flamingo hood using the same pattern as the chick (Design B in the pattern) made with the same light pink fleece as the body for the hood. Again, it looks very similar to the Pottery Barn hood.
I purchased square felt pieces for the beak in dark pink, white and black.
Before sewing the hood I first pinned the outer right sides together and added a feather on the top of the hood and sewed it together. When the hood was turned right side out the feather was on the top of the hood.
Making the Pink Flamingo Beak:
To make the beak you can use the pattern for the chick beak from the Simplicity pattern or follow what I did below. I tried to match the Pottery Barn costume as much as possible, but if you use the chick beak it will look very similar to a flamingo since the rest of the costume will be pink, no one will notice the difference :)
I elongated the beak for the flamingo by about two inches (the chick beak is shorter). You can outline using the the pattern below in erasable fabric ink to extend the chick beak. Here is the pattern for the black top of the beak, I used felt to make this. Fold in half and put on top of Simplicity pattern where the beak begins. You may have to adjust depending on the size of the costume you are making, I made a size 4.
Once the hood was completed, using fabric glue I added a white felt rectangle that goes under the black part of the nose, (you see it peeking out from under the black felt) cut it to the width of the beak and then add the black felt nose to complete the beak. Use a stiff felt for the beak if you are making the flamingo beak, or after you have made the beak brush glue (Elmer's type or a stiffy glue) to the underside of the beak so it will dry hard. Lay the beak/hood on it's side but once the glue begins to dry ball up plastic wrap and place inside of the beak to make it form the desired "beak shape".
I then hot glued the felt eye pieces to the hood.
Pink Flamingo Wings:
I did not use a pattern for the wings. I drew them freehand on newspaper, it's easy to do but if you are not confident use the sleeve from the chick pattern, cut a zig zag pattern at the end of the sleeve and you will have a variation of the design.
To make a Pottery Barn wing version, measure the length from the shoulder to the end of the sleeve, that will be the the longest wing (cut 2) and make each one after about 3 inches shorter then the next. (You will be making the same style wing just cutting it shorter at the top.)
The top of all of the wings will all be approximately the same size, 10 inches across at the top and the length will be as long as the sleeve or if not using sleeves, measure the length of from your child's shoulder to their wrist. Cut 4 wings for each side (arm).
I sewed the 4 wings together at the top, and then sewed each set to both sides of the bottom of the hood (colors of the wings were: 1- dark pink, 1- white, 2- light orange).
Pink Flamingo Feet:
I then made the same bird feet as in the chick (Design B) pattern but in the pink fleece fabric. Pottery Barn costume did not have the pink flamingo feet but I thought it was cute, and it was!
Here is what my final costume looked like:
Pink Flamingo Goodie Bag:
I made the goodie bag with the scraps from the project using a 8 1/2" x 11" regular copy paper as a pattern.
Cut 2- rectangles (8 1/2" x 11") (dark pink felt)
Cut 2- 4" x 10 " strips (dark pink felt)
Cut 1- strip 8 1/2" x 5" Cut one side of this in zig zag pattern like the bottom of the wings. Attach to top of one section of the bag. (white felt)
Fold each 4"x10" strip length wise so it is now 2" x 10" and sew along the long edge. This will be the handle for the bag.
Attach (sew or hot glue) each 2"x10" strips to each side of bag (rectangle) at the top. These are the handles.
Place right sides of the bag together (8 1/2" x 11" pieces) and sew across the two longest side and bottom. Turn inside out.
Hot glue white feathers to the outside of bag.
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