Q - What Did Harry Potter Say to Hedwig?

A - Owl See You Later!

My 8-year-old is obsessed with Harry Potter.  She saw the first movie on July 4th, and between then and now she watched all the movies and has read almost all the books.  She has about 1/4" left in the very last book, so by the time you read this post it will probably be finished. 

Obviously, it was a given she would choose a Harry Potter character for her Halloween costume.

It was a tough choice, because she didn't really want to be any of the main characters because that's what all the other kids at school would probably be, and my daughter is nothing if not different from the masses.  Her favorite teacher from the story is Professor McGonagal, but she wasn't quite sure how to pull that off convincingly.  And so we pondered.....

....and one day I was wandering in JoAnn's and saw a free project sheet for a felt owl costume!  Clearly, this owl could be Hedwig!

[if you aren't familiar, Hedwig is Harry Potter's messenger owl, which is how most people communicate in the wizarding world.  It has always struck me as odd, though, that those who possess such amazing magical skills as Transfiguration (turning a person into an animal, for example) can't figure out a more efficient way to talk, like telepathy or something.  But that would probably make for a very boring movie, with people just standing around and staring at each other for two hours.  Anyway....]

Today, with a wave of my magical sewing machine needle, my daughter became Hedwig, the messenger owl.

I made a few changes to the pattern for stability.  They say this is no-sew.  What that really means is glue-the-snot-out-of-it.  In my opinion that might hold up for one night of trick-or-treating, but it certainly wouldn't make it through a classroom Halloween party, a costume parade, trick-or-treating, and a crazy amount of running and flapping through the yard while hooting and trying to nip your little brother who is pretending to be a rat. (They did this for quite some time today.  Really.)

And that is why we sewed this one together.  It isn't as hard as it looks, because the feathers are stitched on in long strips.  It takes longer to cut the feathers and lay them out than to actually sew them on.  Plus, it's cheaper than store bought because we got all the felt on sale so it came to just under $10.

Oh, and we changed the colors because Hedwig is a Snowy Owl.

All we need to do now is roll up a piece of parchment and tie it to her leg.  She wouldn't be a messenger owl without a letter waiting for delivery.

Happy Halloween, a few weeks early.  :-)