Turn your doll into a butterfly with this easy Butterfly Barbie costume DIY. There is no sewing at all required here – this outfit is completely made of paper!

Of course, you could easily make a dress like this from fabric and the wings from felt if you want a more permanent sort of outfit, but we love making everything from paper because it is so quick and easy to work with. 

My eight year old loves to dress her barbie dolls in glamorous creations made from tissues and washi tape. Often the tissues have been jazzed up with hand-drawn highlighter patterns, and when Barbie is tired of wearing her full-length tissue ball gown it can be cropped short with a handy pair of scissors and turned into a more casual summer dress. Who ever said that clothes need to be made of fabric anyway? Paper is far more versatile.

I decided to take this idea one step further and make a Butterfly Barbie costume from paper. Instead of tissues and washi tape I’ve gone with tissue paper and yarn, and there is a template for the  wings which can be made from patterned paper, or plain paper decorated in any way you like. There is plenty of room to move and be as creative as you like with this project.

How to make a butterfly barbie costume DIY

You will need:

• Tissue paper
• Construction paper in either a plain colour or patterned (or use white and colour it yourself)
• Glue stick
• Yarn
• Dot stickers (optional)
• Pipe cleaner and beads for the antennae
• Double sided tape
• This Butterfly Barbie Wing template

How to:

1. Wrap barbie up like a sauasage in a piece of tissue paper. I have trimmed the bottom edge of mine with pinking shears (otherwise known as zig-zag scissors) but this is optional.
2. Glue the “dress” together at the back with a glue stick, then wrap yarn around the waist multiple times and tie as a belt.
3. Decorate hair with yarn by wrapping a pigtail all over with the yarn and tying to secure.
4. Wrap a pipe cleaner around the head like a headband. Twist it together at the top to secure and thread a bead on each end to make antennae.
5. Use the butterfly wing template to cut out a pair of wings. Decorate the wings, or cut them from patterned paper and use as is.
6. Attach the wings to the back of the dress with a piece of double sided tape.

See, very easy! Now you can make a few more.

Now Barbie is off to celebrate the lovely Spring weather in true butterfly style with her friends (or the sunny Autumn weather, as we are having here in the Southern Hemisphere).

More butterfly craft ideas:

• Make some gorgeous butterfly prints using a kitchen sponge
• These craft stick woven butterflies are always popular
• Make some glitter peg butterflies with tissue paper wings
• Use our template to create a  paper butterfly tiara and wand
• Make a DIY butterfly pinata from recycled cardboard

Check out our Animal crafts board on Pinterest for lots more ideas