I looked for a dragon costume for my five year old, and the only one I could find was two sizes too small and three times the amount I wanted to spend. I had to ease him into the idea of making something, and he was eager to help, so I give a lot of credit to Dominic who throughout the process retained artistic control. He needed a tail and wings, and he needed to have scales on his head. He wanted to be a green dragon yellow dragon or a green and yellow dragon which is what we ultimately went with. Under my advisement we added a few dark blue tones to make the scales on the tail and wings a little bolder.
Here's how we did it:
Found some inexpensive light gauge wire *slightly* lighter than hanger wire,( if its too light it won't stay, it needs to bend easy enough, but retain its shape and support cloth. ) We used old drop cloth, but canvas would work or whatever (kinda wish I had used a fabric that was a bit stiffer.) It helped painting some solid "Primer" colored acrylic based paint, it made a base for more detailed painting later, as we added scales, both with paint and occasionally glueing on "scales" made of canvas and painted to match the tail and wings. The paint helped give the fabric some more body. The wings where not sewn at all, we used a glue gun to fold the cloth onto itself and stick. The gluing was all done and dried and cooled off before we started painting.
The tail itself had to be a more durable material, and that is where most of the canvas went. I used a long skinny end piece and simply rolled it and sewed the seam shut. I coiled three strands of the light gauge wire to exceed the length of the tail. Carefully duct taping the three ends together to avoid any "pokey" pieces for the tail end, and then wrapping the three wire tips at the top of the tail with duct tape (again to avoid pokes and ouchies) I left those sticking out of the tail to attach at three points to his belt. (I cool belt with green dragons on it by the way.) The green jogging pants and hoodie were outfitted with canvas scales and belly stripes, all painted canvas and all glued in place with the hot glue gun. The only sewing I did was the seam of the tail.
I used just a little elastic for two little arm loops that i just tied in loops round the wire, and If i had spent more time or money i would have gotten dark, or green elastic. Luckily my five year old, IS A FIVE YEAR OLD! He was highly impressed and so happy he was "flying" in his homemade wings.
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This photo was taken by Alexa Acord, 
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