The Train To Crazy

Welcome to the Handmade Dress Up Series! You'll find a new tutorial for sewing, glueing or crafting a dress up costume every day. Please subscribe so you don't miss the other 27 bloggers and their wonderful tutorials! Like what you see? Support these guests by pinning their projects or stumbling the posts!

Welcome Carrie! Thanks for sharing your silk butterfly wings tutorial!

Hello all! I'm Carrie from This Mama Makes Stuff, where I blog about refashioning & running, raising comapssionate kids & crocheting, thrifting and triathlons. I am so happy to be part of Andrea's Handmade Dress-up Series (and I love that I got to meet her in person last week)! Dressing up is a year-round activity in our house and these wings have been a favorite for years. Unlike wire wings that can get bent up pretty easily, these ones can be stuffed into the dress up box and still look great for years of dress-up fun. Kids also love the way the fabric feels when you "fly".

Inspired by silk wings I saw in a catalog, these butterfly wings are a favorite item in the dress-up box. These specific wings will fit most kids ages 2-8. Here's how to make them: Gather your materials: 44" square silk scarf (Dharma Trading Co), 36" piece of elastic for straps, two 5 1/2" pieces of elastic for wristbands, 10 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of fabric. Dye the scarf.

RIT dye, though not the best, is definitely the most readily available. You can check out Dharmatrading.com for more options.

For two-toned wing, gather scarf in the middle.

Fold in half and dip in color 1.

Then dip outside edge in color 2

Rinse and dry scarf as instructed on dye instructions. Once dry, iron crease down center of scarf.

Sew gathering stitch down the crease line you just made- edge to edge

Add 2 more rows of gathering stitches on each side of original stitch.

 

If you have a fine machine needle, place stitch lines 3/4" away from center. If you don't, place stitches 1/2" away from center (this is what I did).

Gather all three stitches.

Take piece of fabric and fold over raw edges to form "body"

Finished body should equal 10" x 1 1/2". You can also use a wide piece of heavy ribbon for the body, folding under each raw end.

Pin body to gathered center of wings.

Edge stitch body in place around the entire piece of fabric (or ribbon).

Sew 36" piece of strap elastic together to form loop.

Pin flattened loop to top, center of wings.

Stitch straps in place following same stitch lines as "body"

Add wristloops to top corners of wings.

To do this, lay wristloop on right side, matching edges, rolling over top of wing. Pin in place.

Stitch wristloop in place on each top corner.

Pull loop to outside and see the nice clean finish!

Now you're ready to fly away!

You might also like these posts from This Mama Makes Stuff: DIY tips for Dyeing Fabric, DIY Sinister Ceramics DIY Zombie Barbie Garden

Check out the other Handmade Dress Up tutorials!