Bird Wings

Well, in my continued efforts to empty the half finished projects from my craft closet, I made Serenity a set of bird wings!  She went through a phase where she’d run through the house flapping her arms and saying, “I’m a bird, I’m a bird!”  So I thought this would be a good addition to our dress-up collection.

I made them very simple.  I just cut out a basic bird wing and tail shape from fleece, and then cut out a lot of feathers from craft felt.  I went with rainbow for the coloring =)  It took about ten 8.5 by 11 sheets of felt, I got nine or so feathers from each sheet. 

I sewed the feathers on in rows starting at the bottom, just a simple straight stitch across the top of each feather, leaving the bottoms to flap.  After I got all the feathers on, I went back and put a little dot of tacky glue in under the center of each, just to hold them in place a little more.  I want them to flutter but still hold the basic wing shape. 

The last step was adding loops of elastic to the wrist and a longer loop (made from a 32 inch piece of elastic) to make backpack-style loops in the center of the wings.  (I made butterfly wings with rainbow fabric this way, I saw it at This Mama Sews Stuff)  I trimmed the top where the feathers didn’t quite cover the fleece so the top curves a bit more than in the original picture.  I may go back and add ribbon or binding to finish the top a bit more, or I may just leave it as is.  Should be fun!  Today Serenity was doing a little dance that went “wiggle, wiggle, flap!” So hopefully she’ll enjoy adding real wings to her flapping. =)  

**They are just a little bit big, which will probably be good for her to get to use them for a while.  I could make them a bit smaller by moving the wristlets, and I may do that.  If I can get her out of them.