Tuesday, March 1, 2011

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.  

4 comments:

  1. what a great colorful costume ☺

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  2. Ooooh la la! I am so loving this. What a fantastic little costume. My three year old would love it. We always act like we are birds flying around. Gotta give this a try. Your little one is a cutey!
    xo,
    Sena

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  3. Too darn cute! I just love these wings - colorful and fun!

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  4. this is a darling idea! how fun-- great work ( -:
    malia

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