pixiegirlstudios: the shape of wings to come

My sister is going to be attending a fabulous Halloween party. My mother is sewing her a beautiful fairy costume and I am doing my part by creating wings.

There are a lot of different ways to make wings and most places I’ve found suggest nylons and netting. However I wanted a fabric that was really durable and it just so happens that I have a lot of canvas scraps,so that was my number one choice. In deciding the size for this particular project I knew the wings needed to be small in order to be attached to my sisters wheelchair and allow room around the handlebars for her to be pushed. If my sister isn't feeling like wearing them they also need to be a size that can be stored easily.

Just as I was about to draw out my wings I came upon a nifty wing shaped hanger that I found at my local patina shop. It was the perfect size and shape to give me an idea for the pattern. I began by tracing the "wing hanger” and drawing it into my very own wing shape. Meanwhile I hardened a piece of canvas by painting it with a few coats of modge podge. This made the canvas easy to cut out and there was no fraying of the fabric. It also made it water resistant, ready to paint, as well as giving the fabric some stiffness. I thought the canvas would be stiff enough that I could just paint it and put some ribbons on it,but alas it needed wire.....

Sooooooooo I modge podged another piece of canvas. This time it was a lighter weight canvas that was the texture and weight of linen. After that was dry I cut it into a shape that would offer the wings support. I also hand sewed a thick piece of aluminum wire that I had bent into the shape of the fabric. The wire was bent in a shape that would offer support and could be clipped into a garment or in this case a wheelchair seat back. After the wire was sewed on the canvas shape,I glued it (with modge podge) onto the large wing shape.

This is what I have done on the project so far.

1.painted 2 types of canvas with modge podge

2.cut out 1 wing shape in thick canvas

3.cut out 1 support shape in thin canvas

4.bent a piece of thick aluminum wire and sewed it to support shape

5.glued support shape to wing shape

Here are some pictures so you can see what I mean.

This is the wing hanger and the paper underneath it is the shape that I made for my my own wings.

This is the hanger along with my paper wing shapes and the real wings themselves. I drew the half wing shape first and cut the larger shape on a fold like you do do when you cut out a paper heart.

Close up on the wire detail and shape that I glued on for support. Be sure to only sew the top part and down toward the center a little. Leave room so it can work like a paper clip and clip into your garment.