Constructing Wings

Edith K Maverick-Folger

The way you describe the costume it sounds more like bat wings than butterfly. You might consider attaching them down the middle of the back and across the arm down to the wrist if you are having trouble with them bunching up under your daughter's arms.

Heather Stern
The last pair of fairy wings that I did were butterfly wings. I used coathanger wire, shaped it as I desired, and ran gauzy fabric over it. You also need to arrange a way to bear the wings; the wire at the center where you combine the wings can be easily formed into a sort of spine, and then hooked along your own.

Essentially, the wireframe becomes the pattern. The trick to getting the gauze right if your shape isn't a simple curve (like those costume-shop fairies) is to use the edges effectively and wrap in a pattern. It's hard to explain but an understanding of "nail-and-thread art" would give you the right idea. Of course, wrap the wings in opposite patterns so symmetry is retained.

Improvements that could be made include:

Going to a hardware shop like Orchard Supply or Home Depot and buying a big roll of this kind of wire -before- it's been used as coat hangers. The curves will be much better, and you can work with it insulated if you prefer. You can also more readily shape it with the distinctive curves of a butterfly, moth, or skipper instead of the typical daisy petal style you sometimes see in costume shops.
Watching special selections regarding your gauzy fabric, or stitchwork to the fabric before wrapping it over the wire.
Using more than one layer to get multipart effects (e.g. both netlike and translucent style fabrics).
Looking more like a real butterfly by having overlapping scales. The gauze could be used as a base on which to stitch carefully beautified "scales" in a pattern consistent with the butterfly, moth, or skipper you want to look like. A few good photographs and some time would be needed to do this in a satisfyingly gorgeous way. Luckily, there are lots of photographic books on butterflies.
Effectively, you would be constructing a jigsaw puzzle that looks like the winged-critter, then piecing it together on your wingbase. Natural butterfly scales look something like this:
```
		_)~(_
		|   |
		\___/
```
sometimes pointier. If you are trying to imply a forest sprite, then a leaf-shape would be an obvious shape to use, with the stem as the stitched-down portion. Given the overlapping nature, you'd have best effect if you propped the wingbase up on an easel, and stitched from the bottom toward the top, so the overlapping would be fairly deep.
Using thread the same color as your gauze for "invisible" stitches, but glittery or "bubble-soaked" thread for shiny places. Or, you could use an awful lot of glittery nail polish. The shiny flakes in the typical flashy clothing-paint look too cheapo and modern for your described purpose. Another way would be to make sure the gauze you use as a base has been shiny-treated, use shiny or metal thread cloth, or use plastic instead of cloth for the scales.
Using a padded connective area - it could probably be attached in more permanent and comfortable fashion to a bodice back or harness of some sort.
The most effective way to do this would either be to separate the wing-pairs and attach the wing to the harness/bodice separately, or to use strong fat ribbon to wrap the center "spine" and then stitch it down to your harness. I keep saying bodice because I can more easily make a bodice than really think of a minimal strap-harness, and it looks less silly to me (maybe it's all those ren-faires).
```
                       \            )
			\ wings|   /
                          ========    <---- spine bound in fat ribbon
```

Velcro is right out -- any wings with enough fabric on them to look good will be far heavier than velcro can deal with.

A set for a child can be made out of 4, maybe 6 coathangers, some patience with pliers, four stretchy pieces of gauze, and some enthusiasm with a paintbrush. Better looking ones require some fun with a needle instead.

Lisa Ashton
I've never seen a published pattern for real adult size wings, everyone I know has made their own, and everyone has a different take on it, judging from several recent con panels I have participated in/attended. Make a pattern out of tissue paper (pattern paper), and they have to be wired if they are just going to hang open. Piano wire is good and comes in various thicknesses--available at craft and hobby stores. For smaller wings, coat hangers can be bent using pliers and are quite sturdy. Make a harness that the wings attach to that you wear on your back, under the dress. I use old corsets/foundation garments from thrift stores and modify them.

John O'Halloran
Making and constructing Fairy Wings sounds like a topic F-Costume would be a good source to ask about and probably would like to hear about the lady who makes them.

Pete Manly
We have a lady here in town who makes fairy wings for herself and small children's costumes using aluminum core plastic coated clothesline wire as a basic structure with some gauzy material glued to the support structure. Add sparkly things as desired. One key is that the support structure must go from the shoulder to below the arms to assure vertical stability and it must link both wings across the back of the structure to assure horizontal integrity. Think in terms of something that goes all the way around the torso and also over the shoulders like a bra. Otherwise, the wings flop all over the place. I have seen only one set of successful fairy wings without shoulder straps.

The lady to contact is Jo Weber at 602-252-2462. Note; I have never actually built fairy wings myself. While I do have an A&P license, the only wings I ever fooled with were rated for either aerobatic performance, flight in excess of Mach 1 or loads in the range of 100,000 lb.

If you have any further information to share about this topic, please e-mail Carole Parker for inclusion.