Dress-up clothes can be hard to buy outside of Halloween, and when you do find some it can be hard to find any that aren’t cheap imports and hold up to a child’s normal play. Handmade costumes, however, such as these butterfly wings upcycled from wire hangers and an old stretchy cotton sweater, are guaranteed to fit your child perfectly, in both her body and her personality. They cost nothing to make, since the materials come from around the house, and one day your child will be thrilled to pass them down to her own child. Unless, of course, she tears them up first, but even if she does, you know what? You can just make more! Here’s how to make my daughter’s beautiful butterfly wings: Pull on a wire hanger to stretch it longer lengthwise, and take a minute to use your thumbs and forefingers to press down all the crooks and sharp bends that once made the hanger look the way that it did. I won’t lie to you–this’ll hurt your fingers while you’re doing it, and may make them a little sore for a few hours afterwards, but once those bends and crooks are gone, it’s all easy sailing from there. Pull and fuss with the hanger until it takes on the pleasing shape of a single butterfly wing, then unbend the crooks of a second hanger, place it right on top of the first hanger, and pull and fuss with them together until they both have about that same pleasing shape as the first hanger. The match doesn’t have to be perfect, because nobody but you is going to be checking to see if it’s perfect, but the two hangers should end up pretty similar. Next » Choose an old shirt made of stretchy fabric, and cut off the sleeves. Slip a sleeve over each hanger wing–if the cuff is bound off too tightly, simply cut it off. Set your sewing machine to a wide zigzag stitch, and carefully sew around the entire perimeter of the butterfly wing. Keep the wire in the exact center of your presser foot, and double-check before you begin that the needle won’t hit it. Stretch the fabric as you go, because you want your wing to be taut, and don’t worry about the excess fabric outside of the wing–you’re going to cut that off in a minute. Your stitching should start at one “shoulder” of the hanger, up close to the hanging hook, and should end at the other shoulder. This will leave an opening, but you’ll need that opening in just another minute. When you’re finished sewing around the perimeter of the wing, go ahead and cut off the excess fabric outside of the wing, being careful to cut close to your stitching without cutting your stitches. If you’d like to zigzag around the wing again to bind the raw edges of the cut fabric, then go ahead, but it isn’t really necessary. Next » Hold the two wings with the hanger hooks facing each other, and carefully put each hook through the opening in the other wing. This will lend stability to the set of wings. Push the two wings together as close as you wish, with the necks of the two hangers lying together. When you’re satisfied with the way that the wings look, wrap the two hanger necks together with duct tape. Either catch the raw edges of the openings in the duct tape wrap, or hand-stitch the openings closed around the necks of the two hangers. Next » There are two good ways to put fastenings onto your butterfly wings. You could sew a length of elastic into a loop, and fasten the middle of the loop to the middle of the butterfly wings, or you could sew two lengths of ribbon onto the middle of the wings. Elastic will allow a child to put the wings on by herself, but ribbon is more adjustable and leads to a better overall fit. These particular wings are for my little daughter’s fashion runway debut (don’t ask), and so I’ve sewn ribbon onto them, so that I can tie the wings onto her in such a way that it won’t mar the look of her runway outfit. And no, the wings don’t actually help you to fly, but they certainly don’t hurt, either!
