This project could be a perfection from the start to the end, but it’s not. I’d say that if I was going to sew these butterfly wings again, I’d do it a bit different but somehow it came up cute and someone here is having lots of fun.

First I used some pieces of fabrics that I brought from Brazil. The idea of making wings was there, stored in a folder in the bottom of a drawer somewhere called Pinterest. I saw different styles and could figure out how to make it. Well, more or less.

First I drew half of a wing on a large paper (wrap paper works wonderfully) . I cut the cloths and sewed the middle part of each one together.

I pinned the fabric facing each other together and sewed almost all the way, leaving only the bottom part opened, so then I could turn and fill it with the batting (foam for padding).

This is how it looks after turning.
Then I ironed the wings. (This step is necessary, believe me.)

I had some wire at home, and this is the part that I would have done differently, buying a thicker one. The wire makes the wings to hold up.

Then I calculated and bent the wire until it was more or less in the required position and format. I bent also the ends (see picture) so it would not stick the fabric later.

I cut the wadding that I had at home the same size as my previews drawings, using it doubled to be ticker. I placed them inside the wings.

I sewed again around all the edges, one centimeter to inside for the wire to pass around.

I drew in a piece of A4 paper some forms. Sewing those forms gives nice details to the wings, at the same time making the batting to be in place. You might require a bit of familiarity with free motion quilting, but as I don’t have it, I sewed very, very slowly. Haha

The last step now is to sew the elastics. In this case I covered them with fabric but a simple elastic will be fine and cute too. I had to try it many times while sewing to get it right and don’t get so tight or so loose on my daughter’s shoulders.

The fine wire made these wings very soft, and I even see a charm in it, but maybe it’s wiser to put a thicker one if you don’t want to be smoothing out the wire after every play.

The size of the wings depends a lot on the size of the child. The nice thing about this project is that you can play with size, format, types of fabrics and padding, thickness of wire… and it will give a totally different look to the wings. Enjoy it. :)

For those who wonder, the crochet doll was made by my mom. We loved so much this “doll experiment”,  that we asked to bring it all the way from Brazil to here. So it stays like this; bald, no eyes, no mouth or clothing. :)