You can make the wings in any color. If you want them to be dark, then use black, red or even a dark gray. The feathers come in packages. I usually buy them in bulk when I do a costume because you are going to need a lot of them. The amount of feathers will totally be based on the size of the wings that you make.
Supplies:
- Lycra or four-way stretch material
- Matching thread
- Matching feathers
- Tailor’s Chalk or bar of soap
- Sharpie to match feathers
- Pins
- Scissors
Directions:
- Choosing Your Materials
You will need a small piece of four way stretch material that matches the costume and is long enough to cover the length of the dancer’s back. I prefer Lycra because of its stretchability and you do not have to turn the edges of the material. Whatever material you choose it definitely needs to match the feathers so that if any of the material shows, it will look like it is just part of the feathers.
You will also need several packages of feathers that match the costume.
- Determine Measurement and Placement of Wings
The first step is to figure out where you want to attach the wings. As far as the sample on the mannequin, I have sewn the bottom of wings to the shorts and the other end to the halter top that goes around the neck. In order to get an accurate measurement to determine the length of the wings, it is best if the girl is wearing the costume when you measure it. Measure from the halter top that goes around the necks and then down to the top of bottom half of the costume – shorts.
On this particular costume, the measurement down the back is 18 inches. So, I am going to cut it the strip 22 inches to make sure it will have enough movement. With the girl still wearing the costume, pin it to the shorts and the neck to make sure it will have the movement needed. The widest part of the wings on this sample is 5 inches wide and the width at the bottom of the strip is about 2 inches wide. These widths will vary depending on the size of the dancer. You can go wider if you want, but you need to remember that a lot of girls have small backs and you do not want to have the wings to wide for their backs. It is also important to know that the feathers will expand the strip and make it look bigger.
- Cutting the Fabric
You will notice on the sample here that the center line between the wings is a straight line and the outside of the wings taper down.
To cut the fabric, take a length of the material that is more than 22 inches needed and fold it in half lengthwise. First, draw a 22 inches long straight line with Tailor’s Chalk or a piece of bar soap that is parallel to the fold. Then, draw a 2 inch straight horizontal line at the bottom of that is perpendicular to the fold and a 5 inch perpendicular line at the top of that perpendicular line. Last, draw a line from the end of the five inch wide line down to the end of the two inch wide line. This will create a fabric strip that is tapered from the neck to the shorts. Cut the fabric along those lines. This will give you two matching lengths of Lycra.
- Marking Fabric Strips
Lay the two pieces of Lycra on the table with them each facing in different directions.
The feather I am using is about five inches long. Since we want overlap, I will want to draw horizontal lines across the fabric strips that are 3 ½ inches apart and are perpendicular to the center edge. The first line will be approximately one inch below the top and then draw additional lines every 3 ½ inches. As I mentioned before, the strip is 4 inches longer than the finished strip will be. Since I have left an extra inch at the top, there will be an extra 3 inches at the bottom. This will give the option of adding another row of feathers to the bottom if needed. Consider that when you are marking these lines. Each fabric strip will now have a number of horizontal lines down the back of the “wings.”
With the dancer wearing the costume, pin the top of the fabric strips to the halter top and the bottom of the fabric strips to the shorts. Have the dancer move around to ensure the needed movement is available and make sure the strips are in the right place.
- Sewing the Feathers to Fabric
Sew the feathers across the horizontal lines previously marked starting with the line at the bottom and then sew feathers to each line going up the strip. You want to start at the bottom because the feathers are going to be overlapping and if you start at the top, you will essentially have to sew the next row underneath the row on top. This can make it very difficult. If you start at the bottom and move up, you are not trying to sew under another row of feathers. To save time, I am only going to demonstrate how to do this on the top two rows rather than sewing all of the rows down.
To make it easier for you to see what it will look like, I am going to sew a row of red feathers first and then a row of white feathers on the line above. It is important to go slowly when sewing these feathers because you do not want to chance breaking a needle. The feathers are usually hollow, but it is best to not take the chance.
First, I am going to backstitch a couple of stitches to the edge to keep it from unwinding and then stitch forward. Next, I will lie a feather down over the chalk line in such a way that I will sewing where the feathery part of the feather starts with the hollow center piece of the feather sticking out above the stitch line. Start stitching over that feather and place the next feather down next to it. Continue across that chalk line while placing each feather in place as you sew. Make sure that the bottoms of the feather line up as you sew so that the ends are even and are not raggedy. You want to lay the feathers really thick. Also, look at the direction of the feathers so that they all lay together nicely. Hold the “wing” up and see if there are any spaces that need to be filled in with more feathers and add any feathers as needed. Once the row of feathers is sewn down, trim the top of the feathers above the stitch line. It is easier to trim these feathers as you sew each row and do so over a trashcan so that you do not have to clean up afterwards. When you trim the tips of the feathers, it will leave a little white showing. Just use a matching Sharpie to color those white spots to match the feathers.
The next step is to sew the row above this one. Sew this row in the same manner as the first row. For this tutorial, I am going to sew this row with white feathers so that you will be able to see how it works. If I was actually making these feather wings, all of the feathers would be the same color and they would match the fabric.
When you sew the last row of feathers, they will be the feathers at the top. To give it a clean look, fold the material at the top over the feathers so that it covers the cut edges of that top row of feathers. Now, as you can see, my example is in different colors. But, imagine if you had sewn all of the rows of feathers and the material and the feathers are the same color. It would look very cool.
- Sew Wings to Costume
Of course, you will now need to sew the wings to your costume. Sew the top of the wings to the halter top. Next, pin the bottom of the strip to the shorts. Have the dancer try the costume on one more time to make sure that the strip has not changed after sewing the feathers on to the wing. Have the dancer stretch and move around to make sure that the strips still provide the same movement. Make sure that they are not so tight that it pulls the shorts up or so loose that the wings hang loose and create a gap.
If necessary, you can add another row of feathers on the bottom. Assuming they still fit right, sew the strips to the shorts as they are pinned. You can do it by hand or use a sewing machine.
There you go. This is how you make feather wings. It is a really, really simple things to do. Just go for it!
