Wings

So, I got this crazy notion into my head last fall, shortly after TRF. My friends and I were going to Scarborough in April and we wanted to go as fairies. That was an interesting conversation, I admit. It started out with 'do you think we should all have a theme?' to 'let's go as fairies and I'll make wings!'

Next thing I knew, I was going as Earth, and my friends were duly sorted as Air, Water and Fire. The first problem was simple: I had never made wings before and didn't even know where to start. Costumes were not a problem, even when confronted with making costumes for four in four months (in three cases, making two costumes, so in the end, seven costumes in four months) but wings? I was clueless.

I quickly googled how to make wings and was confronted with various options and ideas. Even before I could start to make wings, I needed to know what 'style' of wings to make, which meant knowing what costume everyone was wearing. Try pinning down four women - one of whom had a firm idea of what she wanted, while the other two were clueless - on costumes for a faire four months in the future, not to mention finding a time to get us all to the same fabric store was a bit of a challenge and more than once, I doubted the wisdom of this newest challenge.

Thankfully, it all came out good. :)



This first pic does not look like much, but my hand to the sewing gods, in the end, it will rock. These are my wings, for Earth. I found those feather things at the Dollar Tree one evening and while they are clumped together right now, when I am finished, the wings will be spread out in a fan. I am crocheting a duster to wear over a bodice, tunic and trousers.



These are lotus wings, for my friend who is going as Water. She is wearing a turquoise dress and flutter cape. I am going to add some paint and glitter to the wings for a bit of depth. These had to be the simplest of the wings. I made a wire frame and stretched white knee-highs over the loops. :)




Ah, the air wings, how I hated them. When I first made the frame, they were my favorite, but after several failed attempts, I think I almost hated them. First, I tried to cover these with cellophane, but they were too plain, so I splurged and bought fantasy film, but I came to hate the film with a fiery and vivid passion. Hate. I finally bought tulle and after several false starts, figured out how to stretch it over the loops and use ribbon around the edges, to quite a nice effect, I thought. My friend is wearing a toga with these wings.




Finally, the fire wings, the only ones who went from beginning to end without any change. At TRF, I saw these hats that were little more than net and ribbon tied around elastic. I forgot to take the pic when I had the chance, but there is a hat to match this. Going as a goth fire fairy, my friend is wearing a black chemise and black/red overdress with this.

In the end, despite several false starts, I don't think I spent more than ten dollars on any of these wings, excepting the wire, which even when spread out over four pair of wings, wouldn't up the final cost by more than ten dollars each. The best sort of costumes, anyone will tell you, are the cheap ones. :)