help with butterfly costume

Put her in all black (sweatsuit, or just long sleeve shirt and long pants). The headband with pipecleaners sounds fine. What about attaching black pom poms to the ends? For wings, I'd use metal coat hangers for the frames and attach tuli (sp?) to them. You could either hook the wire over her shoulder, or use elastic.

Alternatively, you could make her a pretty cape and attach the edges of the cape to her wrists with elastic. Then, she could decide when to open and close them herself.

Have fun painting them on either method.

We made wings out of acrylic craft felt, 2 layers sewn and turned, then more felt appliqued for color which helped to stiffen the felt up even more so that they would stand up when worn. A simple harness held them onto the body.

I made fabric wings for my dd out of an old dance skirt--basically a piece of multicolored chiffon that had a ribbon sash. I put snaps on the neck and wrists of a shirt, and then attached the fabric at those points. It was super simple (took maybe 10 minutes) and she really enjoyed it, because she could actually flap the wings.

I've also made wings modeled on these by Sarah's silks...all it takes is a square silk or piece of fabric plus a long piece of ribbon. These also have the benefit of being flappable.

have fun!

Sarah of Sarah's Silks, who is a member here, was kind enough to post a how-to on her blog!

http://www.diylife.com/2007/10/20/ma...n-fairy-wings/

Lot of ideas.

You can glue/staple elastic arm loops to hold the wings on her shoulders, or do the same with velcroe. I've done both with various pair of wings, and they work fine. Can also use a ribbon or long piece of cloth and tie over shoulders/around torso.

We made antennae with a couple of pipe cleaners and a headband--10 second project, very cute result. I curled the top of the pipe cleaners into little spirals.

I had ds wings a few months ago. I took coat hangers and bent them into shape. I duct taped over the ends so there were no pokey bits. And then I took a pair of tights that he had out grown and stretch them over the frames. And then I just added and elastic harness.

http://www.marthastewart.com/article...terfly%20wings

http://www.marthastewart.com/article...terfly%20wings