DIY Fairy Costume Wings for a Little Girl

A DIY fairy costume with the tutu is cute, but a fairy costume needs wings and a wand to be really complete.   I bought my eldest granddaughter a set of fairy wings, they light up and she loves them, but they protrude too much.  The wings knock things over, get caught in her little sister’s hair, and get tangled when she plays.

After that experience, I decided to design some DIY fairy wings that would be safer and easy to wear while playing.  After researching all kinds of pretty photos of butterfly wings I chose the luna moth wing as my inspiration for this design. The colour contrast of the purple against the bright green is so just striking and different.
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How to Make DIY Fairy Wings

Supplies for the Fairy Wings

Building the Fairy Wings Frame

To make sure the wings don’t protrude, you first need to measure your child across the shoulders and the distance from her neck to waist.  Then you will draw the wings making sure they are smaller than these two measurements.

Using these measurements draw out a basic pattern on a poster board.

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Start by unraveling your coat hangers.

The wings have an upper and a lower portion. Using the outline as a guide, start with a one-inch protrusion for the center connector of the upper wings and bend the wires to form the upper wing.  Repeat for the lower wing, but you can skip making the connecting wire portion.

Once you have the wire molded in the shape of the outline, take a hammer and pound out any twists that prevent the wings from lying flat. Repeat for the remaining three sections.

To ensure uniformity re-check your wire frame to the outline pattern as you work.

Covering the Fairy Wing Frame

Cut the leg portions off the leotards and pull the legging over each section of the wire frame. Pull tight, tie a simple knot in the back and cut off any excess. Repeat for all four sections.

 Painting the Fairy Wings

Nature is beautiful and comes in a wide array of designs, your painting doesn’t have to be perfect, just try to be as symmetrical as you can.

I used a photo of a luna moth as a guide.

Please excuse the photo quality,  I was working at night.

Start by adding an outline of the purple markings with a highlighter.

Fill in the remainder of the wings with green paint.  Once done repeat the markings on the other side.

Using a fine brush, fill in the purple markings. Add white markings, then soft blue

Paint the beige on last and let it dry thoroughly.  Repeat on the other side.

Wing Assembly

Now that you have both the top and the bottom portions of your wing done, you can assemble it together.
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Lower Wings

Using your drawn outline as a guide, line up the lower wings. Attach the wings at the top and bottom with a few hand sewn stitches. Reinforce on the back with glue.

Upper Wings

Line up the two top wings over the lower wings. Overlap the two protruding wires and wrap with white tape as shown above. Sew the top of the wings together, reinforce with glue.  Glue the upper wings to the bottom wings with hot glue.

It was so worth the time it took to make these fairy costumes.
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Floral Arrangement

You need to make an arrangement to camouflage the attachment wires. Apply greenery, two pieces on each side, add a focal flower in the middle, and reinforce with hot glue.

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These wings and a forest fairy tutu and forest fairy crown, go together as a complete costume, so I chose matching flowers and leaves.  You can use any type of flower, I think a ladybug, a butterfly or a tulle flower would all look cute.

Attach the Wings to the Little Fairy

Use baby safety pins to attach the wings.  Make sure the pins have locking closures.

I have seen fairy wings attached by sewing on elastic that wraps around the child’s arms.  I prefer to use baby safety pins as they seem a more comfortable alternative.

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Our little one loved the wings, she played in the yard with the dog, climbed on her slide and had no issues with the wings catching on anything.

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I hope you love these costumes as much as I do.  I think they are both special and fun.