New Year's holidays or matinees in kindergarten – this is the time when children dress up in funny costumes. Parents can make many original outfits with their own hands, without spending much time or money. One of such simple and beautiful costumes is a butterfly outfit. Girls love these winged insects and are happy to transform into a light, colorful beauty.
How to sew a butterfly costume
To prepare a butterfly costume for a holiday or matinee, you will need not only desire, but also the ability to handle a needle, glue, and scissors. If you have a supply of fabric scraps, rags, cardboard, and wire at home, you can start working by choosing a model that suits the materials.
The butterfly costume consists of 3 elements. The basis is clothing - a dress, a bodysuit or a sports swimsuit with a skirt, a jumpsuit. The main decoration of the outfit, attracting attention, are the wings. Various accessories will diversify and complete the image - antennae, jewelry, shoes. Having studied the proposed master classes, you can make an elegant butterfly costume with your own hands.
Option 1 for a girl
A sports swimsuit will do as a base. For the skirt, you can take a light fabric - tulle, lace, tulle. The skirt is sewn in the shape of a "sun" or "half-sun", it can be assembled from flounces or simply put a piece of fabric on an elastic band.
Tights, leggings or knee-highs are selected to match the skirt. For the wings, you will need wire and a piece of light fabric. Having made a wire frame and covered it with fabric, you can ask the child to draw a pattern on the wings themselves. Fabric paint or acrylic is suitable for this. Antennae are made from wire and chenille (or fluffy yarn).
Option 2
The basis of the costume will be a smart dress with a short skirt and short sleeves. Wings made of cardboard or thick paper covered with fabric in the same color are sewn onto the back of the dress. Bracelets for the hands can be made from the same fabric. The head is decorated with a cardboard hoop with antennae, and butterflies made of foamin are attached to the shoes.
Option 3
If the child has a ready-made brightly colored summer jumpsuit, it will serve as the basis for a festive costume. The outfit will be complemented by wings made of foam rubber or fabric, as well as a cap with antennae attached to it. A bright scarf or tie can be tied around the child's neck over a white T-shirt.
Dress
A butterfly costume can be made quickly if you have a suitable summer dress made of thin fabrics at home. Dresses made of lace, satin or tulle look beautiful, dresses with a short fluffy skirt look elegant. The dress will get an unusual look if you attach a small train made of the same fabric to the back.
Particular attention is paid to the color of the outfit: a good option would be a dress in pastel shades - pink, blue, lilac, light green. The dress will serve as a base for a festive costume: wings can be sewn onto it or put on top.
Skirt and bodysuit
Almost every girl has a sports swimsuit in her wardrobe. It can become the main part of a butterfly's festive outfit. The bodysuit needs to be complemented with a skirt.
How it can be done:
- You will need 1x0.7 m of light fabric, muslin, cambric, marquisette, volta, voile, organza, georgette or lace are suitable. It is necessary to fold one edge along the long side by 2-3 cm and sew, then insert an elastic band. The side seam of the resulting skirt can be left unsewn.
- It is easy to sew a sun skirt. To do this, you need to measure the child's waist and determine the length of the product. These parameters will form the basis of the pattern. Having cut out a semicircle from the fabric folded in half, you need to sew the top of the skirt and insert an elastic band.
- The skirt can be made of soft tulle, you will need 3 m of fabric depending on the size of the child. Depending on the size of the child's waist, take a piece of thick elastic band, sew or tie the ends to get a circle. Tulle is cut into strips from 3 to 8 cm wide and tied to the elastic, throwing it over in a folded form. How often the strips are tied will determine how lush the skirt will be. A skirt with shorter tulle strips in the front than in the back, where they form a train, looks interesting.
- You can tie not only thin fabric strips onto the elastic band prepared as for the method above, but also secure bright corrugated paper with light stitches.
Any bright skirt will beautifully complement the butterfly image. An outfit based on a black bodysuit complemented by black leggings and a dark skirt with bright trim looks interesting.
When choosing the model and style of a skirt and bodysuit, you should focus on the overall color scheme of the outfit and the size of the wings. Active girls who participate in dances and competitions at matinees should not wear long skirts that will get tangled in their legs and interfere with movement.
Overalls
Cute overalls have not gone out of fashion for a long time. For a holiday, a jumpsuit with a skirt or shorts will do, in the latter case, you will get the image of a hooligan butterfly. For the outfit, you should choose thin, but well-shaped fabrics - linen, satin, cotton.
How to Make Butterfly Wings with Your Own Hands
Bright airy wings are an essential attribute of a butterfly costume. To create them, you will need fabric or paper. To make the wings rigid, they are reinforced with a wire frame.
The child can decide on the shape of the wings and draw a pattern that he likes.
Fabric
Light fabric wings will complement your DIY butterfly costume.
They are usually made from the following materials:
- silk;
- chiffon;
- tulle;
- lace;
- net.
There are different ways to make wings from fabric.
Method 1
You will need to take a fabric with a pattern similar to butterfly wings, usually coupon fabric. You will also need 1 m of elastic, a needle and thread, felt 0.4x0.5 m. Wings of the required shape and size are cut out of the fabric. Felt is cut in the shape of an oval or a butterfly body - this will be the basis for fastening. Felt is sewn to the inside of the wings, 2 pieces of elastic are attached to it from the inside, sewn into 2 rings - they will be put on the shoulders and hold the wings on the back.
You need to sew 2 more small rubber rings onto the ends of the wings – the child will insert his fingers into these rings. Such wings flutter beautifully during the dance.
Method 2
To make the wings, you will need 1 cm thick foam rubber. This material holds its shape well. The foam rubber is cut according to the selected template, a Velcro is sewn on the inside in the middle of the structure, another Velcro will be sewn on the dress or bodysuit. Foam rubber is easily painted with gouache, acrylic, and various decor can be glued to it.
Method 3
You will need a thin black fabric (raincoat fabric), it will become the basis of the wings. Felt of 3 colors will be useful for decoration: you need to stock up on 2 sheets of orange color and 1 sheet of white and black colors, 0.2x0.3 m in size. To construct a pattern, measure the distance between the child's two outstretched arms, starting from the fingertips. The height of the wings is determined by the back.
Progress of work:
- The pattern, prepared according to size, is secured with pins on the folded in half fabric for the wings. The detail is cut out with a fold in the center.
- For decoration, circles, curves and drops of white and orange colors are cut out of felt. All parts are needed in the amount of 2 pieces. The resulting white and orange parts are laid out on the fabric base so that the pattern on the wings looks symmetrical. The parts can be fixed with fabric glue.
- Cut out the body of the insect from black felt, place it in the center between the two wings and glue it on.
- In order for the child to be able to put on the wings, it is necessary to sew 2 loops of elastic band onto the black felt. You will need 2 pieces 1 cm wide and 40 cm long. Each is folded in half and sewn together. The elastic rings are placed in the center of the wings, a small rectangle of black felt is placed on top and sewn on.
- To allow the child to flap his wings, it is necessary to make 2 holders at the end of the wings. A piece of elastic 10 cm long and 1 cm wide is folded into a loop and sewn onto the end of each wing.
Method 4
From a sheet of cardboard folded in half, cut out 2 wings of the required size with a fold in the center.
Using a cardboard blank, cut out the wings from fabric, making allowances for the seams. After covering the cardboard with fabric and securing it with pins, sew on a machine or by hand. Draw patterns on the fabric, glue on appliques or glitter. Attach the arms in the same way as in the previous methods. Another option to thicken the fabric so that it holds the shape of the wings is to use adhesive interlining.
Light fabric wings will decorate the butterfly's outfit. You can also make a poncho from a square piece of fabric: in this case, on the back of the outfit, patterned wings are painted with fabric paints, an applique or Christmas tree tinsel is sewn onto them.
Paper
The bright insect costume will be complemented by wings made of paper. The easiest way to make wings is from thin cardboard.
Progress of work:
- Find a template online or draw one. The size of the wings should correspond to the child's height. Print out the template and cut it out.
- The drawing is transferred to thin cardboard. If the sheet does not fit 2 wings with a fold, then you can cut out the wings separately. It should be remembered that in this case the wings will mirror each other. 2 wings are connected together with tape, glue.
- It is necessary to decorate the wings. The decor can be done with paints, liquid glitter, markers, felt-tip pens, drawing patterns typical of different types of insects. An applique made of different types of colored paper looks interesting. Sequins, ribbons, buttons will add decorativeness to the wings.
Such wings can be attached directly to the child's clothing by sewing them to the back. Another option is to attach an elastic band with which the wings are put on the back. You will need 2 pieces of elastic band 40 cm long, tie each piece, apply a knot to the back and attach with glue, tape, or a stapler. You can also make fastenings by sewing three rings from a piece of elastic band 5 cm long each.
One ring is glued to the central part of the wings at the top, two rings - at the bottom of the center (in the area of the baby's sides). A thick ribbon 5-7 cm wide is passed through the rings, it can be tied on the stomach, thrown over the baby's shoulders. Wings made from a combination of cardboard and cellophane look interesting. Having chosen the shape of the wings, the drawing is transferred to cardboard. It is desirable that the drawing has enough long bends, drops or circles.
Four mirror parts are cut out of cardboard – 2 left and 2 right wings. Openings are cut on all 4 parts with a stationery knife to obtain openwork. Cellophane is glued to the area of the cut holes on the inside of one set of wings. You can use colored or transparent plastic. Two sets of left and right wings are combined and glued together.
To connect both halves of the insect's wings, cut out the central part from cardboard, imitating the body of the butterfly - both wings are fixed to it with glue, you can sew it. From 2 pieces of elastic 40 cm long make 2 loops for the arms, the ends of the loops are fixed to the cardboard middle of the wings (sewn or held with a stapler).
On a wire frame
The butterfly costume will be complemented by wings made by hand and fixed on a wire. The wings are put on according to the backpack principle: elastic bands are attached to the junction of the wings on the inside, with the help of which they will be held on the back. For work, you will need about 2.5-3 m of wire with a thickness of 3-4 mm. For the upper wings, 1.5-2 m is spent, for the lower ones - 1-1.5 m. Wire hangers for clothes are also suitable, you will need 2 of them.
The hangers are easy to shape by connecting the resulting wings with hooks. You can make a full-size pattern of the wings on paper - this will help make the wings symmetrical. The wire is bent according to the chosen shape, the ends are fixed to the frame or wrapped with electrical tape. You can make the upper and lower wings separately, connecting them with a wire knot.
The wings look interesting, the frame of which is assembled from several elements, and the wire, twisting into curls, protrudes beyond the edges of the template. The wire frame can be covered with fabric: for this, the finished wings are laid out on a piece of fabric and cut out, stepping back from the wire by 5-7 cm. Tulle and elastic fabrics are suitable for wings. Having cut out the desired shape, the fabric is applied to the frame, securing it with pins.
Then, carefully folding the excess, the fabric is sewn to the frame or glued with instant glue. It is easier and faster to make wings from white or flesh-colored tights - just pull them onto the frame. Pull them towards the center, where the fabric is tied in a knot or sewn. The next step is decorating the wings. The stretched fabric can be painted with spray paint or acrylic. To make the pattern imitate butterfly wings, apply dots, chaotic lines, circles.
Another option is to make patterns with glitter glue, additionally sprinkling them with glitter powder. You can also decorate the wings with rhinestones, beads or beads, which are sewn or glued with a glue gun. Pay special attention to the junction of the upper and lower wings - this place is masked with flowers, bows. You can attach wings not only from fabric, but also from corrugated paper to the wire frame. The paper is held on the wire with glue.
You can place cellophane on a wire base to create light, transparent wings:
- Make a template of the wings in natural size.
- For the central segment, the wire is bent into the shape of the letter "U", and individual curved elements are attached to it, forming the pattern of the wings. The attachment points can be additionally reinforced with tape.
- The finished wire wings are wrapped with florist's tape.
- Using the template, cut out 2 pieces of wings from cellophane, making allowances of 5-7 cm.
- The first cellophane wing is sprayed with spray adhesive, a wire frame is quickly placed on top and covered with the second cellophane wing.
- It is necessary to carefully smooth out the film, ensuring that the layers adhere.
- If the cellophane does not stick well, you can cover the wings with a towel and iron them at minimum heat.
- The allowances are cut with scissors to create a fringe along the contour.
- Cut out 2 rings from a thick ribbon 5-6 cm wide and 40 cm long. The rings are secured to the central part of the wings with double-sided tape.
Antennae
A DIY butterfly costume will be incomplete without a headpiece.
Craftsmen offer several options:
- The easiest and fastest. Buy a ready-made black hair hoop. In the middle of the hoop, attach 2 wires bent into the shape of a mustache. The future mustache is wrapped with satin ribbons or chenille wire in the same color.
- Make a hoop out of cardboard. You will need to cut out a strip 4-5 cm wide, the length is equal to the size of the child's head plus 4-5 cm for gluing. Having connected the strip into a ring, glue the antennae cut out of cardboard and twisted into a spiral in the middle. The cardboard hoop is painted or decorated with acrylic paints or gouache, additionally decorated with glitter, rhinestones.
- A headband is made from wire based on the diameter of the child's head. Another piece of wire measuring 20-30 cm is bent in half, and empty containers from Kinder Surprises pierced with an awl are put on the ends - these will be the antennae. The containers are secured by making a loop from the wire inside. The antennae are attached to the headband, then everything is wrapped with fluffy black yarn.
- Wire antennae can be attached to a summer panama hat, cap, or hat.
The ends of the antennae are decorated with pom-poms, tassels, and large beads.
Shoes
A DIY butterfly costume will be completed with the right shoes. Usually, in preschool institutions, children come to matinees in ballet shoes or other sports shoes. But soft slippers can also be decorated so that they create a single ensemble with the outfit.
To do this, it is enough to sew a bright flower or a large bead in the center of the slippers. Small butterflies crocheted from cotton thread look beautiful. Butterflies made from glitter foamiran or felt with beads added to them will decorate the shoes.
How to complete the look
Accessories that will add original notes to the costume will help to diversify the image of a butterfly. One of the easiest ways is to use a headdress to which the antennae will be attached. A cap will do to create the image of a hooligan butterfly. A straw hat will enhance the tenderness and romanticism of the outfit. A butterfly can also look sporty, in which case a baseball cap will do.
Hair is of particular importance when creating a festive look. If a girl has a short haircut, she can make 2 ponytails, raising them high above her ears. Long hair is braided in a mermaid or French style in 2 braids; numerous flowers attached along the entire length of the braids will look beautiful.
To add airiness and lightness to the outfit, you can put tulle bracelets on the child's arms and legs. Such bracelets are easy to make by folding a strip of fabric in half, stitching it and inserting an elastic band. Bracelets made of small plastic beads in the shape of butterflies also look cute.
Using materials found around the house and a summer dress or skirt and bodysuit as a base, you can make an inexpensive butterfly costume. By spending a little time and making a children's outfit with your own hands, adults will not only provide the baby with a colorful outfit, but also spend time together doing a common thing.
Video on how to make a butterfly costume for a girl
How to make a butterfly costume for a girl: