How-to: Beautiful Butterfly Wings Upcycled from Wire Hangers and Old Clothes

Zigzag around the wire, stretching the fabric as you go.Choose an old shirt made of stretchy fabric, and cut off the sleeves. Slip a sleeve over each hanger wing–if the cuff is bound off too tightly, simply cut it off.

Set your sewing machine to a wide zigzag stitch, and carefully sew around the entire perimeter of the butterfly wing. Keep the wire in the exact center of your presser foot, and double-check before you begin that the needle won’t hit it.

Stretch the fabric as you go, because you want your wing to be taut, and don’t worry about the excess fabric outside of the wing–you’re going to cut that off in a minute.

Your stitching should start at one “shoulder” of the hanger, up close to the hanging hook, and should end at the other shoulder. This will leave an opening, but you’ll need that opening in just another minute.

When you’re finished sewing around the perimeter of the wing, go ahead and cut off the excess fabric outside of the wing, being careful to cut close to your stitching without cutting your stitches. If you’d like to zigzag around the wing again to bind the raw edges of the cut fabric, then go ahead, but it isn’t really necessary.

Next >>

2 thoughts on “How-to: Beautiful Butterfly Wings Upcycled from Wire Hangers and Old Clothes”

  1. Pingback: DIY Halloween is Greener, Kinder

  2. Great stuff! I have one suggestion–it would be great if all your awesome descriptions came with pictures for visual learners like me. I would appreciate it!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top