Making Articuno Wings
Amount of time:
1-2 days of continous work
What you will need:
About four to five yards of blue Fabric (depending on how long your arm is and if mistakes are made)
Matching Blue thread
About two yards of sturdy Interfacing
Measuring Tape (to measure your arm length and circumferance at the thickest part of your arm)
Paper
Pencil
Black Sharpie marker
Scissors
Fabric Glue
A Sewing needle/Sewing Machine
2 Small wooden dowels
Step One: Find references.
I do know that it is hard to be exact sometimes. And being exact can be hard to manage within cosplay. So for those whom just want to do it as they wish you can skip this step. For others who want to be as close as possible continue reading. Finding actual art is rather hard for this particular character since there is a lot of fanart. Finding actual work from the show is best. Here is actually a website that I had used for reference: legendarybirds.webs.com
Step Two: Drawing it out
The most important part to making the wings is drawing out the pattern. It serves as a guide for the fabric. So sketch out the wing on a large sheet of paper (or several taped pieces of paper if you don’t own any large sheets). Then once you are confident and like what you drew, cut it out as close to the lines as possible. Make sure to measure your arm length and circumference at the thickiest part of your arm first to make sure that it will fit. It should look like this when cut out:
Step Three: Tracing onto the Interfacing
The interfacing is used to help the wing keep shape while you are wearing it. If you don’t feel like you need it then don’t worry about this step. Though for those who want it to stay sturdy, please read on. Take the cut out paper pattern you had used and trace with the marker of the shape. Then cut out the shape. You will need to do this twice, one for each wing.
Step Four: The Fabric
Taking the fabric, either trace with interfacing pattern, do not use sharpie for this. use marker that will not bleed through the fabric, or if you have a very sturdy hand and safety pins cut along the pattern, make sure not to make it exact and a bit bigger than the pattern to leave space in order to sew. you will need to do this four times (two fabric wings per wing). Make sure the they match so sewing will be easier.
Step Five: Sewing
Using the sewing machine, or sewing needle if you prefer hand sewing, sew the top(not where the individual feathers are) as if it was a sleeve. Then using the machine or hand sewing, sew the individual feathers, make sure to leave a hole at the back of the wing in order to put your arm in. As if if it was a sleeve for a shirt. Then turn it inside out, being careful not to pop seams
Step Six: Putting in the interfacing
One of the hardest steps. You need to put the interfacing into the wing you had made, putting each piece in their place in the fabric. It is rather difficult to do since you do need to struggle a little with it if it is not a bit smaller than the actual wing. Here is what the finished product should look like (one wing)
Incase the wing bends at the end:
Use the wooden dowels to straighten out the wing. If wishing to attach them, use fabric glue and sewing them on by putting notches into the dowel in various spots.
Incase of popped seams:
Use what people call the “invisidle stitich” also known as the very tiny stitch in order to fix your mistake and also hide it.
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This is a guest post from Roxy, entered in the Cosplay Tutorial Contest. Click here to check out all the participants and their scores, and more details about the contest, like the rules, how to join, the prize, etc.
Author Bio:
Name: Roxy
Gender: Female
Nationality: American
Personal Blogs & Social Networks:facebook
Comments about the tutorial: I’ve noticed that there are not many tutorials on how to make Articuno wings out of fabric so I did them myself and wanted to help others out whom wish to cosplay as this legendary bird.