Rosie's Purple Luna Moth Wings

It's a rainy Friday and last night I was up late pruning my two peach trees - last year I failed to prune them and the fruit was small and not good quality, and the trees really became overgrown and gangly looking. I feel  bad cutting off so many budding branches but, as Rosie cheerfully told me, "It's just like a haircut, Mommy!" True, true. It is.

Since I can't do outdoor work today I am going to post about these wings. My computer has been giving me trouble recently so I need to do it while I can! (It's overdue to be replaced - this computer is many years old and just can't handle a lot of the newer software the kids like and want!)

I took these pictures last week at one of our favorite places. The creek flows into a nearby lake and is generally always quite shallow, with the prettiest rocks and little waterfalls and, in the summer, minnows that swarm and flash like silver. This time of year the valley is still flooded with sunlight since the trees are not yet in leaf but it is warm enough to enjoy being outside without a lot of layers and to wade in the still-very-cold water.

Rose chose this kind of wild purple cotton fabric for her wings. This fabric is pretty special to me since I recently bought it, along with a few other similar lengths, at one of the first little antique and quilting shops I visited after moving here. Sadly, one of the owners passed away almost two years ago so since then, her husband has kept the store open only select days to sell off the inventory and the historic building is for sale. I never know if the store will be open when I go down to that little town so I snatched up as many pretty fabrics and craft supplies as I could last time I was there. It may well be the last time I go before the place passes to new owners.

The fabric was folded up on a back cabinet that I had never looked through before and I got an entire 5 yard length for $2. It is heavy cotton and and quite stiff so was a great choice for Rosie's wings.

As with the wings I made my niece, I used fusible foam instead of batting and only one layer of interfacing. To make the wings stand out nicely I cut two layers of the back wings and sewed two channels on each side to slip in lengths of zip ties cut to fit. The zip ties worked PERFECTLY to stiffen the wings and I will definitely use this method for future wings! Another plus about zip ties is that they can washed and dried without harming them.

The wings are very lightweight, too. I did go with the size small again, since the pattern piece for size medium was just so much larger and Rose is, after all, still quite little.

When Rose wears these she pretends she is a variety of things: a fairy (obviously! 😂), a butterfly, a princess, a bird, a bee, a pterodactyl and, randomly, a vampire bat. 😕

At any rate, these were lovely to see her wear and play in when we were out in the woods - dress up and imaginative play is so great for little ones!

Much love,
Sarah