With Halloween coming up, I had the chance to do some sewing. Here is my sewing pattern review for Dragonfly Wings by Twig and Tale.

Recently, I was asked to sew the Dragonfly Wings by Twig and Tale for a Halloween costume. This was my first experience with Twig and Tale, which features sewing patterns inspired by nature. In addition to some lovely sewing patterns for both adults and children, they have an entire wing series as well. The wing line includes angels, sprites, dragons and butterflies to name a few. I made the Dragonfly Wings.

The Dragonfly Wings by Twig and Tale come in a variety of sizes: small, medium, large and mini. Be sure to select the correct size when purchasing your pattern. I made the small size with the straps.

Dragonfly Wings by Twig and Tale Sewing Pattern Description

The dragonfly wings come in two different options to wear: straps (like a backpack) or they can be sewn onto a garment.

There are 3 main parts to the wings – the actual wings themselves, the applique designs on the wings and the body.

Fabric Suggestions for Dragonfly Wings

This sewing pattern is intended for woven fabrics with no stretch. You want fabric with good structure (as opposed to soft, drapey fabrics), but not too thick (so no canvas or denim or anything like that).

Recommended fabrics include:

quilting fabrics: perhaps the most used and easily accessible; quilting fabrics come in a variety of colours and patterns
cotton fabrics with a dense weave
bed linens: I used cotton pillowcases as the base for mine that I found at the dollar store as I needed a particular colour and did not have it in my stash.
I love that this company recommends upcycling items like cotton shirts and curtains for this project. Those would work perfectly for this as well.

Depending on the size, you don’t need a whole lot of fabric. This project would be a great scrap buster. I had the most fun in picking out coordinating fabrics that went with. my base fabric. I had plenty of things in my stash that worked. In the end, I chose 6 contrasting fabrics for my dragonfly wings. You could just use 3 contrasting fabrics, or even just one.

Be sure to check the instructions as some sewing notions are also needed for this pattern, including batting, 2 types of interfacing and elastic.

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Dragonfly Wings by Twig and Tale Sewing Pattern Review

This pattern is not overly complicated. I did the entire project using my regular sewing machine. You will need a machine capable of straight stitches, as well as zig-zag stitches (for the appliques). You’ll also need to go through several layers of fabric with batting, so make sure you have a new-ish needle that can handle multiple layers.

The pattern is a little bit more extensive, however in that it utilizes interfacing. It offers a helpful tip by cutting out your pattern piece with the interfacing first and then applying it to your fabric and then cutting the fabric. This ensures that both pieces are exactly the same. I must admit I was a bit taken aback by this technique – I’ve always just cut 2 pieces. Of course, they never seemed to line up perfectly and so this method was definitely an “ah-ha” type moment for me.

I did not have any sew-in interfacing so I made the entire thing using iron-on interfacing. I simply just didn’t iron it when asked to use the sew-in interfacing. It worked just fine.

Previously, I hadn’t done much applique. When I’ve had to do something similar, I’ve used bonded fabric but I was afraid it would make this too bulky as it adds another layer.

The pattern recommends using a glue stick to affix the appliques. I’ve always been paranoid about glue gumming up my needles so I used wonder tape instead to just anchor it and it was fine. I appreciate how the sewing pattern gave suggestions on the size of zig-zag stitch to use. My appliques turned out quite well!

This may be one of the cutest things I’ve ever sewn. Look at how cute this is – even without it being worn! I know the recipient will look absolutely adorable in it.