The Final Push (Patreon)

WE HAVE WINGUS. There are a lot of little imperfections that need to be fiddled with, but after weeks of failed attempts and redesigning, I have a pair of collapsible bat wings.

Tori was a HUGE help in the draping of the wings which was definitely a two person job. One of us needed to hold and pull and stretch the fabric in different ways while the other pinned and adjusted. We used old bed sheets to drape a pattern. There is a dart in the outer third of the wing that will hopefully be fully covered by the "bones" once I add those on top. The front and back of each wing is darted then sewn together along the outside edge. Those seams are then steam ironed and pressed with a clapper (flat wooden block) until cool. Another seam 1 and 1/4 inch from the outer seam is top top stitched from the outside. This created a channel for the outer pvc pipe to slide up into. The final seam sewn on a machine is the inner seam of the channel top for the inner pvc pipe which is also top stitched.

The wings are then slid onto the frame and pinned to the inner pvc pipe. Because the pvc pipes are on the left and right wings are not exactly identical because I am a human being, some adjusting needed to be done to the fabric so that it draped correctly and didn't have weird pulls (or too many bad and obvious weird pulls at least. The fact is, wings that are not permanent are always going to have some inconsistent draping every time they are assembled). Once I got them to a point I was happy with, I started the long process of hand sewing up the outside of the channel of the inner pvc.

I'm not quite done. I still want to add three bones to each wing with weather stripping, make the gold caps for the tips of the wings, maybe sponge a gradient between the bones to add dimension, paint and pvc that peaks through on the back black, and drill the holes in the base to screw the wings onto the harness. I'm at a good stopping point for now, though.