This is the design that my friends like the most out of my safety pin jackets, and a few people have told me they'd like an instructable on how to make them. So here we go! A more general set of instructions for a safety pin jacket is available here.
Step 1: You Will Need:
Supplies:
1) Jacket (or whatever you want your design to go on)
2) Sizes 1, 2, and 3 safety pins. (This jacket used around 200 size 1, 4 size 2, and 14 size 3 steel pins)
3) Ruler
4) Light colored pencil or chalk
5) Needle and thread
1) Jacket (or whatever you want your design to go on)
2) Sizes 1, 2, and 3 safety pins. (This jacket used around 200 size 1, 4 size 2, and 14 size 3 steel pins)
3) Ruler
4) Light colored pencil or chalk
5) Needle and thread
Step 2: Measure and mark
Measure across the back of the jacket, starting and ending at the seam connecting the sleeve to the body. Draw a line straight down the middle of the back. This will help you center the wings on the jacket.
Step 3: Start pinning!
Begin the design by making the lines that create the inside and top edges of the wings. Doing these lines first will give you a guide to follow when adding the "feathers". Experiment with different shapes! Subtly altering the shape will change the overall feeling of the piece. I usually make more slender wings; these are a bit more rounded and cutsey.
Step 4: Adding feathers
Add the first row of feathers using size 1 pins. To create a more feathery texture, make the line zigzag in and out. It doesn't matter immensely if the right and left sides are perfectly identical.
Step 5: More feathers!
Add second and third rows of size one pins, following the curves of the first row.
Step 6: Bigger feathers
To make the pinion feathers, use a few size three pins to make a partial row on each side. Use the size twos (and maybe a couple size ones) to slope this row into the previous one so it looks more natural and there are no abrupt edges.
Step 7: One stitch, two stitch.
Use the thread to stitch down the pins so that they lie the way you want them to. It's good to use thread that more or less matches your pins so it's less obvious.
Step 8: Share and enjoy
All done! These jackets are machine washable, if you run them on delicate and are careful to dry them right away (do not put them in the dryer though! That would end painfully). A couple friends have told me that you can kill smelly bacteria by spraying vodka on stinky spots, and when it dries it will no longer smell like alcohol.
Have fun with your new jacket!
Have fun with your new jacket!
Step 9: Accesorize!
Now that you know how, you can embellish anything as long as it's made out of nice sturdy fabric. In addition to my jackets, I have now put wings on my school bag, and some stretch fleece wristbands. (I plan to make myself some wing high-tops next, Hermes style!)
Have fun!
Have fun!
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I found a crimper at walmart for cheap and it works fine.