These were purchased to be added to a River Fairy costume that we designed.  They are sturdy and beautiful without being overly large for my 12 year old daughter.  The elastic is comfortably covered, but may cause some 'flopping' of the wings.  The problem can be easily addressed by either knotting (down and dirty), cutting and retying (again the easy, quick way), or cutting and resewing the elastics.  Love the wings, they are a huge hit and exactly what we needed to complete the costume!