A rare episode of crafting...

...and only posting this about four months later than I intended.  BUT! It was meant to be!  Ana at time flies when you're having babies is hosting a crafting linkup, and that's finally the motivation I need to actually get this post done.  Hooray!

My niece Abby turned two back in October.  Prior to her birthday, I got the bright idea that I would make her a princess/fairy dress-up outfit.  I have no idea where this came from--I am generally not at all crafty.  Part of me loves the idea of making my own everything, most of me knows my sister would do it so much better and so I should just go read a book, and all of me is way too busy taking care of little boys/rabid wolf cubs and working two part time jobs to generally find crafting relaxing/fun rather than intensely stressful.  But this project was the exception, and I have high hopes of many more exceptions at some undetermined point in the future.

My foray into the wild world of crafting may have been prompted by seeing some adorable skirts at the farmers' market in Lincoln when we were visiting my parents last summer.  They looked something like this:

And yes, this project included my first ever Pinterest adventure.

So I decided to make Abby a princess/fairy skirt and a crown.

When Dene' and I were little, we had the bestest EVER dress up crown.  It was a silver and purple beaded circlet with a beautiful blue flowing scarf tied on the back.  I don't remember where we got it, or what happened to it (unless Dene' still has it somewhere... Dene'?).  But in pondering a gift for Abby's birthday I immediately knew I wanted to recreate the Princess Crown of Awesomeness.

Now, I am a notorious procrastinator.  But I was so excited about this project that I completed all of my shopping over two weeks in advance of the big day.  It was impressive.  I completed the crown in a timely fashion, but something came up (probably late-third-trimester-fatigue), and then something else came up (probably Michael wanting attention, or some such nonsense), and then something else came up (probably work), and I ended up making the skirt the afternoon of the birthday party.  So I don't have step-by-step pictures, which would have been much more impressive, but here's what I did:

before...

Princess Skirt
fabric (various colors and prints, or all the same; I just picked up a bunch of the discounted squares of cotton print at JoAnn's)
elastic (wide enough to provide a good waistband, but not too wide)
pinking shears

1. Cut fabric into 1"-1.5" strips with pinking shears (length based on the height of the intended wearer--you will need a couple inches for the knot).  Cut off the top and bottom edge as well to prevent fraying.
2. Cut elastic band to the desired length, and sew ends together (I did this by hand, sewing machine would be easier and neater).
3. Tie one end of each strip around the waistband until the entire band has been covered.

Yep, it really was that simple.  The cutting and tying was a bit time consuming (and probably felt even longer because I was rushing).  But seriously, how ridiculously easy is that?

Princess Crown of Awesomeness

wire (medium to thick)
floral tape
green plastic tape
small fabric flowers
ribbon

1. Shape the wire into a circlet of the desired size (depending on the thickness, you may need to wrap the wire around a couple times to make it sturdy enough).
2. Cover the circlet in floral tape.
3. Arrange flowers around circlet and attach with green plastic tape.
4. Cut various lengths of ribbon and tie together on back of crown.

...after!

And, voila!  Princess dress-up set for ... well, I don't remember.  It was less than $10 total of supplies (more for me, because I didn't own my own pinking shears until this project).  It was so much fun to make.  The crown didn't end up as sturdy as I wanted--I think a thicker wire would have worked better.  And there's probably a better way of attaching the flowers.  I was expecting the floral tape to be stickier and was just going to use that to attach each flower, but that didn't work out.  I resorted to some green plastic tape I had on hand, but it wasn't ideal.  Overall I was thrilled with the results, especially considering my aforementioned lack of general craftiness.  Now I just need more little girls in my life who need dress up clothes (although longer strips on a collar that buttoned/snapped/tied might make for a fun cloak/cape for boys... not sure...).