Birthday Garland

So my baby just turned 3 years old! I can't believe how time flies! It feels like the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy and not time for much sewing and/or crafting. However, before her party, I happened upon a blog that gave me a great last minute (literally) idea for party decorations.

For the kids' birthdays they get to choose a theme for the party. My daughter is currently obsessed with all things princess, so I was not surprised at her choice. I really wanted to avoid the Disney princess theme though. We love us some Disney movies...but for some reason, I really dislike any character clothing and any other paraphernalia (including party decorations). If she had really wanted Disney specifically, we would have gone that route, but she is generally easy to please (well....other than the multiple times a day when a melt down occurs and a tantrum ensues...but that is another subject). So, when I found these princess invitations, I thought they were adorable and a great neutral foundation for party decorations as well.

My sister is awesome at making cakes, so I commissioned her to make a cake based upon the invitation (I have made the kids cakes in the past and I normally end up in a panic and completely stressed out...so I have decided there are some projects that are just best left to others). I gave her complete creative control other than the basic design and as always, I was very happy with the end result (she also made my son's cake this past year - a very cool race track)!

I decided to just use pink & purple for the decorations. I could not find any decorations that were princess-ey that did not look cheap and/or were not Disney. I would have loved to have found some plates, garland, etc. that matched the invitations, but no such luck. The party was very small, mostly just family and just a couple of friends...and being frugal (i.e. cheap) I also did not want to spend a huge amount of money on decorations. The day of the party, I remembered a blog I had recently seen, showing how to sew paper circles into a garland I didn't want circles...but I had a couple of extra invitations, so why couldn't I do the same with princess tiaras instead?!

With literally minutes to spare before the party, I traced the invitation onto pink & purple construction paper.

Once done tracing, I cut several layers at once. I then went to the sewing machine and got started! I started about midway through the tiara and sewed a straight line.

Sorry for photo quality!

I decided to make the garland with one tiara pointing upwards and the next going downwards. So, I laid the next tiara close to the first that was on the sewing machine and kept stitching. I connected at the "bulb" part of the tiara.

Again, sorry for the quality of the photo..my lighting is not good near my sewing machine!

I continued to add tiaras until I reached my desired length. This a picture of a few tiaras attached together.

I made a total of four garlands with 10 tiaras per garland. If I had allowed myself more time and supplies, I would have likely made them a bit longer. I used one garland on the cake table and then used the other three as table runners on the three guest tables.

I was happy that I was able to decorate in the desired theme, without "characters" and on the cheap! It was a win-win! Most importantly, my daughter had a great day! Thanks to Creative Passage for the inspiration (she is blogging from my part of the world too!).

P.S. Thanks to the new followers of the blog!!

I will be linking to these parties:

The Sequel - More of Last Summer's Projects!

I have to admit that I find it a great deal of fun to sew for my daughter...and not just sew, but to make hair ribbons, crochet hats, etc. The options are just so much more abundant for girls than boys.

Last summer, I saw several "apron skirts" and I thought that they were just adorable. I decided that for my daughter's birthday outfit, I would make her an apron skirt with an appliqued shirt. I also decided that I would buy some beautiful fabric from our small town fabric shop. However, this fabric is not cheap. I pride myself on getting a good bargain...and this shop really has no opportunities for getting a better deal than the listed price. However, I loved the fabric and was willing to make the comprise. Before I cut into that expensive fabric though, I decided that I certainly needed to test my skills on fabric that I did not deem to be quite as important.

So practice, I purchased some fabric on clearance (at Wal-Mart). I was not really fond of the fabrics, but again, the price was the deciding factor for the "test" pattern. I found a tutorial (which does not seem to be working any longer) that I would use for the skirt and came up with a simplistic pattern for the shirt. I used Wonder Under to iron on the fabric to the shirt and then zig-zagged around the patterns on the shirt. I also attached "ruffles" to the tank/shirt, which I thought was a very cute addition to an otherwise plain tank. Even though I was not overly fond of the fabric at the beginning, I ended up really liking the final products. I attached a orange ribbon to the bottom of the apron piece. That same ribbon was used to create a hair piece for Gracie (which you can barely see in the picture..and has since been lost).

Given that I was happy with the results of the "test" pattern, I then used the expensive fabric to make Gracie's birthday outfit. The skirt is basically the same, however I used three colors in the skirt this time around and attached a piece of lace to the bottom of the apron piece. I adored the skirt. I appliqued a shirt for the birthday outfit as well, but it was a short sleeved shirt instead of a tank this time. I was at a loss as to what to applique on the front of this shirt. I ended up cutting out designs in the fabric and using the same Wonder Under process and zig-zagging the fabric on the shirt. This shirt was not was not what I had envisioned. I still am not satisfied with this shirt - but Gracie loved her outfit and had a great birthday!