Pages

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Flower Fairies

Fairy collage 

First I have to apologize for the tutorial photos. It was a rainy day, Jilly had just woken up from a nap and I was rushing to make the fairy before she started crying. So the pictures are badly lit and somewhat blurry, but you can still see what I’m doing, so I’m just going to go with it!

supplies

Pipe cleaners, faux flowers, embroidery floss, scissors (My scissors are from Cutco so they’re really sturdy. You may want to grab some wire snips if you don’t think your scissors are up to the job.), tulle, thread, fine-tip sharpie marker, wood beads (mine came in an assortment pack from Walmart and had just the perfect bead for the head!) bells (optional), hot glue gun, and embellishments. I used buttons, sequins, multi-colored rhinestones and some little papery flowers that came in a scrapbook kit.

cut pipe cleaner

Choose a pipe cleaner for the body. Cut a third of it off the end. (that will be the arms) Bend the remaining piece in half, that will be the body and legs.

wrap embroidery floss

Wrap a length of embroidery floss around your fingers and snip the end off. Six or seven times should do it. I really loved how the variegated thread looks.

tulle and thread

Take a length of tulle (mine were in strips from another project and worked just right for this.) about 2 inches wide and 20 inches long. Fold it in half, then in half again.

double up and stitch through

Thread your needle and tie a knot in the end of the thread. Run it through the middle of the folded tulle.Pull the thread tight, run the needle back through the other way, and tie a knot to secure.

trim up

Trim the excess off the ends and pull the layers apart a bit. Wings!

bent pipe cleaner, seperated flower petals

Strip the petals off a faux flower.

all the bits and pieces

Assemble all your bits and pieces for the fairy.

insert thread

Place the loops of embroidery floss in the fold of the body portion of pipe cleaner.

add a bead

Push a wooden bead up the legs so it is up pinching the hair into place. It’s fine if the hair stands straight up, we’ll ‘style’ it later. If your bead is a tad too big just use a bit of hot glue to hold it in place under the hair.

 add arms

Place the arms behind the body and twist each side 360 degrees around the body.

twist arms together and bend in hands

Pinch the ends up, then fold them in again to make hands that don’t have a sharp edge.

push petals on and up

Thread the petals of the flower up onto the fairy. Make sure to alternate the petal spacing a bit so your fairy is decently clothed.

thread on bells

Thread two small bells, or 1 big one, up the fairy’s legs right up to the petals. This will help hold the petals in place, otherwise they have a tendency to fall back down. I also used some of the other wooden beads in my assortment when I ran out of bells. Then fold her feet up the same way you did the hands. No sharp edges, please!

dab hot glue on back of fairy

Pinch the petals of the skirt down and out of the way and put a dab of glue on her back to attach the wings to.

add wings and sequin

After you attach the wings you can add a little embellishment, I used a sequin.

glue jewel to front

Flip your fairy over and add some embellishment to her ‘bodice’, I used a large rhinestone.

trim hair

Use your scissors to snip the loops of her hair in half.

glue around back of head

Hold her wings out of the way and run some hot glue around the base of her hair. Carefully push her hair down over the glue to secure.

push down hair

Repeat with the sides of her head.

draw on face

Use your sharpie to give her some eyes and a mouth. Be careful not to touch her face after this. The sharpie will set after about an hour, but I’d wait at least 24 before giving her to a small child who might be heartbroken if her fairy’s face gets smudged!

add hat 

Use some embellishments to create a little hat. I used a paper flower, button and a sequin.

 bend up feet

Fluff her wings back up and adjust her skirt if you need to, and voila! A beautiful, little flower fairy!

      flower fairies             

Then go crazy and create a flock of fairies! I really loved the ones made from hydrangea petals! They look like little blue tutus! And don’t forget to make use of the greenery that comes on the stem, and the plastic whatchamacallit at the base of the flower petals. (I’m sure it has a name, I just don’t know what it is and am too lazy to go look it up.)

For our Fairy fun headquarters, click here!

14 comments:

Bethany @ The Paper Pony said...

I have a bunch of half-made flower fairies and had stopped because I couldn't figure out a cute hair idea... YOU SOLVED THE PROB! Thank you thank you!

Jennie said...

Bethany, glad you liked it! I'm also super partial to the fairy that has a bit of marabou for hair :)

dining table said...

It looks so easy to do. I will try to do one. And if I am successful I will also going to make more with different styles and design like you do. Thank you for sharing this amazing project.

Charlotte said...

Sweet! They actually remind me of a close pin doll that I purchased for my sewing box. This doll which is about the same size actaully came with a pretty pair to tiny sewing scissor that was attached with ribbon. On the body of the doll I can easily stick sewing needles for easy access.

I look forward to following your blog.

Crystal said...

this is an adorable tutorial! Thank you! My daughter and I will get at making some before summer is done!

Lenetta said...

These are SO FUN! I linked on my weekly roundup - thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I am making these for my god-daughters birthday. Is there anyway you can post some pics that are close up of some more fairies. I would love to see more of them up close to give me more of a veriety. They are so cute I can't wait to start them. They are going to be hun on the fence the seperated our yard and the woods like they are coming out of the woods to spy on the birthday party.

Anonymous said...

Hello, you site is very funny he told me to cheer up .. Merry Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, may all your wishes come true!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful post, great ))

Unknown said...

hi!
I am from Brazil and I am enchanted by this post. I loved this fairies..I wrote an special post in my blog about your blog.

Kisses,
Priscila

Jennie said...

Thanks so much for stopping by, Priscila! Glad you liked my fairies!

Melissa said...

Thank you so much for posting such a detailed and thorough tutorial. I have made about 12 of these lovely fairies so far. So much fun! Again, thank you for sharing your talent and ideas with us!!!

Hellen said...

Thank you so much for this post. I've just made my first two fairies for my daughter's party. I love them, and I am certain that she will too! Can't wait to make more!!!