by Trish Turay
My sweet niece is approaching a big milestone–her 2nd birthday is around the corner. I wanted to do something special for her bedroom that was girlie and sweet. As a bonus, this garland will be part of her birthday party decor on the fireplace, ready to greet guests.
I headed toward my stash and grabbed a bunch of my embellishments.
Supplies:
–Patterned Paper
–Buttons
–Decorative Brads, Pearls, Rhinestones
–Trim
–Border punches
–Doilies
–Marker
–Decorative edge scissors
–Wooden mini clothes pins
–Ribbon
–Template for Dress (click to download pdf)
Start by tracing this pattern onto decorative scrapbook paper and cutting it out. Along the bottoms and sleeves of the dresses, I chose to use zig zag scissors and scalloped edge scissors for some variety. Feel free to get creative and use border punches too.
As for pattern and color, I went for bright and cheery. I did try to stick with smaller scaled printed paper, simply because a large print on a smaller dress looked off.
For a more girlie girl look, go with all pink. For a tea party, you might want to try pastels and such to go with that fancy/frilly theme. Easter is around the corner–you could make one of these garlands and call it “Sunday Best.” Oh, the possibilities!
I ended up making 9 dresses for this banner.
You can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. For some, I simply used a decorative paper border and a button or two. I elected to not add bling on these, because of the “sweet and simple” dresses. I cut a doily as an apron on one dress. I used actual lace on a couple dresses. It felt good to use what I had on hand, and I didn’t get hung up on making everything match. Feel free to actually sew on the dresses, too!
When you’re finished, simply hang the dresses by clothes pins on a thin piece of ribbon and enjoy!!
And there you have it–a simple decorative banner at your fingertips.
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