We have a fairy on the top of our Christmas tree, apparently according to tradition it should be a star as our first born was a boy, but I like fairies, so that’s what we’ve got!

Our fairy was beginning to look a bit sorry for herself, one wing had fallen off ( a feather!) and she was generally looking a bit tired. I decided last night to try and make her a new outfit for Christmas!

I started by removing the current dress and any lumps of glue around her chest. I was left with a plastic cone to support the skirt and pipe-cleaner arms. I found some scraps of gold brocade and a pretty tulle embroidered with gold and decorated with little mirror beads.

I cut a length of the brocade, stitched and zig-zagged a seam and then hemmed it. I gathered it by hand and attached it just below the bodice of the fairy. The overskirt was a little more tricky just because it frayed so easily, in the end I cut it so the hem was on the selvage and I just turned it under once. Again I  hand gathered the top and stitched it under the bodice. A folded length wrapped round  started the bodice and covered the top of the skirts.

I used a piece if the brocade to make some sleeves, I hemmed the bottom edge by hand as it’s so small, the top edge was just cut to the right length as it’s held in place with the bodice.

The bodice is made from two short lengths of ribbon, it’s quite a coarse ribbon with a gold stripe down the middle, by folding it along one side of the stripe I could get a nice edge to it. I simply placed it firmly down each side, crossing over front and back and stitched it in place.

My favourite bit is the beads on the skirt, that was a bit of inspiration if I say so myself!! I  was looking in the ribbon box for a waist band when this beaded trim fell out, it was a piece left over from when I made a silk scarf. The beads are cream and gold, they hang at intervals from a ribbon. It was perfect, not only did my fairy have a ribbon for her waistband, she also had lots of beaded tassels over her skirt! I just wrapped it around her twice, covering the top of the skirt and the ribbon of the bodice, and stitched it down at the back. I found a tiny sparkly buckle which just finished the bodice.

A fairy is not complete without a set of wings. I found a length of wired sparkly gold tulle ribbon with stars on it. I gathered it like a bow, left some long tails and stitched it to her back with a sparkly button.

I think she’ll look lovely on the top of our tree 🙂

I’m linking up with Kathy on Slow Stitching Sunday and Super Mom No Cape for Vintage Embroidery Monday, why not have a look what everyone else has been up to.