The Chapeau | DIY Sleeping Beauty's Fairy Merryweather's Hat

In honor of Felt Hat Day (which is today for those of you unawares), I am rerunning this post about making my favorite fairy's fascinator! I hope you enjoy it!

I am in love with the hat shop on Main Street USA: The Chapeau. It's the place to find any hat your heart desires; as long as Disney makes it! I realize there are those who would never be caught dead in a Disney hat, and those of us who think they are AWESOME. If you fit into that latter category, then this post is for you!

I have an affinity with Merryweather, naturally, but she's not the easiest character to find in the parks. And neither is a Merryweather themed hat. So I put my DIY skills to use and created my very own Merryweather fascinator. This is my very first foray into the world of millinery, so I did a little research on hat making via YouTube. Just search for "how to make a fascinator" and you'll get plenty of videos to choose from! If you too are new to the hat making world, you'll want to become familiar with a product called sinamay. It's what the structure of the hat is made from. It helps it hold it's shape and gives it the body you need for it to stand up on it's own. The link will take you to several resources for purchasing sinamay.

I first created a pattern using scrapbooking paper (as it was large enough to experiment with, and I have TONS of it), a compass, and scotch tape. Once I had my basic shape together (which took several tries), I took it all apart and cut the pieces from the sinamay. I used a double layer of sinamay because I wasn't sure a single layer would hold the shape as well as I wanted it to. After all, that hat had to make it all the way to Florida without getting crushed!

After I had the sinamay cut out, I cut out felt about a 1/4" larger than the sinamay and machine stitched it to the sinamay. I then shaped the hat into it's 3-dimentional form and pinned it together. I hand sewed the hat together trying to hide my stitches where I could. Once it was together I realized it needed the organza on it to really make it work. What a difference that made! It went from ok, to cool. The devil is always in the details!

My hair is quite fine, so a comb was not going to work for me to wear this all day in the park. I decided to attach it to a thin, ribbon-covered headband I found at JoAnn's. It worked like a dream! The headband is small enough that it doesn't fight with my glasses for room behind my ears, is fairly well hidden in my hair, and comfortable enough to wear all day. For a first project, I couldn't be happier! I'd love to see any hats you may have altered or made for your trips to the Happiest Place On Earth.

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Code 2319! DIY Monsters Inc. George Sanderson Hat

I love Pixar. No one tells a story the way Pixar does. And the running gag in Monsters Inc. when George Sanderson is constantly getting detoxed (at the panicked cry of his partner no less!) cracks us up every time. We are constantly hopeful that one day we will be in a Walt Disney World Resort room 2319. I'll keep you posted.

And the fact that my dad and granddad both worked in environments where radiation was a real risk means we've heard stories from them about the detox process. Seems to me that Pixar got it right. If you haven't seen the movie, here's a clip of the first time George is the subject of a 2319:




Poor George. In his honor, and to celebrate National Crochet Month, I whipped up this Code 2319 hat using a free pattern for a Unicorn Hat from Cre8tion Crochet. I followed the directions for the beanie using this Yarn Bee yarn I purchased ages ago from Hobby Lobby. I lost the label (I'm sure the littles had a hand in that!) so I can't tell you the exact name. But any faux fur would do the trick!

I think I've mentioned this before, but when using faux fur to crochet, I like to hold a sock yarn along with it so I can see the stitches more clearly. For this, I used some yellow scrap I had left over from making those Tangled Socks. It practically disappears as long as you use a color similar to what's in your faux fur.

I also modified the horn pattern to make it a little thicker that the unicorn one in the pattern. I simply repeated the increase row each time until it was long enough, and followed the directions for attaching to horn to the hat. If I were a runner, I would consider this for a RunDisney event costume!

Crocheted DIY Disney Prince and Princess Crowns

Did you know that March is National Crochet Month? In honor of this, I thought I'd share this quick and easy crocheted crown pattern. It's the perfect accessory for your Disney Prince or Princess! I was able to whip this up in under an hour and it's another great project for using up your yarn stash.

I used this wonderful pattern from Corina at Stitch 11. There is no notation about gauge in the pattern itself, and I don't crochet enough to know if I'm usually a tight or loose crocheter. This pattern is perfect except for the fact that I had to remove 8 more stitches in the infant size to get it to fit Minnie's head. Little Chef is easily wearing the child size in this picture, but his head is large -- the same crown fits MY head as well!

Both of these little Disney kids love to dress up, and these crowns were so easy to make that I think I'll make more in several other colors to add to the dress up trunk. You never know when you might need just the right crown to complete your look! I hope you have fun making this adorable accessory for your little Disney fan. And until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Princess Tutu

I think by now we all know I love a good bargain! I do my fair share of hunting. I love checking out Tuesday Mornings for all things Disney. They are usually a good spot for Tinkerbell Treasures at a good price. The toy aisle is always promising. But I was surprised last time I was in to find this Disney Princess Tutu Kit from Simplicity in the crafting aisle! For $3.00 I was sold!

Now, this is not really a sewing project; it's more of a wrapping tulle around an elastic band project. If you wanted to sew the elastic band together, I'm sure you could; but in all honesty, I just tied it in a knot. I'm fairly certain it will be staying in the dress-up box, and the littles don't care about a bit of elastic showing. And even more exciting, this project was simple enough that I was able to polish it off during nap time! I also think it's a great addition to your dress-up box. It's not going to win any contests, but it is a boat-load of fun. I chose not to use the appliqué that came with it, but there is a cute little rose for a future project!

If you can't find this kit anywhere, I think it would be simple enough to make this yourself. There were roughly 45 tulle strips about 4"x 24", a piece of elastic big enough to go around your daughter's (or your!) waist, and 4 strips of coordinating ribbon of the same length. That's it. And I've often seen spools of tulle in the dollar bins at JoAnn's. You could do a green and yellow one for Tinkerbell, a blue one for Cinderella, a purple and pink one for Rapunzel, the sky's the limit! I don't know how comfortable it would be to wear, but it also strikes me as a cute RunDisney accessory. Let me know if you attempt to make one of these for your cottage, and until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Meeko the Raccoon Sleep Mask

Meeko Sleeping Mask

I enjoy following Imagine Gnats on Instagram. Her blog is pretty amazing too. So when I saw this wonderful idea, posted by Jane of Buzzmills, I knew that it would be a project I would Disney-fy. I have to start by saying I love Disney's Pocahontas story. I know it's not historically accurate, but as far as a story and a princess go, I think it's fantastic. Strong willed and adventurous, Pocahontas is my kind of girl! And her side-kicks are fabulous. Especially Meeko the raccoon. I love his antics. And this eye mask is just calling his name! FYI, these were also part of the Wilderness Welcome Baskets I did for our fall break trip this year.

Altering the pattern was easy. I just googled images of Meeko and changed the eye and nose shapes to mimic his. After that I simply followed the instructions on Imagine Gnats blog page. Viola! We now have a Disney themed eye mask for dress up, or for nap time. And certainly a wonderful idea for Tinkerbell Treasures - light weight and easy to pack! I couldn't be happier with the result!

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

The Chapeau | DIY Sleeping Beauty's Fairy Merryweather's Hat

I am in love with the hat shop on Main Street USA: The Chapeau. It's the place to find any hat your heart desires; as long as Disney makes it! I realize there are those who would never be caught dead in a Disney hat, and those of us who think they are AWESOME. If you fit into that latter category, then this post is for you!

I have an affinity with Merryweather, naturally, but she's not the easiest character to find in the parks. And neither is a Merryweather themed hat. So I put my DIY skills to use and created my very own Merryweather fascinator. This is my very first foray into the world of millinery, so I did a little research on hat making via YouTube. Just search for "how to make a fascinator" and you'll get plenty of videos to choose from! If you too are new to the hat making world, you'll want to become familiar with a product called sinamay. It's what the structure of the hat is made from. It helps it hold it's shape and gives it the body you need for it to stand up on it's own. The link will take you to several resources for purchasing sinamay.

I first created a pattern using scrapbooking paper (as it was large enough to experiment with, and I have TONS of it), a compass, and scotch tape. Once I had my basic shape together (which took several tries), I took it all apart and cut the pieces from the sinamay. I used a double layer of sinamay because I wasn't sure a single layer would hold the shape as well as I wanted it to. After all, that hat had to make it all the way to Florida without getting crushed!

After I had the sinamay cut out, I cut out felt about a 1/4" larger than the sinamay and machine stitched it to the sinamay. I then shaped the hat into it's 3-dimentional form and pinned it together. I hand sewed the hat together trying to hide my stitches where I could. Once it was together I realized it needed the organza on it to really make it work. What a difference that made! It went from ok, to cool. The devil is always in the details!

My hair is quite fine, so a comb was not going to work for me to wear this all day in the park. I decided to attach it to a thin, ribbon-covered headband I found at JoAnn's. It worked like a dream! The headband is small enough that it doesn't fight with my glasses for room behind my ears, is fairly well hidden in my hair, and comfortable enough to wear all day. For a first project, I couldn't be happier! I'd love to see any hats you may have altered or made for your trips to the Happiest Place On Earth.

Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!