Christmas Princess
I love to make alternative fashion art with mannequins, so when we decided not to put up a Christmas tree this year, I thought about how I could turn a mannequin into a Christmas tree. I mean, why not?
Scott agreed to capture it all on video, and cut evergreens from the trees in our backyard, so all I had to do was start gathering the materials and get creative. This was going to be so much fun!
Christmas Tree Skirt
As you'll see when you watch the video tutorial, we used 3 different kinds of greenery;
pine,
cedar, and
nandinas with red berries. The Christmas lights are LED so that they won't dry out the fresh branches.
Christmas Mannequin Lace Collar
One of my favorite things is collecting bits of lace and doilies and vintage crochet pieces. I was so excited when I found this handmade lace collar in my stash along with several other pieces I had grabbed in estate sales, thrift stores and garage sales over the years. I just can't pass them up!
Christmas Mannequin Pompom Belt
To cover up the ends of the branches from the skirt, I made a pompom and doily belt to tie around the mannequin's waist. The tutorial is below for making the belt and the lacey collar.
For the belt and large pompoms I used
Redheart Sashay Yarn. For the other pompoms I used from my stash of Coats & Clark yarns. The more organic yarns with bits of sparkle seems to fit naturally.
Just in case you haven't seen the Pattiewack Pompom making tools, here's a little tutorial. You can watch a full
video on my website, too. Step 1 is to wind the yarn around the tool until it is super thick so that you'll have a really nice and full pompom. For this pompom I wound the yarn on the 4-inch section of the Pattiewack Pompom tool because I wanted it to be the accent at her waist.
Step 2 is to wind heavy wire around the center very tightly. Step 3 is to cut both sides of the pompom.
That's it! You can trim the pompom if you like, but that's all there is to it.
How To Make Lace Collar Collage
It was super simple to make the collage of lace by starting out with the vintage collar as my base.
Next, I laid out my bits of old lace that had been cut from old garments, and tea stained doilies.
I found this bridal lace with sequins on it to brighten it up, and a feather tassel. It was easy to put it all together by intertwining sparkly yarn in and out by hand for a temporary hold until after Christmas.
The last step was to tie the feather tassel onto the shoulder of the collar.
How To Make Christmas Tiara
Check out the video to see the tutorial on assembling the wintry crown of evergreens and pompoms.
I hope you love it as much as I do! The studio looks so pretty with my little Christmas Princess, and it took the place of a Christmas Tree this year.
Scott and I will be out of town for Christmas, so we'll be taking our mini aluminum trees with us to spruce up our room. I'll be sure and post it when we get there. Let me know what you think about my Christmas Mannequin, and tell me what crazy things you're making for your decorations this year......
Merry Christmas Everyone!
PattieWack
