Crafty Corner: Dancin' Queen

First of all, I feel some strong sadness that the Olympics have come to an end.

Secondly, do you like to dance? Do you sometimes wish you had accessories to enhance how cool you look and feel when you are busting a move? Well, have I got a DIY craft for you. 

Dancing Ribbons! Ok, in all honesty, this is more for the dancing enjoyment of a toddler type or young-ish person than for grown ups. But I'm not here to judge...so if you want to go ahead and make one for yourself to dance the night away, you have my full support!

My motivation for such an accessory came about in celebration of a little friend who just turned 1! She is such a cutie and is QUITE the dancing queen. I mean, this kid has some sweet moves. I wanted to play my part in the fostering and future development of said skills and know from experience that that my toddler students LOVE to shake stuff to music (ribbons, scarves, instruments, their bodies)- hence, the dancing ribbon plan.

I tried to find one for purchase but came up empty handed. I had no choice but to hit the basement craft closet and gather the right combo of supplies to make my own. Challenge accepted:

1. Ribbon- Any color, thickness, style:

2. A fabric scrap- I cut a rough rectangle and then ironed the edges inward. Then folded in half & ironed once more to make a middle crease. Also note that I cut the corners of the 2 side folds so they wouldn't stick out later when sewn:

3. Place the ribbons- I tried to make a pattern of sorts with the random ribbon pieces that I had on hand:

Once I was satisfied with their placement, I carefully folded the top over and held on tight to transfer to the sewing machine:

4. Sew the Ribbons in place- This was a little challenging to hold them secure over to the sewing machine with my hands and I probably should have used some pins or something. But I didn't. It was ok, I managed...and just sewed that little line as fast as I could. Then another for good measure:

5. The Handle- Once the ribbons were sewn in place, I cut the top edge of the yellow fabric open. That's where the handle would go. More seam ironing/sewing happened:

Slid the handle in between the 2 folded and ironed fabric pieces and sewed it up:

6. Finishing Touches- The ribbon scraps were all different lengths so I evened them up with a scissor trim and then used a flame to burn the ends of each ribbon to prevent future fray:

And that's it! All together it took about 30 minutes from start to finish with scraps I already had at home and it was ready for some little toddler hands to shake, rattle and roll!

I didn't really have a solid plan going in, but just followed my crafting heart and hoped for the best. Sometimes you gotta just see what comes. Don't be afraid to experiment, fail, change your plan half way through, start over...that's what makes creative projects exciting. Happy Dancing:)