This was one of my favorite activities ever to do with my Craft Market girls. It is pretty and would look fabulous in any sophisticated kids room.

What I like about the activities is that it requires few supplies. Now the one tool I do use often and for a lot of my activities that some people may not have is an electronic cutting machine. Right now I primarily use Cricut but there are a few brands other. That is what I used to cut my silhouette and the vinyl stars. That being said, the silhouette and the stars can be cut out by hand as well.

Plus if you don’t have a sewing machine, you can also do the sewing by hand. For the basting stitch, just make sure you do not do a back stitch rather a running stitch.

Check out the tutorial below.

Supplies: 12″ x 12″ inch stretched canvas, fabric, silhouette cutout of a ballerina, vinyl stars, pair of scissors, pencil (not shown), adhesive, paint brush, white paint (optional), hot glue gun (not shown)

So I had an older canvas that had some black marks on it.

So my first step was to paint the canvas with white paint. I also made sure that I painted the sides as well. I set the canvas aside to dry. If you are using a brand new canvas, you can skip this step.

While my canvas was drying, I cut and sewed the fabric. I used gold organza and gold web fabric. I cut the fabric so that it would lie to the toe vertically and was wide enough horizontally that I could gather it on top and it would be a full skirt on the bottom.

To contain the frying of the organza, I folded it in half then stitched the left and right sides.

Turned it inside out and then ironed it flat. Then I folded the web fabric so the bottom was longer the the top and inserted the organza fabric inside it. I made sure that the folded edge o the organza was at the bottom as shown above.

I pinned the fabrics together then using the basting stitch I sewed about an inch from the top edge. I made another stitch line about 1/8″ from the first line. Make sure to give yourself at least 2 inches of thread at the beginning and ending of your sewing.

All done with the sewing.

Now to gather the fabric, you can do it a couple different ways. My preferred method is to gather the two top threads on one side and pull them as you push the fabric towards the center. When you have reached about halfway. I tie a double and sometimes a triple knot using both the bottom and top threads on one side.

Then I repeat the process on the other side until I can’t gather the fabric any more. I cut off the excess thread and then set the dress aside.

Unlike other examples I have done in the past, I decided to position my ballerina diagonally on the canvas.

Since I decided to use contact cement, my first step was to lightly outline the ballerina. I coated the outline and the back of the ballerina with contact cement and then pressed the two sides together. While the silhouette was setting, I moved on to the next step.

Now it is time to adhere the glitter vinyl stars.

I really did not have a design or pattern in mind for this. Like with a lot of stuff that I do, I let the materials tell me what to do.

Almost done. Final step is to attach the dress to the canvas. Position it so that the chest area is covered and you are happy with how it lays on the silhouette. Then its hot glue time. I recommend doing it small section at the time so that it gives you time to make any necessary adjustments for the “fit”.

All done!

My ballerina is ready for her debut.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *