Little Girl's Boa

My 3 year old is getting into Fancy Nancy.  Fancy Nancy has the coolest wardrobe, at least in the eyes of a 3 year old.  This fancy boa is sure to please any "Explorer Extraordinaire" (that's fancy for someone who likes adventure). ;)

A couple months ago I resurrected the ragamuffin garland my mother used to make after seeing a tutorial at The Nester.  Hard to believe it, but she (my mother) even sewed one of these around the neck of one of her hand painted t-shirt dresses (do you remember those?  heaven forbid they should make a comeback).  And that is how the idea for this boa was born.  It is made the same way, only with tulle and sparkles.

Here's one of the ragamuffin garlands I recently made for my little girl's room:

She wanted to wear this as a "scarf" until I came up with the idea to make this boa.

materials (for the boa - process is the same for a garland only with ribbon/fabric scraps):

tulle (on a spool)
scissors
hot glue
gems

First I decided what length I wanted the boa to be by measuring around my daughter's neck.  And I cut a long strip of tulle that length.  Then I cut several short strips, about 8 inches long (which was a little long, but I'd rather trim back later than end up with something too stubby).  There's no way to know how many of these short strips you'll use.  So just cut yourself a hefty pile and if you need more later, you cut more later!

Here comes the tricky part.  You tie a short strip onto your long strip.  And then another.  And another.  And you keep tying.  Tie on some more.  And some more.  Go on now.  Ad nauseum.   If you get a cramp in your hand, shake it off.

All kidding aside this is super de-duper easy.  It just takes a while. I chose to alternate colors (light pink, hot pink) in blocks.  You could do every other strip a different color or go with just one solid color.  Experiment my friends!

(forgive the quality of these poorly lit pictures)

After I was done I hot glued little gems here and there down the boa.  Just a dab so it doesn't become a stringy mess.  And since tulle is sort of plasticy (is that a word?) it will melt with the hot glue and be plenty secure without globbing it on.  I also thought little flowers would be cute, but gems are what I had.

Here is Miss Fancy Schmancy modeling her new boa for you!

Enjoy!

Linking up: