Every Christmas tree deserves a special tree topper and there’s nothing more special than a handmade Christmas Tree Fairy; bringing a little bit of magic and sparkle to the tree. So dust off your sewing machine, sprinkle it with fairy magic, and follow the instructions below to make your own super sparkly Christmas Tree Fairy doll.
The Fairy is made using the Sparkle Starlet Doll pattern which is available to buy and download on Etsy from the Gingermelon store. I just love her delicate embroidered face and elegance. The dress and all the accessories are removeable so once Christmas is over and she’s finished her festive duties, she can become a special doll. You can buy patterns for cute outfits to make as well – to keep you busy in between Christmas and New Year!
What you need
- Sparkle Starlet Doll pattern by Gingermelon (you can purchase and download the pattern from Etsy)
- In addition to the supplies set out in the Doll Pattern, navy and gold sparkly tulle to go over the top of the skirt and bodice
- Christmas Tree Fairy accessories pattern – download below
- Gold glittery felt for the wings and wand
- 1 m x Gold sequin trim
- 2 m Gold metallic ribbon – narrow (3 mm width)
- Packet of small (approx. 2 cm) white and cream paper flowers on wire
- 3 x tiny gold bells (approx. 6 mm)
- Scraps of navy felt
- Gold bow
- Gold acrylic paint
- Wooden skewer, cut to 13 cm
- Glue gun and PVA glue
- Glitter
How to make a Sparkle Starlet doll into a Christmas Tree Fairy
A full size Sparkle Starlet doll is about 17 inches tall, which is too tall for a Christmas Tree Fairy. So you’ll need to scale the pattern down and print at 75% rather than 100%. This way you’ll have a smaller fairy doll, about 13 inches tall. If you have small Christmas tree you could always scale it down more, but it may start to get tricky to sew.
Tulle overskirt and bodice
Once you’ve followed the pattern and made the skirt and bodice, you’ll need to make the sparkly tulle overskirt. To do this, cut the tulle using the dress skirt pattern for the overskirt. If you want tulle covering the bodice as well, use the bodice pattern but add an extra 1 cm at the top.
Sew 1 row of gathering stitches about 1cm in from the top of the overskirt. Gather to the same width as the main skirt. Sew the overskirt to the bottom of the tulle bodice along the line of the gathering stitches.
Hand sew the tulle overskirt and bodice to the main dress at the waist, and fold the top of the tulle bodice over the main bodice and hand stitch on the reverse. Sew the gold bow to the front of the dress and sew or glue a bell on top.
Fairy Wings
Next your Christmas Tree Fairy will need some wings. Cut out two wing shapes from your gold sparkly felt. Place wrong sides together and glue. Glue sequin trim around the edge of the wings. Make four holes in the back of the wings, about her body width apart. Thread your gold ribbon through the holes so it crosses over her body at the front and the loose ends finish at the back. Tie loosely at the back of the wings.
Fairy crown
To make her floral crown, twist together the wire attached to the paper flowers to form a circle. Wrap sequin trim in between the flowers. Measure on her head to fit and twist the ends. Add a dab of glue at the ends of the sequin trim to secure to the flower wire. Use PVA glue to add glitter to the flowers.
Fairy wand
Every Christmas Tree Fairy needs a magic wand. To make yours, cut out two star shapes from gold felt. Cut the wooden skewer to about 13 cm and paint it gold. Cut ribbons and sequin trim to a similar length. When dry, place the ribbons, trim and wooden skewer on top of one of the stars and glue in place. Then glue the two stars together. Attach a flower underneath the star. Then wrap the wire from another flower around the end of the wand, leaving a length of wire to wrap around your fairy’s hand. Add glitter to the flowers.
Fairy Shoes
Her outfit wouldn’t be complete without cute shoes. I made a simple pair of shoes using navy felt and ribbon. Use the pattern to cut two shoes in navy felt and sew together. Cut a 24 cm length of ribbon, fold in half and sew to the back of the shoe. Tie the ribbons to secure the shoes. Then glue or sew a bell to each foot (Tinkerbell would be jealous!). If you want more fancy shoes for your Christmas Tree Fairy the check out the cute shoe patterns in the Gingermelon store on Etsy.
I hope your Christmas Tree Fairy brings you much needed hope and joy for the holidays!
