Last year I decided I was going to be a diction-fairy for Halloween. I had been making book page wreaths for my winter boutique and this just kinda evolved out of hours spent with a glue gun and rolled book pages. If you have made a book page wreath the this should be pretty simple. If you haven't made a book page wreath then it's still pretty easy just with a bit more reading. Rather than make a new one, I'm just breaking down how I made it last year so if it gets confusing just let me know!
Book Page TutuFirst take a scrap of fabric 3-4 inches wide and cut it to just a few inches longer than what you want the waist to be. You want just a few inches of overlap to make it easier to put on and so there is no gap in the back.
Next lay the strip of fabric out flat and begin gluing on the rolled papers in rows along your strip. I started with the bottom row and went up so the pages with lay out nicely.
For each rolled up section of paper I used 2-3 pages together because dictionary pages are so thin.
To make the paper rolls I like to do a mix of actually rolling the pages into cones/tubes
and mixing in a few more free formed paper rolls. Like this S shaped roll
Make sure after you roll the pages that you fold the end before gluing so the rolls spring out like a tutu and not just lay flat.
To glue the roll down you will apply glue only to the folded part of the roll and then stick it down to the strip.
Continue rolling and gluing until the entire strip of fabric is covered except for a few inches at the end. I did 3 layers of rolled papers but for fuller tutu you could continue to add layers.
here's the 1st/ bottom layer
2nd /middle layer and you can see the top layer folded over to the side
and here's the finished tutu. Once I had the top layer all glued down I went along the top edge and trimmed along the strip of fabric so I would have a nice straight edge. I like the raw edge look of it this way but this year I might go back and add some ribbon along the top edge to make for a more finished look.
At the end you could either attach the tutu with safety pins or fold the ends over and add a cute ribbon to tie the tutu with. Last year I did saftey pins and they worked out fine, this year I want to go back and add the ties to make it easier to take on and off. Also if you are making this for a child you would want to maybe do the ties so there is no fear of poking with the pins.
Dictionary Fairy Wings
First you remove the entire cover from the dictionary.
I wanted fairly rigid wings that would not flap around as I walked so I took a piece of scrap wire from my garage ( you could use a wire hanger) and bent it slightly then hot glued it to the inside of my wings.
next to cover the wire and add some interest I glued several fanned out pages to the inside of the cover.
Near the top of the center binding I punched 2 holes and strung a large rubber band through to use as straps to wear the wings. You could certainly use ribbon here and even leave the ends long so they flutter behind you as you walk. I think that is what I'll be doing for this year!
here's what you can see of the rubber band as you wear the wings. The large rubber band made for a very comfortable fit last year but honestly I'm not sure where this gigantic band came from.
This year I will be wearing this again but I am hoping to go back and re-vamp it a little and maybe even make myself a paper corset or paper wig to wear with it. What ever I do, I promise I will not wait until the last second!
Hope this tutorial is inspirational for all the amazing things you can do with paper! All together this costume cost me only about 10 hot glue sticks, 1 thrift store dictionary (50 cents) and about 2 hours to put it all together.
If you decide to make an outfit please share your photos!
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& paper cuts
