DIY Tiana (Princess and the Frog) Tiara Version Two

Tiana is a lucky princess, she gets TWO tiaras! I loved The Princess and the Frog and with my penchant for tiara, I searched for one shortly after seeing the film. I was disappointed with how little a lot of the official Disney tiaras looked like the film version, so I decided to make my own.

The tiara will take 1-2 hours to make and cost roughly $10 for materials.

Step 1: Materials

To make this tiara, you will need:

Floral wire
Pliers
Sheer green fabric (mine is chiffon that I purchased at JoAnn's Fabric)
Green thread matching material (not pictured)
Small and medium sized green pearls
Fishing line
Headband
Lighter

I bought all the items except for the thread, material, and lighter at Michael's.

Step 2: Create Tiara "leaves"

Cut five lengths of wire. The length will depend on how large you want your leaves. I cut two 6", two 8", and one 10" piece.

Bend the wire in the middle then twist the ends together. You'll use the ends to attach the leaf to the tiara, so you'll want it to be ~3/4" long. Once you have the wire bent and twisted, shape the wire so it resembles the leaf like pieces of Tiana's tiara.

Now, I feel like there's got to be an easier way to do this next part, but I couldn't think of one. Please share if you do!

Lay your leaf onto the material. Cut the fabric around one edge of the leaf so it's the same basic shape. Don't worry about making it perfect, you won't see it in the end. I cut my fabric so it was as tall as my leaf and ~6" long.

Thread a needle with some coordinating thread and tie the end of the thread onto the base of the leaf. Now loop stitch all the way around the leaf until you get to the point at the top.

Now, fold the fabric over and over until you get it the color you want. I folded mine four times to get the perfect transparency. Carefully trim the excess fabric around the edges and then continue to loop stitch around the edge of the leaf. When you're all done, knot your thread and burn the edges to keep them from fraying.

*Note: You may not need to burn your fabric, depending on what type you use.

Step 3: Decorate the Leaves

This is the most time consuming part of the project, so put on your favorite Disney film in the background before you get to work.

String small pearls onto fishing line and bend around the edge of the leaf until you see that it will reach all the way around (I used thread for the photos, but you should use fishing line as it will hold much more nicely.). Do not tie off the line, but instead sew into the base of the leaf so the string of beads it on one side and the needle is on the other. Loop stitch all around in between each bead to secure it to the wire. Make sure you loop around the wire and not just the material or the weight of the beads will stress the fabric.

Admire all your beading then use darker green thread to create veins on the leaves. Now bend the ends of the leaves around the headband, making sure to hide the ends behind the leaves.

The tiara will look horrid at this point, but don't be alarmed, it gets better fast.

Step 4: Bead the Headbandng

::sings:: You're aaaaaalmooooost theeeeeere!

Tie a pearl to the end of a length of fishing wire and thread a needle to the other end. Loop stitch the pearl to the end of the headband, Loop through the pearl as many times to really anchor the pearl in place. When you get to the end, loop through the last pearl as many times as you can and then tie off the wire.

At this point, I still wasn't too happy at how my leaves were sitting, so I used some thread and tied the pieces together so they were anchored nicely. This step is optional as you might have secured the wire ends of your leaves onto the headband wellenough that the leaves don't go all floppy.