Fancy Nancy - Inspired Birthday Tea Party

Fancy Nancy is a household name for many families with 4-7 year-old little girls--including mine! And I welcome this darling, girly-girl created by author Jane O'Connor as she teaches my daughter to learn and use new vocabulary. Especially "fancy" words like GORGEOUS, ACCESSORIES, and ECSTATIC. 

So I jumped on the idea of having a Fancy Nancy-themed party for her fifth birthday. I haven't had this much fun planning for a party in quite a while. I guess I like being fancy, too!

I will share DECORATIONS, PARTY FAVORS, FOOD, and CRAFTS that I used at her party. Get ready to make your party a SMASHING SUCCESS! 

First I ordered the following items from Amazon: 

These darling little Tea Party Cups were economical and LOVED by all the guests. I wrote their names on them with a Sharpee using fancy, frilly handwriting.

I also ordered this Tea Cup Candy Mold to make as a treat for the girls to take home. You could serve them as a treat at the party, but since ours was held in late-afternoon, I decided to hold off as courtesy to the parents. :)

I also purchased Plastic Bags with Twist-ties, as well as Lollipop Sticks from Amazon so I would be good to go!

Here they are made up. I'm no confectioner, but the little girls didn't care about perfection! I just used melted white and milk chocolate chips to make the forms. 

You can't have a fancy party without fancy TIARAS! I was so pleased with these! They stayed on their heads because they were really just toothed headbands. 

And my final Amazon purchase was a package of Assorted-size Doilies.  It was amazing how much they added to the frilly, fanciness of the decor!

Now for our FANCY CRAFT: Paper Bag Purses

I used shaped scissors to cut rectangular holes out of paper bags.  Then I printed out the guests' names in a fancy font and glued them to each bag. 

The girls used stickers, washi tape, and lace tape to decorate their purses. This craft was a HIT! And it was a practical way for them to take home their teacup and lollipop when the party was over!

I found a couple of teapots at Goodwill to use in the decor.  The rest of the decor was stuff I already had around the house. I used fabric for the table cloths.

For food we served poppyseed muffins, Jello (in individual little plastic cups), and blueberries.

The "tea" was actually strawberry lemonade. :)

I ran out of time to iron my tablecloths. That was my one regret. But I LOVED using my grandmother's dessert plates (the ones with the flowers).  

I printed out a couple of pages: "Ooh La La" and a page of  "fancy words" from the Fancy Nancy books as decor.

Guests were also greeted with an "Oooh La La" at the front door, so they knew they were at the right house!

My favorite part was just hearing the little girl conversation as they enjoyed their tea-party!

Participating in these link-ups.

Lace-Trimmed High-Waisted Skirt Tutorial

I saw a pin for this skirt from Mod Cloth on Pinterest a while back, and have been on the lookout for fabric to make my own version.  I found this silk-blend fabric on the discount table at JoAnn's a few weeks ago. It is completely opaque, but not too heavy. It has beautiful sheen and subtle embroidered detail. I think it was probably a decorator fabric, but I decided it would be perfect for my lace-trim skirt! I bought 2 yards as well as some wide lace and a zipper to match. 

After cutting out mine, I saw that I had enough left to also do a matching skirt for my daughter! Yay! 

I only have one daughter, so you had better believe I am "that mom" who matches her as long as she'll allow me!

Now on to the tutorial!

1. Cut your fabric and lace.  Two yards of fabric made my skirt and my daughter's with about 1/4 yard to spare. I wear a Women's size 6, and my daughter wears size 5T. 

To determine your measurements for cutting:

• Waistband-- Women's: Waist size + 1 inch (length) by 8 inches (width) (Waistband is folded lengthwise in picture.)  Girls': Waist size + 1 inch (length) by 5 inches (width).
• Skirt body--Women's and Girls':  Waist size (or more for a fuller skirt) wide by measurement of bellybutton to kneecap length (Cut 2). 
• Wide flat lace in same measurement as skirt body width

2. You'll also need corresponding thread, 9" zipper for Woman's skirt/ 4-6" for girl's, satin ribbon for belt (optional, not pictured here). 

3. Iron 1/2 inch fold around wrong side of entire waistband. Fold in half (wrong sides together) and press. 

4. Make sure each end of the band is the same width. These two ends will be almost touching in the finished product, so they need to be identical.  Set waistband aside.

5. Sew body of skirt together on one side (right sides together). If using a regular sewing machine, iron the seam allowance open. If using a serger, iron along inside of seam.

6. Lay out waistband. Line up the unsewn edge of the skirt body with one edge of the waistband. Overlap 1/2 inch of the top of the skirt body on the inside of the waist band as shown. Lay out the zipper next to it, lining up the zipper pull with the top of the waistband.

7. Mark the bottom of the zipper on the skirt body with a pin. 

8. With right sides together, sew the other side of the skirt body together (RST), stopping at the pin. Iron 1/4 inch down along the un-sewn remaining edge of the skirt body as shown.

9. Iron the hem.  I was able to use the factory-finished edge for the hem of my skirt, so one fold is sufficient. If your edge is not factory-finished, iron a 1/2 inch hem, then iron one more 1 inch fold. I realized that my lace could be sewn in conjunction with sewing my hem (as you can see). If this will work for your lace, skip to the next step. If not, pin your hem in place and sew a top stitch around the entire hem of the skirt body.

10. Begin pinning lace on to the hem at one of the seams. Continue pinning in place around the body of the skirt. Finish with a 1/2" overlap.  

Part of what gives this skirt its striking appearance is the lace that falls below the hemline. Choose your lace and your placement of it on the skirt's edge with this in mind.

11. Begin sewing the lace with a zig-zag stitch across the overlapping portion of the lace.  Sew a straight stitch across the entire circumference of the lace in two places--one near the top of the lace and one near the base of the skirt. 

12. Sew two gathering stitches around the top of the skirt body. Pull the bobbin (underside) thread to gather the skirt to the same width as the waistband. 

13. Line up the center of the skirt body (the closed seam side) with the center of the waistband. Adjust the gathers to be equal on each side. Lay the gathered top edge of the skirt body inside the folded waistband (about 1/2") and pin in place. Many pins in this step mean a nicer finished product, so don't  hesitate to use a bunch!

Sew a top stitch just inside the bottom edge of the waistband to secure the skirt in place. Leave 1 inch open at each end of the waistband and skirt for the zipper.

14. Place zipper between the folds of the waistband, but under the skirt body as shown.

15. Pin in place, then sew a top-stitch using a zipper foot. (This is my daughter's tiny skirt--hence the tiny zipper and giant-looking pins!)

16. Add the satin ribbon (if desired), and you are done! These are our Easter skirts, but I plan to use them year round! 

Participating in these link-ups.