Riverdance Archives - Yes You Can Costumes

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This St. Patrick’s Day costume project really took on a life of its own! I started with the idea of converting shirts into vests for the boys, and before I knew it, I realized I could use all the leftover bits to make matching accessories for our girls. In this post, I’ll show you how I used the leftover collars to make choker necklaces and crown headdresses for Emma, Eliza, and Annika! So, first, you can see the dyed shirts and what they looked like after I whacked off their sleeves and collars.

Then, I started to unpick the stitching that held the collar bands to the shirts, and then separating the collars from the collar bands.

Once the two pieces of each collar were separated, I pinned around each collar band. Then, I top-stitched completely around them to form the choker necklaces. Next, I cut elongated triangle shapes form the collars to form the tiaras and stitched around the raw edges.

At this point, I realized I was out of gold puff paint. JoAnn Fabric and Craft is on Jeff’s way home from work, so I asked him to pick up a bottle for me. He texted me this picture. Apparently, there are TONS of options! I chose the bottle second from the right. I wanted the gold designs to be metallic, but not glittery.

A quick, Google Image search produced lots of great, Celtic knot designs. In the past, I probably would have tried to painstakingly trace the designs onto my crown and necklace pieces. These days, desperation for time makes me brave (or reckless). I just looked at these designs and free-handed the paint. Not bad! However, I did realize I forgot a bit of the design at the bottom and fixed it, later. Do you see what I missed?

For extra Celtic bling, I added some adhesive “emeralds”. They were from the same Rainbow Gemstone Sheet I purchased at Walmart, for our Valentine’s Day DIY Prince Costumes. However, I learned my lesson from last time and stuck the jewels on with a blob of paint and surrounded each with a ring of the same.

Now, all I needed to do was attach each tiara crown shape to a headband or comb. So, I hot-glued Emma and Eliza’s to green, fabric-covered plastic Dollar Tree headbands that we already had.

I hot-glued Annika’s to a mini comb.

Ta-da! They turned out pretty!

Now to finish the choker necklaces! I buttoned them to find their front centers and marked the spots with pins. After studying some Celtic knot design images, I came up with a simple design that I liked: interlocking circles, ovals, and diamonds.

I had a lot of fun applying the puff paint! It was such a simple and relatively quick way to create a rich, jewelry look. I finished the designs with more “emeralds”.

Then, I left them to dry, overnight.

Look at that! I think these turned out really lovely, if I say so, myself. It was cool to see that the fabric dye I used for the shirts even dyed the buttons!

But, what about Annika? I only had two collar bands. What was her necklace made from? Fortunately, the Dollar Tree has a great ribbon selection in its floral and craft section! I selected the green ribbon, second from the left: Bright Grosgrain Ribbon, 5-yd. Spools. I cut a length of ribbon, leaving enough to tie it in a bow around Annika’s neck. Then, I applied the same design with paint and gems that I did for Emma and Eliza’s.