How To Make: Lilac Fairy Staff

The Renaissance Festival is my annual excuse to dress up as a fairy with my friends and spend too much money on fried food - aka my favorite time of year! This year I took inspiration for my outfit from the vintage flower fairies, specifically the Lilac Fairy. After seeing other creators make giant dandelions, I wanted to make a giant sprig of lilac.

It wasn’t too heavy to carry, helped me make so many new friends, and served as a very easy way for my friends to identify me in a crowd - which is an excellent side benefit given how busy the Colorado Renaissance Festival has become in recent years! Now, I get to use my giant lilac as a whimsical piece of home decor in my workshop all year round.

This tutorial is specifically to make a sprig of lilac, but you could use these basic steps to create any giant flower you want, like a dandelion, hydrangeas, or even lily of the valley! To watch a video tutorial check out Part 1 and Part 2 on Instagram.

Materials:

• Felt sheets

• Pom poms

• Flower stem wires

• Green paper wire

• Finished wooden dowel

  • The dowel I got is 5 feet tall, 1.25 inches wide - you can choose any height and size that works best for you

  • You can find these at a hardware store like Lowe’s or Ace Hardware

Tools:

• Hot glue gun

• Pliers

• Scissors or rotary cutter

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut out flower and leaf shapes in felt

• Draw your own or print out a paper stencil for your desired flower and leaf shapes (free printable template for lilac stencils!)

• Pin the stencil to your felt and cut out with scissors or rotary cutter

• You’ll need approximately:

  • 60 felt flowers

  • 4 felt leaves

Step 2: Assemble flower stems

• Cut a small hole in the center of each flower

• Using pliers, bend and twist one end of a floral stem into a small circle

• Use hot glue to secure a pom pom on top of the circle

• Put the other end of the floral stem through the center of the felt flower

• Use hot glue to secure the felt flower to the pom pom and create the flower shape

Step 3: Assemble the leaves

• Use hot glue to attach paper wire down the center of the leaf shape

• Trim the end with several inches extra

Step 4: Attach flower stems and leaves to the staff

• Trim floral stems to desired length

• Bend the stems at one end and use hot glue to attach to the staff

• Attach the base of the leaves with hot glue and wrap the excess floral wire around the staff, secure with hot glue