Hand Woven Mexican Poncho for Barbie and Tissue Paper Flowers-Tutorial

Barbie's getting her Cinco de Mayo on! Now that she's dressed up in this Hand Woven Mexican Poncho all she needs is a margarita! Well, I'm sure a taco wouldn't be bad either. The only supplies needed for this Poncho are yarn, a piece of cardboard and a wide eyed plastic yarn needle. This is an easy project that kids can do for themselves and thicker yarns help speed it along:@)

There is no real right or wrong here folks, just remember to keep the number of strings on the cardboard an even number and always start weaving under the first string. It's probably best to always begin from the same side too. Mix up the colors, yarn thickness, materials (colored jute or bakers twine?) and have fun!

Hand Woven Mexican Poncho for Barbie

• Cut a piece of cardboard approx 9" x 5" (the 5" side goes across her shoulders, you can make it wider and longer if you'd like).
• Make a mark on both 5" sides every 3/8" (if you want to make a tighter weave use every 1/4"), the only thing to remember is you want to end up with an even number of marks.
• Cut into each mark about 1/4" deep (you don't need to be exact).
• Choose a yarn to wrap around the cardboard but remember, if you want the fringe on the bottom of the poncho this is the yarn that will be the fringe. (I had some leftover tri-colored cotton from Christmas that happened to work well for Cinco de Mayo colors).
• Wrap it from the top to the bottom matching the slots (making straight lines of yarn).
• Cut long pieces of yarn and begin weaving, starting under the first string and going over the second. Leave yourself at least a 4" tail of yarn on each side though so you can do something with the loose ends.  Please excuse pics with flash, we've had three days of heavy rain here north of Philly...

• When you get to the center (where her head would go through) only weave half of the strings, turn and go back to the side. I made my hole about 1" long. 

• Finish weaving and while it's still on the cardboard work the ends. Bring the yarn back over and under about four strings-to the back of the piece- when you take the piece off of the cardboard you can cut the loose ends off.

• Turn it over and cut the yarn on the back of the cardboard in half at the middle. 

• Removing only one string at a time (you'll be tempted to take the whole thing off the cardboard... um, don't do that), tie a knot at the bottom of each string. (I couldn't figure out how to explain how to do this, but you'll see once you get started).
• Once all strings are knotted, dress your doll and say "ole"!!!

When I was a kid my elementary school had a May Fete every year and we'd decorate the playground and game booths with tons of these huge fun flowers. Very fond memories indeed... I was curious to see how they'd look a bit smaller, and while these tissue paper flowers for Barbie are a cute Cino de Mayo craft, I will be honest and say the small scale ~may~ test your patience just a bit. But they are colorful and festive and I love them!

The one with a yellow center is made from four sheets of paper cut to 3" square. 
The red center used 8 sheets of paper 2 1/2" square. 
For this scale flower I think 4 sheets of tissue paper is best😉

Directions (you can Google for very detailed tutorials):

1. Lay tissue paper in pile.
2. Begin folding one end about 1/4" over. Turn paper and fold accordion or fan style back and forth until you get to the end.
3. Wrap pipe cleaner tightly around center.
4. Very carefully stretch the fan out and begin peeling one layer of paper at a time up and toward the center.
5. Once you get them all separated, scrunch and form them to look like big flowers or poms.

Click here for my Barbie Pinterest Board.

~Make something just for fun and have a happy day:@)

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