How to Make a Princess Swag Drape for the Bed

A number of years ago, our daughter asked for a Princess gauzy bed drape she had seen in the Disney catalog. As much as I would have loved to buy it for her, the $100 price tag was a little too steep for our budget. As an alternative, we made one for her instead, using 12 yards of starry gauze and some art supplies we had around the house.

Making a Princess bed drape is an easy afternoon craft that requires no sewing or any special art skills. By watching the sales, we were able to complete this project for about $24.

Materials needed

For the gauze drape:

Measure the height of the ceiling (rounded to the nearest foot) and multiply this number by 5 to determine the approximate amount of yardage you’ll need.

Material to make the crown:

You will need a half sheet of sturdy poster board in a color of your child’s choosing, 5 small white styrofoam balls, assortment of flat crafting rhinestones, and a container of leftover paint (either spray, acrylic or tempera).

Tools and additional supplies:

You will need clear strapping tape (or duct tape in a pinch), scissors, glue, staple gun, and a small piece of board that measures 10″ long and two inches thick, ruler and pencil.

Making the crown

Begin by dipping the five styrofoam balls in the paint, and setting aside to dry for 30 minutes. While the paint is drying, use your rule and pencil to draw a simple five prong crown on the poster board (the flat crown should measure at least 24 inches across). Cut out the crown, and decorate with rhinestones. Use a knife to cut a small slit in the base of each styrofoam, slide a styrofoam balls onto each crown “point”.

Attaching the tulle

If you can visualize how a bridal veil is attached to the tiara, this is pretty much how the sections of tulle will look after being attached to the crown.

How this is done is by first cutting the tulle in four equal lengths. Working with one section of tulle at a time, scrunch up one end of the tulle and tape to the back of the crown. Repeat with remaining three sections. Don’t be stingy with the tape!

The framework

At this point, the crown is just a flat bit of poster board with tulle attached to the base. To make the crown look like a real dimensional crown, it has to be curled back in a semi circle, with both lower corners stapled to the opposite ends of the 10 inch board.

The crown can now be attached to the wall by either attaching a hanger to the back of the wood strut, or by attaching the strut directly to the wall, using a 3″ screw. Screwing the strut directly to the wall gives the crown the most support, and will prevent your child from accidentally pulling the crown away from the wall.

Arranging the tulle

Once the crown is firmly in position, untangle the sections of tulle and drape around the bed or tuck loosely beneath the mattress.