Sleep Under the Stars with a DIY Canopy

Using just a few yards of Chiffon and an oversized embroidery hoop, The Style Safari is showing how you can transform a nursery reading nook into a dreamy escape. While Stefanie might be including this project in her daughter’s nursery, a chiffon canopy is a great addition for any room in the home.

Stefanie: Every little dreamer needs a beautiful canopy in their room for storytime, magical play or hide and seek. I loved using Chiffon and an embroidery hoop for this DIY canopy, as sewing the chiffon was surprisingly easy, and the sheerness of the drape and flow of this fabric makes for the most beautiful detail in any nursery. I picked pink stars to continue with a constellation theme in my daughter’s nursery, but definitely have fun picking out something bold to make a statement!

Materials

• 5-6 yards of Chiffon fabric
  • I’m using Mini Stars Pink by seasonofvictory
• 14” embroidery hoop
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pins
• Thin decorative ribbon

Prep the Fabric

Trace and cut out a circle bigger than the hoop size. My hoop is 14”, and I added 4” around the entire edge, making it a 22” circle.

Fold the circle into quarters, and snip off ¼” of the corner to make room for a ribbon loop to hang.

Unfold your circle and re-fold in half, right sides together. Pin a large dart from the outside of the circle pointing in, in order to give your circle a ‘point’ like a children’s party hat.

Cut a small 4” piece of ribbon, loop and pin it into the center hole. Sew a straight seam from the center hole along the dart to finish the circle. Trim and finish seam.

Cut the Fabric into Panels

Measure the outside circumference of your hoop. My 14” hoop has an outside circumference of 44.5”.

Cut your chiffon into 2 equal length pieces, with each being at least 2 yards long (depending on where you would like to drape the canopy from).

Sew the Chiffon Panels

Sew along the longer length of the 2 panels, to create one large panel. Finish the seam in your desired way. I chose a french seam, which is perfect for chiffon. Simply sew the wrong edges together first, then trim, flip inside out, and sew the right edges together to enclose the raw edges. Then sew along the outside edges of the canopy, folding in the edges twice to finish the raw edges.

Gather the Fabric

Create a gather along the top line of your panel. In order to do this, sew 2 rows of a large stitch length, ideally size 5. Do not backstitch or secure the beginning or end of your stitch, and leave long thread edges. Once the two stitch lines are sewn, pull the front side threads to gather the panel. Pull gently, so as to not rip the threads. Continue to pull and work until the gathered panel is the same length as the outside circumference of your hoop (for me, 44.5”)

Match the wrong side of the gathered panel to the wrong side of the circle piece (center seam to circle center seam) and pin along the outside edges, with a 1” seam allowance

Fold the seam allowance up and sew another straight stitch the same width as your hoop, approximately ¾”, securing the excess seam allowance in place.

Use hand stitching to secure the hoop in place, by crossing back and forth across the hoop, looping into the 2 stitch lines.

Hang canopy in desired location, either directly on a ceiling hook or by adding another ribbon to the loop to lower the height of the canopy.

But don’t stop at just the nursery! A chiffon canopy in a bold bohemian print paired with an oversized Celosia Velvet™ pouf will transform your favorite room into your dream staycation spot.

---

About the Guest Blogger

Stefanie Schoen is a blogger, designer and avid sewist who loves mixing prints and playing with color. She lives outside of San Francisco, where she enjoys wine tasting with her husband, playing tennis and snowboarding, and making the perfect matcha latte. Stefanie blogs about her latest travels, fashions and DIY projects weekly and can be found over at TheStyleSafari.com