Fairy Lights and Bells Christmas Umbrella

Are you an extravert? Is your Auntie bonkers? Is your Granny Christmas mad? We have the perfect Christmas gift idea, which will definitely get them noticed.

Presenting The Fairy Lights and Bells Christmas Umbrella so named because it is an umbrella with some unusual Santa's grotto features. Fairy lights, Christmas baubles and some tinkling bells to ensure the user of the brolly jingles all the way.

To make this Christmas brolly you will need... An umbrella, felt fabric, Christmas baubles, small cable ties, some bells (the larger the bell the more 'Sleigh bell' they sound, whilst tiny bells sound like fairies and pixie dust). You will also need a packet of battery operated multi-colour lights.

Open the umbrella and sit it upside down on the table. You will notice that along each spoke of the metal part of the brolly, the umbrella fabric is stitched to the frame. At this point sew a couple of stitches on top of one another to finish off.

In a similar way, sew a Christmas bauble to the end of each spoke where the umbrella fabric is sewn to the tip of the spoke.

To attach the lights to the umbrella frame, you need to make a little 'pocket' to hold the light?s battery compartment.

Cut out a piece of felt that is half a centimetre bigger than the battery compartment all the way around. Cut out a second piece, but this time as well as the half a centimetre all around, also make an increase in the length of the rectangle by 3cm, this will give the pocket a 'tab' at the top.

Put the two pieces of felt together as sewn along the two side edges and the bottom. You will be left with a pocket with a tab.

Fold the tab over one of the spokes of the open umbrella, be careful to avoid any joints because this will prevent you from closing the brolly later.

Sew the tab to the back of the pocket to hold the pocket in position. Do not sew the pocket closed. Insert the battery compartment into the pocket.

Use the cable ties to attach the fairy lights to the other spokes of the umbrella in a circular fashion, again avoiding any joints in the umbrella's framework. Pull the cable ties firmly and trim off any surplus.

Now switch on the lights. As an optional extra plastic mistletoe can be hung from the spokes at the centre part of the umbrella. Bonkers Christmas brolly or what?

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