Headband tutorial!

A follow up to this post, a few of you were interested in the tutorial I mentioned so here it is! Bear in mind I'm not some kind of crafting expert, so there's probably a better way of doing everything that I'm about to explain how to do in this post, so don't hold it against me (and if you know the better way....you should probably do the better way!) Fingers crossed & here goes...



So first of all you'll need the fabric that you want to use, a pencil, card, scissors, a sewing needle, thread, felt (or some other heavy fabric), ribbon & elastic.



I like making things harder for myself. So here's what I did...

#1 Cut out some circles of card the size you want your flowers to be, I did 4 different sizes

#2 Draw around the circles onto some felt & cut those out too (these will be the base of your flower)

#3 Do the same with the fabric, for my flowers I used anything between 16-24 circles per flower & I made cutting them out quicker by folding the fabric several times so I could cut out 8 at once. (It hurts your hands ...but then I think doing them all individually would too)





I've pretty much summed up making a flower in the photos above, but here's some text to go with that (in case it's not clear enough)

#4 Fold a circle twice, so it's in quarters, hold it so the middle point is in the middle of the felt circle, sew up through the petal (just a couple of mm in) and back down through the center of the felt, repeat the step until you have a full circle of petals.

#5 Start building them up by repeating the above steps, but this time, overlapping the first layer. As you get further up, you probably won't be doing 4 in a circle anymore, but just covering the gaps between each of the ones you've already sewn.

#6 When you get a thickness you're happy with, tie a knot in the bottom, and once that's secure, you can cut around the felt to make it smaller so that you won't be able to see it once it's sewn onto the ribbon.

#7 Repeat those steps in as many fabrics as you like until you have as many flowers as you like.I wanted mine to go from ear to ear, so I did 7 in total, 1 really big one, 3 medium sized, 2 small & 1 really small.





#8 Once you have all of your flowers, use the ribbon to measure how long it needs to be to fit your head in the place you want to wear your headband. I cut my ribbon an inch smaller and sewed elastic in the gap for a better fit (I would have used black to match the ribbon - but I didn't have any, oh me!) You could also just leave the ribbon long and tie it in a bow at the back. Whatever works best for you.



#9 Lay all of your flowers out & arrange them how you want to sew them on, it's easier if you know what you want it to look like before you start sewing!

#10 Check on your headband where you want the flowers to start & stop, so you sew them on the right place.

#11 Sew the flowers onto the ribbon by the felt base, this way your petals don't get flattened by being stitched down, make sure they're on securely - my ribbon was only about 1/2" but I sewed along both sides.

#12 Voila! You have a thrifty headband probably made by all kinds of bits and bobs you already have laying around the house!

I hope this wasn't too confusing, I've never done a tutorial before, it probably wasn't descriptive enough or else was completely useless or something.

Oh and I totally feel obligated to tell you to not run with scissors or play with matches sewing needles. And please do try not to strangle yourself with the elastic. Crafting is srs bsns.