Quick T-Shirt Hem Headband

When I made the pieced jersey dress the other day, I had a couple t-shirt hem scraps that I thought might make cute headbands. I whipped this up really quickly last night...

Take a t-shirt hem, cut the loop open, wrap it around your child's head (make sure it's kind of snug), cut the strip of jersey to the length you need, overlap the ends by about 1/2", and zigzag stitch back and forth over the overlap.

Now it's time to embellish. I grabbed my Sizzix Big Kick die cutter, some felt scraps from my patchwork kite, and a small button. I cut out four flower shapes, layered them, and set a button on top. Sew the layers of felt and the button together.

Finally, sew the flower onto your headband by hand.

See how quick that was?

It matches the pieced jersey dress perfectly, but my youngest won't wear anything on her head, so this is for my oldest, who, incidentally, is very jealous that her sister got a new dress the other day and she did not. I think there's another pieced jersey dress in my future.

Don't forget... the first ever Point of View {a creative collaboration} reveal is tomorrow! Get those skirts ready!





I'm linking up...

Covered Button Hair Clip Tutorial

My three year old will be heading back to preschool in about a month. She has unruly curly hair that is constantly falling in her face, but I hate to make her wear ponytails all the time, so her favorite hair accessory is a hair clip. I’ve made about twenty five different clips for her, and she loves to pick one that she thinks matches her outfit. She’s not always right, but hey, she’s three.

I’m not into the super girly, fluffy, giant bow, corkscrew, or silk flower clips. I like simple, but for Easter this year I decided I needed to jazz up the clips just a little bit. I made my daughters matching Easter dresses (more on that next time), and I wanted to make hair clips to go with the dresses. I decided to use some fabric from the dresses to cover buttons and add one covered button to the center of each clip.

They turned out really cute, and they are super simple to make.

Materials and tools you will need to make one hair clip:

• 4¼" length of 3/8" wide ribbon
• coordinating fabric
• single prong 1¾" long alligator pinch hair clip  (I bought a pack of 50 on Etsy for less than $5)
• size 30 (¾") cover button kit
• glue gun
• pliers
• candle
• optional: non-slip grip  (more on this below)

Part I: Making the Basic Ribbon Covered Hair Clip

Step 1:  Cut your ribbon to 4¼" long (My favorite ribbon is by American Crafts). Ribbon frays. If you are using grosgrain ribbon, you can prevent fraying by using an old trick... melt the ends in the flame of a candle! After you’ve cut the ribbon to length, quickly run both ends through the flame. It will seal the ends completely. PLEASE be careful when you do this! Only run the very ends through the flame, and do it quickly or the entire ribbon will melt.

Step 2:  Next, begin gluing the ribbon to your hair clip. Work quickly before the glue starts to firm up.

     A.  First, use your fingers to pinch the clip open. Run a bead of glue inside the clip on the underside of the top piece of the clip. Insert one end of your ribbon all the way into the clip with the wrong side of the ribbon facing the glue. Press the ribbon firmly into the glue. When cool, close the clip.

     B.  Second, run a bead of glue along the outside of the top piece of the clip. Tightly wrap the ribbon around the point of the clip from the inside (where you just glued it) onto the glue on top of the clip. Press the ribbon firmly into the glue.

     C.  Third, run about a ½" long bead of glue along the outside of the bottom piece of the clip at the end where you pinch the clip to open it. Tightly wrap the ribbon around into the glue and press firmly.

You have now completed the basic ribbon covered hair clip. The clip can be worn just like this, or you can continue with the embellishment.

Part II: Making and Adding the Fabric Covered Button

Step 3:  Read the directions on the back of your button kit. Most kits are very similar, and these directions will most likely apply to your kit. Your kit will tell you what size circle to cut from your fabric. For a size 30 (¾") button, I needed a 1½" diameter circle. Trace your circle onto your fabric, making sure to center any particular element or pattern that you want on your button, and cut it out.

Step 4:  Next, use a pair of pliers to remove the shank from the back of the button.

Step 5:  Now it’s time to cover your button. This is done by stacking layers and pressing them all together.

     A.  Center your circle of fabric wrong side up on top of the mold that came with your kit.

     B.  Set the button shell (the top of the button) wrong side up on top of the fabric.

     C.  Use the pusher that came with your kit to press the button shell down into the mold on top of the fabric.

     D.  Tuck all of the excess fabric down into the back of the button shell.

     E.  Place the back of the button (with the shank removed) over the tucked fabric.

     F.  Use the pusher that came with your kit to snap all layers together. Make sure you push hard enough to completely snap the back of the button into the shell.

     G.  Your fabric covered button is complete.

Step 6:  Completely fill the back of the button with hot glue, and place the button on the center of your ribbon covered clip.

Part III (Optional): Adding the Non-Slip Grip

The addition of the non-slip grip is key for little kids. My daughter has some clips that don’t have grip on them, and without fail she is handing me those clips within an hour of putting them on because they slide out. The non-slip grip remedies this problem. The grip is just non-slip shelf liner. You can buy your own roll and cut your own pieces, or you can buy some on Etsy that are pre-cut to size (I bought a pack of 50 for $3).

Step 7:  Cut a piece of non-slip grip about 3/8" by 1".

Step 8:  Pinch your clip open, and run a bead of glue inside the clip along the ribbon on the underside of the top piece of the clip. Press the non-slip grip into the glue. Do this carefully so you don't get burned.. the hot glue pushes through the holes in the grip.

 
Congratulations! You’re done!

This tutorial is extremely simple and pretty self-explanatory. Hair clips are everywhere. Please feel free to make these for personal and commercial use.

I'm linking up this tutorial over at Skip to my Lou’s “Made by You Monday”, Keeping it Simple's "Motivate Me Monday", and Today's Creative Blog's "Get Your Craft On"! Go on over and check out all of the great projects featured there.

A back-to-school hair accessory

It’s back-to-school time, and you can’t overlook the hair accessories. A while ago I found this great tutorial for a braided headband on the Smile and Wave blog via homemade by jill. It was a guest post from Cakies. I just recently had a chance to try it. The headband is really simple and fun to make.

I made one headband for myself and one for my three year old. I used a double braid for mine and a single for my daughter. I think I like the single braid better.

The best part was letting my daughter choose the three fabrics she liked to make her headband.

She had a little guidance, of course. I definitely want to make her a few more of these. It looks especially cute when she has it on with a ponytail in her hair.

Here are a few tips if you think you might like to make one:

• The tutorial doesn’t specify a width to use for your fabric strips. It doesn’t really matter, but I used 1” wide strips.
• Make sure you braid your fabric tightly or at least with the same amount of tension throughout the entire length of the fabric.
• If you are making the headband for a child, check the length of the finished braid and the length of the elastic before you sew everything together. I ended up using both a shorter braid and a shorter elastic length to fit my daughter’s head.
• The edges of the fabric will fray, but that adds to the charm of the headband.

 Come back Monday for my first tutorial! I’ll be making another simple back-to-school hair accessory.