DIY Felt Headbands and Velcro Flowers!

I think I log a lot of bathroom hours . . .hold on, it's not what you think . . . I am the mama to three little girls (and one sweet little boy) so with four heads of female hair to do every morning, we log a lot of bathroom hours. See, I told ya, it wasn't what you thought:)
Because I have so many little girls, I have a fondness for hair accessories. Like these:

Brown Paper Packages is one of the lovely blogs I follow (and you should too) and she did a post about these headbands and I wanted to try my hand at them because I thought: no.1 they looked cute and no. two they looked easy! Mine are slightly different from hers however and I'll show you what I mean below.

I didn't want to use an elastic headband for my 8 and 6 year old so I opted for a soft plastic headband instead. I buy a special kind on line that don't cause any pain behind the ears so my kids actually don't mind headbands.

I attached the the soft part of the Velcro in one one spot only on the felt bow but put the tougher side of the Velcro in multiple places on the headband. The felt sticks to Velcro pretty good so I felt like I didn't need to attach both pieces of Velcro at every point on the headband.

I then proceed to attach the felt bows with sticky back Velcro. I added a little hot glue for added hold. The reason I did this is because I already have a drawer full of headbands and really didn't want to add more to it. The idea for me was to simply make the felt bow interchangeable.

The other difference is that I simply used craft felt because it is what I had on hand and haven't the foggiest idea where to get better felt. It would most likely require a trip to a larger town:)

Thank you Kierste, from Brown Paper Packages, for shring your cuteness!

I applied the same idea of interchangeable hair pieces when my third baby girl was born a little over a year ago. I didn't want to have millions of elastic headbands cluttering a drawer so I used the circle sticky back Velro again adding a little hot glue for extra hold.

That way I just had to change out the flowers to match outfits and when her head grew, I only had to replace one elastic headband.

Front of the flower:

Back of the flower!

Happy Crafting!
XOXO,
Amy

Bubble Skirt T-Shirt Dress

My daughter got invited to the Daddy-Daughter Princess dance at church.
The invitation mentioned that each Princess-King combo should come dressed in their royal attire ready for pictures, food and fun.



Since my 9 year old doesn't have a huge supply of princess dresses anymore,
I decided to make her one with a good twirling skirt.
It worked up really quick and looks great on.





WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
1 T-Shirt That Fits
Fabric For The Skirt
Fabric For The Lining
Measuring Tape
Needle & Thread
Scissors
Sewing Machine

First you'll need to get some measurements:


1: With the shirt on, wrap your measuring tape around 1 inch bellow the base of the sternum. Mark in a few places, then once its off draw a straight line & cut.


2: Measure around the base of the shirt and multiply by 2. This is the width of the skirt and lining. It is important to measure around the shirt and not the chest because you want some stretch when putting the dress on.


3: Measure from the same point at the base of the sternum to the knee. Add 4 inches. This is the length of the SKIRT only. Don't worry it will still fall at the knee.


4: Take the measurement from the knee and subtract 3 inches. This is the measurement for the length of the LINING only.



OK now that everything is measured and cut, get it sewn together.
With right sides facing, sew the lining and skirt fabric together along the long sides to form a tube. Turn right side out so that the seams are inside and adjust so that the skirt fabric wraps around the top and bottom, so that no lining is showing.

Fold the tube over on itself with right sides facing, put the machine back to
normal stitching and sew it together. Surge to finish off so it wont fall apart in the washing machine. If you don't have a serger, I've heard that you can use a zigzag stitch, but I've never done that so I can't advise you there. I got mine off craiglist for $90!! It had been used less than 5 times by a woman who had a 5 thread one, so this 4 thread one was 'useless to her.' I looked it up online when I got home and the exact model of it was $1000 brand new, so I recommend checking there first!



Now, adjust your machine so you can do a basting stitch all the way across
the top seam about 1 inch from the top. Make sure if your fabric has a direction
that its facing the right direction. Leave plenty of thread at the beginning and end so
it doesn't pull out as you gather the tube. It should look like this after gathering is done.
Leave the skirt inside out for the next step.

So after you sew the tube shut and have it gathered, then bast, the next part can get
a little tricky. Lay the shirt on the table. Fold it in half so that the back of the shirt
is showing. This point is where you will pin the middle of the skirt to.
The skirt should still be inside out and upside down to the shirt,
just like if you had a dress that was half way inside out. Make sure that there
is about 1/2 inch seam allowance as you pin all the way around.
Before you sew, hang it up from some where that you can get a clear
look at it to make sure that everything is level and pull out the basting thread.
Once everything is in place, sew the skirt to the shirt, then serge the raw edges.

Last you'll want to turn the dress right side out and check that everything is level.
If not just pin in place while hanging and hand stitch from the inside so that its level.
You can leave the skirt with the ruffle along the waist if you are using a cotton material,
but since I was using a satiny shiny material I wanted a cleaner look.
I used a blind stitch along the waist band with matching thread to sew
the skirt all the way to the shirt. It gave it a nice little band around the waist.
I also hand stitched the seam inside the skirt to itself at the bottom so it would lay
flatter at the hem.

Finish off the dress with some sort of embellishment.
I used this flower combination for her pin on her dress,
her corsage and for my husband's boutonniere.
For the tutorial on the flowers used click here.

They looked so good that night! I also made my husband's tie,

which I'll be posting a how to for that soon. :)

Quick Roses

These roses are so quick to make and look adorable no matter where you use them!

I made this cute little corsage for the Daddy-Daughter Dance.

If you want to make something like this look for the yo-yo tutorial here
and the rolled rosette tutorial here.

What You'll Need:
Fabric [2 inches by 15 inches]
Small Piece of Matching Felt
Needle
Thread
Scissors
Center pieces [rhinestones, buttons or beads]







Take the fabric and fold it in half hot-dog style.

Once you have the 1 inch strip, tie your thread to one end and baste stitch to the other end.
Pull tight like you're making a ruffle, and roll into a flower shape.

Hot glue to felt and under each layer, then add your center piece.

Quick. Simple. Beautiful!

Applicious Centerpiece!

I take my two oldest kids to school every morning and since my mother-in-law is their principal my two youngest kids and I stop by her office before we leave every morning to get a yummy piece of candy. On our way through the teacher's lounge to her office I stumbled upon some of the cutest centerpieces!

Look!

How adorable and how SIMPLE! She simply pinned those cute little flowers into the tops of those apples, put the apple on a candle stick, tied a bow out of tulle and then sprinkled some lemon heads at the base on top of a lime green plastic table runner.

I want to pin some flowers to the base of this pumpkin too:)

What a cute idea . . . my sister-in-laws mother, Suzette, was responsible for this stylish center piece:)

So cute! Who says you can't learn something at school?!

Happy Crafting!

xoxo, Amy

Fabric Flowers - 2 more styles ~ Tangled & Pinwheel

TANGLED FLOWER
[LOTUS or ROSE STYLE]

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

*Scraps of Fabric

*Scraps of Tulle (diamond & the bigger mesh stuff)

*3 Different size circles to trace
(I used a jar, and the top & bottom of a vitamin jar.
My flower is 3 inches without the tulle)

*Scissors

*Needle & Thread

*Small Piece of Felt

*Hair clip, Pin Backing, or Headband

*Buttons, Beads, Rhinestones or some other blingy for the center

*Hot Glue Gun & Glue



First, you'll need to trace 6 circles of each size onto your fabric.
[18 total]

And, cut 6 squares of tulle slightly larger than each of the 3 sizes of circles. [18 total]
Also, cut 6 squares of the large mesh tulle slightly larger than your largest circle.

You will need to repeat these next few steps for each petal. Starting with the large circles. If using tulle, place the it on the right side of the fabric, like this:

Next, fold the 2 pieces of fabric in half, making sure that the edges of the circle match up,
like this:

Fold in half again, lining up all 4 edges of the circle, like this:

Now, take you thread and double it up on the needle by threading it
then tying both ends together. Fasten to open end of the quarter circle.
Baste stitch by hand along the edge, like this:

Once you get to the other end, pull the thread tight to create a ruffle type effect,
and do not tie off thread, like this:

I know its kind of hard to see in that last picture, so sorry!
It was a little hard with the glare from the shinny fabric + tulle,
but I think you can still get it.

After you finish one petal, you'll start over with the next one using
the same thread as the petal before.
Here is what it would look like if it were a 5 petal flower:

When you have all 6 petals of the large size on the thread,
pull it tight & hold tightly with your fingers.
On the back side of the flower, run your thread through
the first & last petals where they meet a couple of time, then fasten off.
Like this:

This next step is unique to the bottom layer only.
Take your large mesh tulle and fold it in half on its diagonal so it becomes a triangle.

Fold it in half again. . .

And one more time. . .

Now, place it behind a petal, with the point in the center and sew on. I decided that maybe the next flower I make like this I'll only put like 2 pieces of tulle on in between petals, because its cute and looks more, ummmm mature that way ;) But, since this is for my 9 year old, the more princess I could make it, the better. Anyways, if you want to attach it all the way around, just repeat until you get to the beginning again then fasten off and cut thread off.

Here is what it looks like from the front with all the tulle in the back.
I cut the excess diamond tulle from the petals before I
sewed the large mesh tulle to the back.

Now, repeat the steps for the petals for the medium size circles.
When you finish, tie off but don't cut thread. Lay them on top of the bottom layer,
and stagger the petals. From behind this layer, stitch the 2 layers together.
I did a sort of blind stitch, where I attached the top layer fabric [not tulle]
from the large petals to the bottom layer of fabric of the medium petals as close
to the base as I could get. I fastened it off and cut the thread when I got
back to the beginning. I suppose that you could hot glue them together,
but I thought it be too bulky so I chose to sew.

Ok, if you understood that last round of mumbo-jumbo,
you have to repeat it for the small petals layer. Attach it to the medium petals
the same way you chose for the 1st layers.
It should look like this when you have all 3 layers attached.

For the center of my flower, I took about 8 inches or so of the
purple fabric that was left over and made a mini rolled rose.
For those of you who do better with reading directions here is a link
to written directions. They have a ton of pictures up, but it was late a night
when I found this a few months ago & I just needed to see someone do it.
So I searched for a video, and I found this.
They're both the same method, I just needed to see it done. ;)
If you plan to wash the flower at anytime, use a fabric glue, not hot glue!

After I sewed to rolled rose to the center I hot glued the rhinestone to the center of it.

***

PINWHEEL FLOWER

Ok you'll need all the same supplies for this Pinwheel Flower as you did for the
Tangled Flower. I've made them with no tulle and they still look cute, so go with
what looks best for your hair accessory stash!


You'll need to cut 5 circles (all the same size) of each fabric & 5 squares
of the same size for your tulle. You should end up with a total of 20 pieces. You can go up to about 25, but then it starts to be too many pieces.

Once you have all of your circles cut, you'll fold them the same way as the Tangled flower. Insert the needle through the point of the quarter circle and repeat in the pattern you've laid out. For the tulle portions of this flower, I folded it the same way that I did for the tulle on the back of the Tangled flower. Once you have all your piece on the thread, pull it tight & arrange in a circle. Hold it very tightly & thread the needle through the back of the first few petals to secure it, then fasten it off.

I used beads in the center of this flower, but you can pick your own centers.
After you add the center, hot glue the flower to a small piece of felt, trim & attach to clip, pin or headband like in this tutorial. If I attach a clip I like to run a small piece of felt perpendicular to the clip & glue it so it is more secure.

DIY Fabric Covered Headband With Yo-yo Flowers

I just love this headband!
I love the colors and how the flowers, tulle and print all mesh together,
and how the chunky headband brings the whole look together.
I love it show much that I want to share how simple it was to
make so that you can make one too,
or 2, or 3, or maybe one to match your whole closet. . .

WHAT YOU'LL NEED. . .

Small Amount of Fabric

Needle & Thread

Buttons, Rhinestones, Beads or Some Other Center Piece

Hot Glue Gun & Sticks

Felt

Tulle





The first thing you are going to do is trace and cut out circles from the fabric of choice.

The yo-yos will be 1/2 the size of the circle you cut so make sure you cut them big enough.
I traced the oatmeal canister, the top and bottom of a large cup, and the bottom of a smaller cup. I cut 2 of each because I made a matching broach to go with a dress.

Take your thread and double it over, then tie it off.
Hand stitch a basting stitch all the way around the perimeter of the circle.
Try to stay as close to the edge as possible, like 1/8 of an inch.
I suppose you could use your machine, I just like to hand stitch these.
Plus I feel like I can get closer to the edge by hand.

Once you stitch all the way around,
pull the thread tight just like when you make a ruffle.
Tie the thread off inside of the gather to hide it. Then flatten to form the yo-yo.

After you finish all the yo-yos you want to use,
sew or hot glue buttons, rhinestones or beads to the center to create the flower look.
Arrange the layout you like, then hot glue to felt.

Trim the felt from your arrangement.

To make the headband, cut the fabric to size.
I started by putting a dot of glue at each end to tack the fabric into place. Then I put a line of glue inside the headband and pressed the fabric to it.

Last, I glued the other side to the band.
I worked with small sections to ensure the fabric was tight all the way around.

This is what it should look like when the fabric is all glued to the headband.

Now add some tulle to your arrangement,
if you like it and glue the whole thing to the headband.

See, its simple! And cute! And, and, and fun to make cute things :)