d.i.y. fabric flower crown.

So, it is officially summertime now. Or at least it is supposed to be, yesterday was the first time I've seen the sun for an extended period of time. But besides sunshine, summertime also makes me excited for casual evenings, reading on the front porch, wandering walks through downtown and little craft projects to fill out the in-between times. Which is exactly what this project is perfect for. I have had a very longstanding love affair with headbands, I have been wearing them since I was a baby. I'm not lying. Although I tend to wear them less now I think they are a fun, slightly whimsical addition to an outfit.

They also look really cute with my new bangs.
Anyways, this is a super quick and easy d.i.y to add some floral magic to your summer and a little bit more understated than some of the larger, silk flower  floral crowns floating around out there.  Still sweet, it just looks a little bit less like an actual flower garden is growing out of your forehead.  I think this may be one of my favourite d.i.y projects so far!
What you need:
_fabric, mine is a soft grey polka dot cotton, but you can really choose anything.
_thread.
_sewing machine or needle and thread.
_rotary cutter and cutting mat.
_headband.  mine is from the "supplies" section of Etsy.
_glue gun.
1_cut out six 1" x 22" strips of fabric.  As you can clearly tell it doesn't really matter if they're perfect.
2_ stitch along the length of each strip using the loosest basting stitch, making sure to leave a good length of thread on either end.  Note: you could also do this with a needle and thread, sewing long, loose stitches, it would just take longer.  Gather each strip of fabric to roughly half its length by gently alternately pulling on the top two threads, spreading out the gathers somewhat evenly. 
3_using a hot glue gun and starting at one end start forming your rosette by rolling the end inwards a bit and gluing.  Continue wrapping the fabric around, while fanning it outwards, gluing every 1/4 turn or so until you have reached the end of your fabric strip and formed a rosette flower.
4_repeat for all strips of fabric.
5_by this point the fabric edges will have started to fray.  Trim off the excess threads.  The flowers will fray a bit over time and you can either leave it or cut them off every once in a while.
6_using a glue gun, apply a small amount of glue to a headband and attach flowers individually, starting in the centre and working your way outwards.
We took these pictures in a lot that used to house my favourite vintage store, but met an untimely death by fire.  Although I do miss that store I love how the lot has become completely overgrown with prairie plants: purple vetch, fox tails, wild rhubarb, and some tiny little yellow flowers I don`t know the name of.  I love love the prairies.  xo.  T.

2 comments:

  1. thanks for posting this tutorial :) Very cute headband and cute pics too! ;) Maybe the yellow flowers are Rapistrum rugosum? we have a lot of these in Texas also called "Bastard cabbage". It's an invasive species but still I think they're pretty.
    http://www.wildflower.org/howto/show.php?id=48

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  2. beautiful headband. I love the color of the fabric you used

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