Friday, March 20, 2009

DIY: Feather Headbands

Feather headbands and hair accessories are all the rage, but can be quite expensive. We decided to see if we could easily create our own with very little cost. We’ll show you how to make a stretchy headband here, but you can get creative and do them on hairclips, plastic headbands or brooch pins. Karen calls them "instant glamour" and I just came for the margaritas. In the end, we spent about $20 each on materials but have so much left over we can make feather accessories ‘til the end of time. So all in all, good value and all our friends are getting feather headbands for their birthdays.


What You’ll Need (all materials can be purchased at fabric and trim shops):

-scissors

-needle & thread

-elastic ($2/yd at fabric store)

-feathers ($12/yd for the most expensive; we bought ½ yd and used 1 inch)

-sequins ($2 for a baggy of gazillions)

-fabric glue ($7 for 4oz bottle)



STEP ONE: Measure and cut the correct amount of elastic for your head. Wrap elastic around your head and pull in about ½ inch tighter. Sew the ends together with a needle and thread. (Note: I made a black band because I have black hair and want only the feathers to show. You can choose any color.)



STEP TWO: Mark where you want the feathers to be (I just put the headband on and pinched the area by my left ear, took the band off, and stuck a pin there). Start with the feathers on the bottom layer (in this case, the white feathers because they are longest). Place glue on headband, place feathers on glue and press down for a few minutes to set.



STEP THREE: Repeat with any feathers you want to overlap the bottom layer.



STEP FOUR: Scatter a bunch of sequins over a bit of glue and press to set. The sequins hide the edging of the feathers and any extra glue that squeezes out. You can also use a cute button or a bit of ribbon.



TADA! Your very own instant glamour.

3 comments:

  1. yay! I am totally going to make one (or three)! thanks for the great tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks Crystalyn! a few friends and a pitcher of margaritas makes the project even better! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm definately trying this out - thankyou!

    ReplyDelete