Hello!
It's Chelsea again :c) I'm SUPERRRR sorry I haven't blogged for 3 weeks (I think), but I've been busy/ill/too lazy. Anyway, I'm starting a new series of Do It Yourself Lolita projects. Every Monday (until the series ends) I will blog a tutorial on how to make a Lolita-esque item: either clothing, accessories, furniture... etc.
So, the first project is this gorgeous headband:
***Not my photo, I may upload my photo at a later date***
You Will Need:
- Hot Glue Gun
- Needle and Thread
- 1 Meter Fabric, in the colour of your choice!
- 1 Meter Wide Ribbon, in the same colour as the fabric (for the bows)
- 1 Meter Ribbon in a colour that co-ordinates with the fabric and bow ribbon (for crosses)
- 1 Meter Lace Trim, in the colour of the 'crossing' ribbon ^^
- Very Thin Cardboard
- Fabric Glue
- 60 cm extra ribbon, for tying to the head
O1. Get a piece of thin cardboard - about the thickness of a cereal box - and work out the dimensions you'd like. I used a cereal box, and chose to make it 27cm long and 5cm wide. Cut it out and measure it around your head in front of a mirror, so you can see if the shape suits your head :) If not, adjust as necessary. Don't allow it to crease, because I'm pretty sure it'd show. I then rounded off the corners with a coin.
O2. Get your fabric and cut out a rectangle about 2cm wider than your cardboard piece in each direction. Start gluing the fabric on the underside of the cardboard with fabric glue. I used a paintbrush to spread it evenly, pleating the fabric around the corners. Make sure you stretch it so the fabric is tight and doesn't have "bubbles", so to speak.
O3. Now the underside of the cardboard should still be exposed in the middle, with a fabric border which is probably fraying by now. How best to fix a problem? Cover it up and ignore it, of course! I cut a piece of fabric big enough to cover the rest of the cardboard and used PVA glue on the edges because I'm lazy. I then glued it down with more fabric glue.
O4. Time for the crosses! I cut pieces of ribbon slightly longer than I needed and played around, working out how big I wanted to make the crosses. Since it's 27cm long, I eventually decided to start 1cm from each end and make 5 crosses, each 5cm wide. I marked my 5cm intervals with a pencil and also the middle points the crosses needed to go through, just so I'd be sure it was even. Then I trimmed the ribbon pieces as required, dabbed some PVA glue on the ends and glued them down with fabric glue, again using a paintbrush so the layer of glue would be even and not thick enough to seep through.
O5. Now grab your hot glue gun and set it up :) I think this is fairly straightforward, just apply glue and press down in as straight a line as you possibly can, working bit by bit. Pleat around the rounded corners or it'll look funny. I also pleated along the shorter ends, simply because I thought it looked pretty. Of course, I forgot that the bows covered up those ends completely...so don't waste your time xP Might I add, thank god my hot glue gun does not get hot enough to burn me or I would probably not be able to type for months :)
O6. Time to make bows! I love bows. They make virtually anything look good. (Except perhaps boys.But even boys- I'm thinking of An Cafe, Paradeis... etc- can look kawaii in bows ^^) This should be fairly straightforward and there are plenty of bow how-tos on the internet, but I may as well tell you how I did mine. I sealed the loop for the top part of the bows using fabric glue, then gathered and sewed. The tail parts are simply a piece of ribbon gathered in the centre. Don't forget to burn any raw edges :) Though I didn't burn the tail ends until I'd put the bows together. Also, I made the part that goes around the middle by cutting a piece of ribbon in half, using PVA glue on the raw edge and then gluing it in half again with fabric glue. Or you could prepare ahead at the craft store and buy a thinner ribbon in the same colour.
O7. And now, we glue! Use your hot glue gun to glue the bows down on the ends. I decided it looked best with the middle of the bow right against the lace edge, so the tails overhang. You might decide you want to glue it a bit higher or something, so check against your head before gluing :)
O8. Last step! Find some ribbon in an appropriate colour, such as what you used to make the crosses, and hot glue it to the underside of the headband. I used wine coloured ribbon instead of white because it camouflages into my purple hair :) You might want to do the same, camouflaging the ribbon by matching it as close to your hair colour as possible. I used two pieces which were about 30cm long each so I could comfortably have enough to tie a bow under my hair. I actually glued it slightly off centre so it'd sit properly on my head, though that's probably not necessary.
I hope you enjoyed this little DIY :) I did get the idea for this headband from someone on another website, and I also got a little help with the instructions from the same person, as I am terrible at explaining things. But, the instructions have been put into my own words, and I did write most of them myself.
See you all next week!!
Chelsea xxo
