Super Easy Hairbow Holder Tutorial

I made this for my daughter and everyone just loves it. You've probably seen similar ones on etsy selling for $15-20+. If you're like me, you probably have the bulk of the supplies necessary already on hand... so this is a very affordable project.

Supplies

Letter (from craft store, various styles and sizes available)

Grosgrain ribbon

Hot glue gun or E6000

Pre-finished wood embellishments (also in craft stores)

Scissors

Lighter, fray check, or wood burner

1) Paint your letter in the desired color using craft paint. I painted mine solid white, but you could do polka dots or any other design. I'm just not that good with painting, my medium is definitely fabric lol. Let your letter dry completely before gluing anything to it.

2) Cut ribbon strips, I did mine roughly 18" and 16" long. Cut the ends at an angle and seal the edges with either the lighter or the fray check (or cut the ribbon with your wood burner).

3) Cut two more ribbon strips at your desired length. These will go at the top of the letter. Cut them long if you want them drapy, or cut them short. Play with the lengths before cutting. I did mine at about 24" long each. Glue the ribbon to the back of the letter.

4) Once your letter is dry, glue the ribbon to the back of the letter.

5) Play with the embellishments, try different locations until you find the way you think it looks best. Glue the embellishments on.

Wait for the glue to dry completely before hanging. Attach to the wall using a hook, nail, etc. You could also get picture hanging hardware and attach it to the back of the letter, and skip adding the ribbon, so that the letter itself is hung to the wall.

Have fun! I spent less than $5 on the letter and the wood embellishments, I had the rest of the supplies on hand. Pair this with a hairbow from Apple Blossom Bows and you've got one great Christmas gift!! Apple Blossom Bows is the wonderful etsy boutique who custom made Kaytlin's awesome Birthday hairbow.

Pillowcase Dress Measurements +info for googlers

First and foremost.... please read this blog entry. It is very important. Thanks!

Sometimes I like to add posts just for the googlers... I know how it is to search the web over for info and can't find it. I noticed in my analytics today that someone landed on my page from google searching the above subject.


Here's how I do it....


For the length, I measure my DD from just below the collar bone down to the desired length (which for me is the knee), and add 1 1/2" seam allowance for the casing at the top and 1/2" seam allowance for the bottom hem.


For the width, I take the measurement of one of my daughters losely fitting shirts and add 3-5" depending on how puffy I want it to be.


I prefer more a pillowcase style top rather than a dress. They are still adorable and can be easily worn with pants. For that, I add about 3" onto the width of one of her shirts, for a dress I add about 5" to make it nice and full.


Here is the result.... (these are from this spring/summer)

Dress style

Top style

More for the googlers....

I bought the fabric for my daughters pettiskirt from AFC-Express. The fabric used is 15 denier nylon chiffon. BTW I will be selling the pettiskirt on ebay. As much as I hate to, I really need the money. Consider it like a charity auction lol. See here for more info on why.

An EXCELLENT place to get info for making bows (bow making for dummies) is http://www.hipgirlclips.com/forums/. Awesome. Lots of tutorials on making bows and running a successful hairbow business.

Kaytlin's Birthday day & Pettiskirt

These pics are from yesterday, her 5th birthday! We're having her party this coming Saturday. I made the pettiskirt. I'm in the process of working up a tutorial, not sure if I'll give it away or sell it. If I sell it, it'll be $5 or less.

Good morning sunshine! Lets get that hair brushed! (note the pink streaks)

"Mommy, I want McDonalds for breakfast!" You got it babe...

"How old are you today, Kaytlin???" 5!

We picked her up from school with a huge balloon and a bouquet of flowers in tow.

"Let me in! I want my presents!" Check out the bow.... thanks appleblossombows! The bow rocks!!!

I LOVE my new room!!

True Divas do wardrobe changes =)

We went out and ate mexican.... the pictures are on Matt's phone. I'll post those later. Cute. I made the skirt and the shirt is a iron on rhinestone applique. The pettiskirt was not easy.... well, it was easy, but it took HOURS AND HOURS!

Here's a video of the "Grand reveal" of her gifts from us...

>>>> Okay I totally tried to use the blogger video upload function but it took 2 hours and still wasn't done loading, so here's the youtube video!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyn-166GKuw

I have made a few things since my last blog! Check ‘em out! Like my new handbag made from Anna Maria’s Drawing Room fabric? I love it! I get so many looks and complements on it!

I’m currently working on stuff for K to wear on vacation. Nothing exciting finished yet…. I made a dress but it’s not even photo-worthy. Kayt picked the fabric from Walmart and honestly I don’t like it. Sure, it’s cute, but it’s not what I’m used to. Plus I had to improvise the pattern to incorporate both fabrics, and it’s much longer than I wanted it to be (thanks to me not really using the pattern AND not fitting it before finishing it). Oh well, honestly I made it for her because it’s what she wanted… and she’s okay with the length (about mid calf), so that’s what counts.

I finally started chopping up my Ginger Blossom last night. It will become a twirly top with jeans trimmed with lots of ruffles and an appliqué or two.

I think I blogged about this before... I made it for K while she was at my moms house for the week (daycare flooded and closed for the week, after we shipped her off to Nana's they decided to open back up the next day and didn't bother to call and tell us that they were open because we had "alredy made arrangements"... thanks jerks, I sure did miss my DD while she was gone)... I made her this because I missed her so much! It's embroidered linen fabric, ya can't tell by the pic though.

I have been meaning to blog lately, but time doesn’t usually permit. We had an awesome super busy 4th of July. I made Kaytlin a pillowcase style tunic with a matching hairbow and bow flops for $9. It was last minute… I’ve been so busy that I didn’t even realize that she had nothing festive to wear to Mall of Ga. for fireworks and games. She is such a doll…. She loves live music. There were bands performing all throughout the day. She loved watching the performances. This is the best pic I have of her 4th outfit. Pouty face and all. No close up of the hairbow or bow flops, sowwy :-(.

I'm getting fairly decent at crochet. I'm almost finished with a little stuffed amigurumi creature for K, but I don't really like how it turned out. I'll post pics when I'm finished. I made a little bag the other day, working on the strap and I'll be done. I also made some cute 80's style leg warmers... those turned out super cute!! I can't wait to take pics of her wearing them to share!

Tutorial: How to make fabric covered button hair pins

I have seen a lot of these on etsy lately and have fallen in LOVE! Being the crafty mama I am, I had to find out how to do it! Honestly, finding a tutorial wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. In the end, I just combined a few different tutorials to get what I was looking for.


Supplies needed:
Buttons to cover AND the kit used to cover them (comes in most packs of buttons, I paid a little over $2 for a 4 pack with the kit)
Fabric scraps
E6000 Craft Glue ($3)
Hair pins designed to be decorated (I had to look in the wedding section with all the veils and stuff to find these at Michaels, I got an 8 pack for about $2)


Bobby Pins- Buttons-

Tools needed:

Pliers (If you don't have pliers, a pair of utility scissors will work, that's what I used. DON'T use your fabric scissors lol)

Spool of thread (you don't use the thread so color doesn't matter)

Scissors for cutting fabric

Ink pen (or fabric marking pencil if you're a pro like that... but the edges are completely covered so perfection on the edges is not crucial)

Step 1) See how big your fabric needs to be. The button kit says cut the fabric double the width of the button... but that (for me) left a lot of excess fabric, so doing a little less won't hurt. Draw a circle on your fabric using the spool of thread as a guide. Go farther out or closer to the spool depending on size needed.

Step 2) Remove the button shank (the shank is the little metal loop that pokes out and would be threaded if you were applying it to a garment) Follow directions on button kit to cover the button with the fabric circle you cut.

Step 3) Awe those little buttons are so cute! I was worried my fabric wouldn't be tight around the button but they were just perfect! Now take your glue, the hair pins, and the buttons outside or to a very ventilated place because this glue will stink up your house and probably give you brain damage or something. Lay the button over the little disc to see about where you should put it once you whip out the glue. When I looked at the button and the pin I didn't think it would lay right because of the way the button dips down where the fabric goes, but it worked perfectly fine. Put a little glue on the hair pin (on the little circular disc part) and press the button onto it, making sure it is centered. Let the glue cure... the E6000 packaging says it takes 24-48 hours but my button was stuck after a couple of minutes.... I still let it cure though.

Voila you're done! I probably made it look more complicated than it really is. It's super easy. I wish I had taken pics of the process.... but I was a little distracted :P I did this while I was playing cards with some friends last Friday night.

Total expense for supplies: $7; Cost per clip- $.85 approx. Time to complete: 15 Minutes

~Available for purchase in my Etsy Shop~

One thing at a time....

I feel kinda overwhelmed right now. Not that my life is any more busy than usual, but I am a bit behind on my projects and ideas for new projects just keep flowing in before I even have a chance to finish what I've already started (or bought supplies for and haven't even started). I made a 'to do' list today (crafty stuff only) and no joke it's 14 things long!!!!!! EEKS! And the more and more I think about hair bows the more I want to run out and just buy everything needed to make every single bow I see that I like!!!!

It takes a while to really accumulate all of the necessary supplies needed to do any particular craft... and a little longer to get a good hoard of stuff. It has taken me a year to buy all of the sewing essentials (and not so essential). I've gone through some crappy scissors, stocked up on necessities (bobbins, oil, lots of pins, etc), accumulated extra stuff so I don't have to buy it every time I decide to make something that calls for it or realize mid-stitch that I need it (elastic, bias tape, interfacing, webbing). Now I'm back at square one with the hair bows. I don't have anything necessary.... well, I've got fray check and a couple of spools of ribbon... and the sewing stuff of course. I need dowels, clips, this super strength glue... Oh I just realized that I DO have clothes pins (thanks to a recent consignment sale)... not to mention I'll need tons of ribbon.

So... back to the giant 'to do' list.... not in order of priority (although I should do it that way)
1) Finish current project.... Amy Butler dress (two posts down)
2) Make a handbag for myself
3) Boho/peasant fabric - pre wash (which I'm a little worried about, it's got lots of raw edges), take sample pics, post on etsy... well first decide if I'm going to trim it down to a girls skirt or leave it long and sell something for ladies.... AAAH!
4) Make my moms curtains that were supposed to be done a week ago
5) Make Kaytlin's Hannah Montana outfit before she kills me (scored some HM fabric BTW)
6) Make myself an apron... bought fabric weeks ago!
7) Take pics of PIF (pay it forward) item and post (it's fabric scraps... PIF = free... if you're interested remember to check back soon!)
8) Make Amy Butler pin cushion using scraps from current project (for charity... oh yeah, gotta pick a charity I'll be contributing to with the sales of things like this... I'm thinking of a local womens shelter)
9) Figure out what I can make using the stash I've developed
10) Make fabric covered button hair clips to match one of the million zillion things I am working on
11) Stock up on hair bow making supplies
12) Make flip flops using the tut I found in a mag
13) Make matching jeans for awesome embroidered linen top (and finish top... just need to attach straps).
14) Take pics of two items to add to etsy (embroidered linen outfit, AB dress) after they're finished

So I'm going to tackle it ONE thing at a time... maybe two at a time :-P

First (and second) are to finish the nearly-finished things... the embroidered linen outfit just needs some capris made to match... and the AB outfit, I just need to finish the bodice and add the bottom contrast. It's going to be SEW CUTE!!! Third... take pics of those two things and get them on etsy! Hopefully I can finish doing these tasks by tomorrow evening. I'm not even going to look at the list until I finish these things!

I almost forgot.... Easter was lots of fun. I've been flickr'ing lots lately too. My flickr id is, of course, kaytiebugs. Here's a few shots from Easter.... Recognize the dress? The boys pictured are my nephews.

Hair Bows

I've been in the market for some hairbow tutorials today. So far so good. I found exactly what I was looking for - fabric covered button clips. I also found a million zillion other fantastic ideas. I just want to make some stuff to match my outfits... give them a little extra detail. I learned that E6000 glue will hold anything and I should really start stocking up on my grosgrain ribbon collection. Oh hell.... my fabric hoard is too big to allow for further purchases, now I've found something else that I simply must start hoarding. When do I get my next paycheck? ;-)