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First you’ll need to print my pattern:Headband Template

Be sure to print with scaling set to “none” and paper setting on the “legal” size. Also, make sure you really do use the legal sized paper, otherwise part of your pattern will get cut off in the printing process. After your pattern has printed, cut out both pieces and trace the base onto card stock. Cut out the card stock pattern and discard the paper one. You should be left with one paper flower pattern and one card stock base pattern.

Step #1. Cut 9 flower pieces from various colored/printed cottons. Be sure to lay your pattern out on the bias, aka at an angle to the edges of your fabric. This will ensure that your flowers do not unravel too much, and will give them a much neater appearance.

Step #2. Lay your base pattern on the felt and trace around it with an air-soluble marker. Mine ran out of juice, so I had to use a fine-tip permanent fabric marker. You can use whatever you want, as long as it leaves a fine line and won’t be too visible after cutting out. Trace once, and then flip the pattern over horizontally and trace again. The piece is not completely symmetrical, so this will ensure that you have two pieces that fit together correctly. Draw a line or write “wrong side” at the top edge of each piece, so that you can sandwich them together correctly during the last steps.

Note: Felt does not have a definite “right” or “wrong” side, so just go with your preference!

Here I have my base pieces and 4 flower pieces cut out.

Step #3. Once your pieces are all cut, sew two gathering stitches along one long edge of each flower piece. Make sure it’s the end with the curves, and back stitch or knot the threads at one end. You can do the gathering stitch on a sewing machine, which is a lot faster, ( you don’t need a very loose stitch for these; I used a 2.5 on my brother machine, which is the normal stitch length ) or you can do it by hand.

Here you can see the gathering stitches on one of my darker flower pieces. My first stitching line is about 1/8 – 1/4″ away from the edge.

Now gather the flowers up snugly and knot the end. Trim threads, leaving a tiny tail.

Step #4. After your flower is gathered, thread your needle, knot the end, and pull it through the gathering at one end of the strip. Now begin rolling the strip in on itself, making sure that the right side of the fabric is facing out. After rolling the strip once, insert your needle directly above the uppermost gathering stitch…………

……………………pulling it through to the other side, coming out directly above the uppermost gathering stitch. Continue rolling and sewing through all layers in this way, until you reach the other end of the strip.

Once you’ve reached the end, wrap your thread around the base of the flower 2-3 times, insert your needle through the threads and pull out to the other side.

Knot and trim threads and any pieces of fabric that stick up higher than the rest.

Step #5. Hold the flower so that the longer end is facing upwards, with your index fingers supporting the bottom, and your thumbs inserted inside of the flower. Now, spread your thumbs apart, turning the entire flower inside out and smoothing the shorter layers down over the longer ones. It should look like this.

Turn over, and voila!

Step #6. After all of your flowers are finished, it’s time to attach them to the base. I like to sew mine, but you can use glue if you prefer. If you want to sew them like I did, the instructions are as follows:

Arrange your flowers on the headband base in whatever order you’d like. I used three flowers on each of the 3 oval-shaped sections. And be sure that the markings on your headband base are facing DOWN, so that you are attaching the flowers to the unmarked side.

Take all of the flowers off, except for one, keeping them in the same general positions, so that you don’t forget where they go.

Thread your needle and knot the end. Now turn over your first flower and secure your thread as follows: slip your needle through the top layer, making a small stitch. Before pulling all the way through, slide your needle between the threads near your knot. Now pull snugly to secure.

It should look like this:

Make a small stitch out to the edge where you’d like to begin sewing.

Position your flower on the base and hold securely with one hand while you sew with the other. Take a small, horizontal stitch through the top layer of felt, near the spot where your thread exits the flower, and pull through.

Now take a small stitch through the flower, starting at the point where the thread exits the felt.

Take another stitch through the top layer of felt. Continue in this way until you have sewn all the way around your flower. Be sure you don’t pull the threads too tightly as you stitch, or else it will pull and warp your felt base. Just pull the threads snugly enough that the stitches don’t show.

Once you’ve made it all the way around, insert your needle through the felt at the base of your flower……………..

………………..and through to the other side.

Knot the end and trim.

After your flower is secure, you can smooth the petals down toward the felt, to give it a nice, puffy shape.

Attach each flower in the same manner…………..

………..until they are all secure.

Step #7. Now it’s time to attach the headband. I was planning to use a skinny store-bought band, but it turns out that I only had one left and I didn’t like the color for this project.

So I used a piece of colored lingerie elastic instead, cutting it to the same length as the store-bought band.

Spread an even layer of tacky glue all over the back of the base, making sure that it reaches clear to the edge. Then lay your headband across the back, centering it, and spread another layer of glue over the band. (I spread the line of glue out with a paint brush before the next step)

Take your other base piece and place it over the top, making sure that the markings match up on both pieces and are facing to the INSIDE where they cannot be seen. Your first piece will be somewhat smaller because of the slight warping that occurs while sewing the flowers on, so you will have to do a bit of smoothing, scrunching and manipulating to get all of the edges to match up correctly.

Tacky glue dries quickly, but I would suggest giving it about 12-24 hours before wearing, to be sure the headband will not come undone when it is stretched.

Ta-da! The finished product!!!!

I’ll try to post some photos of me wearing my headband soon………….and if you make one using my tutorial, I would love to post a photo of it here for everyone else to see!

Thanks a bunch for looking,

~Alexandrea