Guest Blogger Thursday: Sami's Bridal Headband DIY

Wedding season is well underway and, though I don't plan on marrying in the near future, I love to read wedding blogs. I especially love the upsurge of DIY weddings — brides handcrafting their invitations, table settings, even making their own gowns. Inspired by this — and because I love crafts and DIY! — I decided to write this guest post on how to make your own bridal headband.

Supplies needed:

• a headband — I chose to use a thick one for this, so that I could fit more flowers and embellishments on top. This had a bow on it, so I cut it off, but don't worry, we'll be covering it with fabric!
• at least 3 different kinds/colors of fabric — one must be white tulle or organza (for the veil), the other two I chose were a silky white fabric with glitter and a tougher cream-colored fabric.
• fake flowers — I bought this baby's breath at a dollar store, but you can use bigger, more colorful flowers if you'd like. Maybe buy some fake flowers that match your bouquet?
• white thread
• sewing needle
• fake gems/other embellishments
• tacky glue (not pictured)
• scissors (not pictured)
• bobby pins or clothes pins — this is just to hold bits together as they glue (see step #5)

Steps:

Part One: Wrapping Fabric Around the Headband

1. place a little bit of glue on the inside of one end of your headband.

2. glue one end of a strip of fabric about 1 inch thick and 5ft long (I chose the glittery silky fabric), to the end of the headband. Tip: if one side of your fabric is frayed, position the frayed side to face inward.

3. wrap fabric tightly around headband.

4. glue the end, making sure a little bit hangs over to conceal the end of the headband.

5. use a bobby bin or clothespin to set the glue.

Optional: cut the little spiky frays of fabric that stick out. I decided to cut them for this project, but it might have been cute to keep them too — up to you!

Part Two: Making Flowers

Here's where I got smart and started using a blue background, making it easier to photograph the next steps. When making flowers to go on your headband, experiment with different types of fabric and different lengths and widths.

6. For this flower, I chose to use a piece of the thicker, shiny, cream-colored fabric to give the headband a little color. I cut a piece of fabric about 2.5-3in thick and 1ft long.

7. Fold the fabric together in an accordion fold and sew through the center. (I didn't have a photo of me doing this step with the thick fabric, so I'm showing the organza fabric here. I didn't end up using the organza flower on the final headband though).

8. Twist the folds of fabric in a circular fashion to create a flower.

Repeat Steps 6-8 to create more flowers, if you'd like.

Part Three: Adding the Veil & Embellishments

9. Sew a piece of white tulle (mine was 1ft x 8in) to your headband, pinching together the fabric as you sew.

10. Add on your flower(s) by sewing the bottom fold of fabric to the white fabric you've covered your headband with. I suggest sewing as closely to the middle of the flower as possible, otherwise you won't be able to "twist" the fabric into a flower again.

11. Remove the stems and centers of your fake flowers and sew them onto the headband by sewing up through the flowers and back down into the headband. You'll want to sew just outside of the flower's center.

12. Glue fake gems to the center of the fake flowers to give the headband a little more color. Be creative! You can even add buttons or other bits of fabric.

13. I had these cute heart-shaped gems lying around, so I added one to the center of my cream fabric flower.

Let your glue dry, and there you have it — your very own, handmade bridal headband! I kept this pretty simple to allow lots of room for customization, so dream big!

xoxo, Sami

~Sami Jensen is the writer of the culture blog, Poor & Pretty. She also makes cupcake soaps, which can be purchased online at the Poor & Pretty Cupcake Soap Shoppe.