Baby DIY: Appliquéd Flower Headband

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Headbands on babies are always super cute, and these appliquéd headbands made from just elastic and scraps of suede are also super easy to make.
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Supplies
• 3/4″ elastic, or a 3/4″ elastic headband (I like these headbands from American Apparel; they come in lot of colours and the non-shiny side is very soft)
• leather and/or suede scraps in various colours
• 2 needles: one regular (for the elastic) and one thicker (for the leather/suede)
• 2 kinds of thread: one to match the elastic colour and a heavier one in a neutral colour to attach the flowers & leaves
• leaf and flower templates, you can make your own, or download mine here (don’t laugh, I drew them in about 5 seconds)
• small, sharp scissors
• a fine-point marker

1. Measure your baby’s head, diagonally from the nape of the neck around the top of the forehead. Cut a piece of elastic 1/4″ longer than this measurement. You don’t want to make the headband too tight or it will be uncomfortable and won’t stay on properly, and babies are always growing so a little too big is better than a little too small!

sewing the headband
2. Bring the ends of the elastic together and sew (right sides together), leaving a 1/4″ allowance. Fold the allowances flat against the inside of the headband and sew in place so they won’t stick out or fray. Use the regular needle & colour matched thread for this (or a sewing machine if you are fancy like that, but I’m still too scared of mine to unbox it so I do everything by hand).

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3. Print or draw your flower and leaf templates on cardstock and cut them out. Using a fine-tipped marker, trace the templates onto the back of your leather or suede scraps. Cut them out INSIDE the marker lines; you want as little pen on the cut out shapes as possible.

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4. Sew the flowers and leaves to the headband using the thicker needle and heavier thread. You can lay them out beforehand to figure out the arrangement, or just place them as you go. For the flowers, sew two stitches in a cross at the center of each blossom. For the leaves, a couple backstitches through the center of the leaf where the vein would be will secure them. If you are having trouble getting the needle through the leather, rest the eye end of the needle vertically on a spare scrap of leather on a hard surface, and push the headband and flower or leaf down the needle. Just be careful to go slowly so you don’t bend or break your needle (both of which I’ve done while hand sewing leather).

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Once you have this down you can do all kinds of different shapes: hearts, stars, diamonds, basically the whole spectrum of Lucky Charms. I’ve included these (and more!) on the template download along with the leaves & flowers.
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A big THANK YOU to Taylor for taking all the pictures for this post, I guess all that fancy camera equipment is finally proving useful, haha.

7 Replies to “Baby DIY: Appliquéd Flower Headband”

    1. The funny part is I made mine using those AMerican Apparel headbands I linked to, and only cut two inches out of them to make them fit her baby head.

    1. lol I tried using a leather needle when I was making the first pair of Gwen’s shoes and after about three stitches it bent basically in half.

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