I spend a lot of time trying to find the prefect barrettes. Every shop I go into, where they sell accessories, I will immediately look for the little metal hair clips, and I've built up quite a collection over the years. It's always crossed my mind to make some myself, but I was always too lazy! That was until I saw these ones on Angry Chicken's blog. They are so simple, and there are so many variations you could try, that even I will be making some.
Want a piece of the action? Find out how they're made after the snip...
I had this bag of plain metal barrettes from the craft store lying around and I always meant to cover them in a clever way and never got around to it. There are a ton in this bag. I'm not sure how many, but they are easy to find in bulk in the beading section in craft shops. I didn't research any tutorials on making these, but I bet they are out there. Here's how I made them:
1. I traced the outline of the barrette onto (wool) felt with my trusty water-soluble pen. I use wool felt because the other stuff freaks me out and these colors are to die for.
2. Then, I cut a second piece of felt out the same size as the first and laid it behind the top piece, trimming it a bit shorter in the length. I flipped both pieces over and sewed right on the drawn outline I made with the pen (the second shorter piece of felt will be on the bottom, so you won't see it while you sew.) What you are making here is a barrette sleeping bag. I used brown stitching on the bottom so you can see it for clarity, but on the top, make sure the thread matches the felt, it's much more forgiving that way.
3. I trimmed very close to the stitching with really sharp scissors. I tried pinking sheers too, and it was nice, but made the overall shape bigger than I wanted. I have seen edges done with baby scallops, and they are way cute, so that would be fun to try, too. I slid the barrette into its sleeping bag to make it all cozy and sprayed off any blue line left with water.
4. You probably don't have to do this, but I sewed a little button/felt shape, like a flower of a heart, on top through felt and then the bars of the barrette, so it will still open, but the sleeping bag won't slide off.
