Tutorial: Heart hair clips

I think in the past 6 months Em's hair has tripled in length.  We have been using the fabric bows I made last year on a daily basis to keep it pulled back out of her eyes.  I made these sweet little heart shaped clips to add to her clip collection.  They are perfect for Valentine's day but are something she can wear year round too.

These clips are made of felt and are super easy to sew.  They are a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to add a little Valentine's day love to your little ones hair.

They are made with those little snap clips and the clip is sewn inside.  They are easy to get on a wiggly toddler and stay put pretty well too.

To make these clips, all you need is some scrap felt and embroidery thread.  

Start by cutting a template for your clips.  I used a heart shaped cookie cutter, traced it on a piece of paper and cut it out.  You will use the template to cut all you hearts for the clips.  The heart needs to be slightly bigger than your clip.

 

Use the template to cut out 2 hearts for you clip.

Cut a small slit on one side of one of your hearts and stick the small part of the snap clip through it.

I always part Em's hair on the left and use the clips on the right so I put my clips in as shown in the picture above so the heart will be right side up when I use the clip.  Put the clip the other way to use it on the left, or make a matching set for both sides.

Place the other felt heart on top, sandwiching the clip inside.  Sew around the edge with the embroidery thread.

Bury the string in between the two hearts and trim off the extra.

That's it!  

They are fun to get creative with too.  I made the little double hearts by sewing the smaller heart in the middle of the big heart before making my clip.  

Tutorial: Easy Fabric Bows

My daughter's hair is just getting long enough now that her little bangs hang in her eyes.  I wanted some little clips to hold them off to the side and out of her face.  I made up a bunch of little fabric bows and attached them to alligator clips, they work like a charm and look cute too!

These bows only need a tiny strip of fabric and a little piece of ribbon, I was able to use a bunch of stuff from my stash.  The clips come in a box of 100 for just over $6 (I got mine at Sally's).  So not only are these bows adorable, but they are cheap too, score!

I made a whole army of them :)

To make a bow, start with a rectangle of fabric 3" x 7"

Then fold it in half and sew the long end with 1/4" seam allowance. (you don't need to use coordinating thread because none of the stitching will be visible)

Turn it right side out and press the seam in the middle.

Fold the ends into the center and overlap them just a bit.  Sew them in place.

Scrunch up the middle of the bow and wrap the middle with ribbon, I used 3/8" for all my bows.

Secure the ribbon at the back with glue, I like E600. Use a clothes pin to keep everything in place while the glue dries.

Don't have any coordinating ribbon?  Try yarn instead!

Once the glue is dry, attach your clip to the back.  I used the same ribbon to cover my clips before I attached them.

Once the glue dries on the clip your bow is ready to wear!  

You can just use it as a hair clip or clip it to a headband.

The finished bow measures about 1" wide and 3" long.  You can vary the size by using different size rectangles.  I made the bigger one in the photo below by using a 9"x4" rectangle. I used the bigger size for the bow I made Emily to match her t-shirt dress.

Try it out, they are fun!