A few new things in my Etsy shop!

Hi all! Hope you had a fantastic weekend. In light of the recent promotion going on in my Etsy shop, I thought I would try to get a few new items in there! I recently acquired some vintage/antique lace of all shapes and sizes and thought it would make beautiful headbands and head pieces.

Etsy Store listing for Soft Lace Headband

 This one is a soft cottony lace, and it's probably one of my favorites because it's the first one I made... ha! It also sits on my head very well and doesn't slip around, which is a huge plus in my book. Seems like any head band I ever try to wear scoots around and there is nothing more annoying than that! This one is held with elastic so is a continuous band around the head.

Etsy listing for Gorgeous Poly Lace Headband

This one is a gorgeous polyester lace with so many details to it, slightly wider than the one above but made into a continuous circle with a bit of elastic in the back. I also think this is one of my favorite photos of myself! ha! ;)

Etsy Listing for lace applique headband

I think these are all "my favorites" but this one is stands out above the rest for me... such a fun way to use appliques and how beautiful would this be in a bride's hair? It's stark white on a grey grosgrain ribbon, with plenty extra to cascade or make a larger bow. Plus, it's guaranteed to fit any head - the elastic ones are pretty much made to fit an adult ladies head, but how cute would this ribbon one be on your baby or flower girl?

Etsy Listing for Ivory Lace Headband

This one is a soft ivory lace with a white satin ribbon laced through it. The lace goes all the way around the head, and ties in the back with the ribbon. The ribbon is so soft but thick, very high quality feeling.

These are actually pretty fun to make so I'll most likely be adding more soon. They're all $9.99 and all come in a small tulle drawstring bag so you can give them as a nice gift! :)

Don't forget! Use coupon code LITTLEOAKCHRISTMAS12 until 12/25 to receive free shipping! Enter it in during checkout to receive free shipping (it doesn't apply automatically!) Thanks for looking!

It's Pinspired Friday! {An easy, last minute Christmas Gift! - DIY Ear Warmer}

Happy Friday! Christmas is just around the corner, and hopefully you're well on your way to figuring out Christmas gifts. If not, have no fear! I've got an easy, cheap, and warm gift tutorial for you today.

It all started when I pinned this about 4 weeks ago:

At Second Street: Fleece Ear Warmers

I thought... those look pretty easy, and what a great way to use up fleece scraps! And so I set off to make my own.

This is a very easy tutorial. This would probably be a great beginner craft for a child or teen even.

I was given a bunch of fleece pieces by my grandmother's associate and friend - they all ranged in sizes and shapes and colors. I grabbed this fun piece of "rock" fabric and some black fleece, and went to town. Want to recreate this? You'll need:

• 2 pieces of fleece fabric (coordinating or contrasting), 24.5" x 3.5" long (May need shorter for child)
• A button (I used a 1" size)
• Sewing Machine and needle and thread for attaching button
• Felt for flower (see below)
• Something circular to round corners.

If you're going to make the flower, you'll need about 8-10 2" or smaller circles cut out of the felt. They don't have to be perfect as you're folding them.

Cut out your two pieces of fabric, 24.5x3.5". You might need to go smaller if you're making this for a child or teen.

Lay your two pieces together. You'll want to place the fabric right side up as we're just going to sew around the edge... no turning inside out here. Fleece thankfully doesn't fray. Using a very scientific method of tracing a ribbon spool (or cup, whatever you can find that works), trace your corners.

What is so nice about this project is that it is very forgiving, which makes it such a good project for someone young or for someone just getting into crafting and sewing.

Now with your corners cut, and your fabric lined up, get your sewing machine ready to sew. I used black thread - the thread sinks into the fleece just a little so it's not very obvious.

Sew around the outside with a 1/4" seam allowance. I use my zipper foot because it's just easier for me to line the side of the fabric with the side of the foot. I recommend not starting in either curve, but right after a curve.

Your fabric might get a little wonky with shifting and such (fleece is kind of notorious for this) so trim up your edges so they match.

Cut your button hole by folding the fabric over and making a small slit. Be careful not to cut it too large. Because it's fleece, we won't need to sew around the hole as it won't unravel. Yay! I cut my button hole to 1/2" for a 1" button (it stretches quite a bit!), so that's about a 1/4" cut (because you're cutting into the fold. :))

On the other end, sew your button. You'll want to sew your button on the top of the fleece that faces outward, unless for some reason you don't want the button to show (this will be harder to fasten, too)

Now, if you're going to make the flower, proceed: if not, go ahead and put on your ear warmer! How easy was that?

Cut your circles, if you haven't already. I ended up using about 8-10 circles. Get your thread and needle ready. You'll want a fair amount of thread.

Pinch the circles in the midle like so. They kind of look like fortune cookies! Align them up on your head warmer and start sewing them to the fleece. I imagine you could hot glue them too if you wanted, but I think in this case thread and needle might be easier. Sew them in a cluster until a flower starts to form!

And there you have it! A cute, easy gift for someone you love or even a gift for yourself.

A weird angle - the flower is definitely more circular in real life!

Did you like this tutorial? Help me out by pinning it to Pinterest! Got to have it? It's available in my Etsy shop! Thanks for following along!

Don't forget to take advantage of FREE SHIPPING in my Etsy store until 12/25/12! Use coupon code LITTLEOAKCHRISTMAS12 when checking out!

It's Pinspired Friday! {Headband Tutorial}

Happy Friday! It's time for...

Today, I was inspired by this pin I added about a week or two ago... a super cute headband that I figured would look good on me, as well as on a baby. Plus, I'm a big fan of anything nautical, and this nautical type knot fit the bill.

Sorry, that was an excessively long picture. So I thought I would just click-a-roo on the image and it would magically take me to a beautifully written tutorial. Um, no such luck. I tried finding anything regarding this image and nothing. So I decided to wing it. Which usually doesn't work in my favor, but this time it all magically came together. Lucky for you, you don't have to wing it, you can follow my tutorial!

Start with a stretchy cotton shirt. Mine was a size large and it was 95% cotton and 5% spandex. The little bit of spandex really does help when you go to stretch it and wear it. And yes, this shirt had been used for a different project. You need to have some side seams or you'll have to seam your fabric into a tube. Side seams are just easier. My only side seams left were right at the armpit.

 So I cut about 1 1/2" to 2" piece...

 and then cut that in half.

Now, take your little pieces and stretch them out. They'll turn into little tube-like pieces. I was pretty excited about my yellow fabric but since it wasn't printed on the inside, they turned white like the inside of the shirt. Oh well. They stretched out into about a foot and a half. I didn't measure, I just figured it would stretch around my head. (Spoiler alert: it does end up fitting. whew.)

 So now it starts getting a bit tricky. Take 1 of your strips, and lay it out, then turn it into what I think looks similar to an awareness ribbon shape. You'll want your right side crossing on top of the left side. (See arrow)

 Take your other strip and make a "U" shape. Just lay it on top of the other shape.

 Then, take the piece being pointed at above, and place it on top of that piece of the "U" shape. You're not really shifting anything else besides that little piece in this step.

This is where I show off my noob blogging skills. I think I was so excited that I was actually getting it (!) that I didn't take a picture of this step, so I'm using the pinned picture. Take the left side of your "U" and place it behind the circular part. Your pieces will look sort of like an ampersand. (&) Sort of.

This is where it gets a little tricky, but follow with me here. Your piece that is kind of hanging out in la-la-land in the step above... grab that (1), place it over (2), then under (3), and have it come out the top. You can see in this step that it's coming together!

 

Now, carefully grab all four of the loops. You'll obviously use two hands (place your other hand where those arrows are), I had to use one hand for the camera and using your index and your thumb, pull the pieces away from each other. Your giant knot will tighten up and you'll be left with this! 

So now, cut out a little piece of fabric. This was about 1 1/2" to 2" square.

 Then, place your fabric down and one by one, place the flat part of the ends on the square. I tried both at the same time, it just didn't go as easy as one at a time.

 Wrap your ends like a little taco in the piece of fabric. The extra little spandex in this shirt made this easy, because I could pull on it to get it in place and completely covered. I put a pin in it so it'd stay.

 Take it over to your sewing machine (or, hot glue if you're not having any of that) and put a few stitches in it. I put two in.

Congratulations! You've successfully made a pretty sweet headband. This was an easy project, even with "winging it" and taking pictures along the way only took about 10 minutes or so. This would be a cute, easy gift!

Thanks for following along!