Simple Brooch-to-Headband

Today’s project is a nice simple one – just like gluing a cabochon, only bigger!  I’ve been buried under snow for a month here, so I have to admit – I’m thinking spring.  So a nice, spring-inspired headband seemed like a cheerful thing to work on. :)

I was going through my stash looking for inspiration (and for those of you who ask where all my ideas come from – that’s usually where!  I’ll spot an item or two I loved in the store, bring it home… and think) and the yellow flower popped right out at me.  I decided it would make a great headband, so I got out my E6000, and also thought it could use a bit of fabric embellishment.  You can personalize this project any way you want, so if you don’t have fabric – no big deal!  You just need a headband blank, a charm, cabochon, pendant or brooch you love, and some heavy duty permanent adhesive.  This is a project you can do in 10 minutes or less.

If you do like the looks of the fabric, what you will want to do is trace out 4 circles that are slightly larger than your focal piece.  I traced around a glass.  Now, fold each circle into quarters.

Next, I stitched them together in the corners to hold them together a little more securely.  The stitching won’t show, so I didn’t worry about coordinating my thread or being terribly neat about it – I just want to make sure none of the fabric falls out later with wear.

Now, if you are re-purposing another piece, you will need to remove the hardware from the backside.  I wanted mine to be permanent and secure, so I intended to glue it on.  If you are using a brooch you want to keep, you can leave the hardware intact and just pin it on.  If you do that, you will want to add several more lines of stitching to your fabric so that the base is very secure and the weight of it doesn’t rip off.  Personally, though – I picked this piece knowing I’d turn it into something else, so I didn’t mind using a pair of wire cutters to take everything off the backside.

Next, glue your fabric circle onto the headband’s blank.  You don’t need much E6000, though you do want to make sure it’s glued all the way to the edges of the blank.  Then, I added glue to the backside of my flower, and glued that on.  You’ll need a place to allow it to dry so that your flower is facing up – otherwise it stands to slide off before the glue sets.  I just hooked it over the edge of an empty box.

Give it at least an hour to dry – preferably more like 2-3.  Then – you’ve got a fun piece to wear or a lovely gift to bring a little spring to someone’s day!