Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Monogram Ruffle Flower Bag and Headband Craft Tutorial

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." -Coco Chanel

Having two little girls in my house, we sort of live by Coco Chanel's mantra. When I knew I'd have the opportunity to guest post for The CSI Project not too long ago, I decided to work on a project that could be swapped back and forth between mom and daughters.

And because I am as easily distracted as a raccoon with something shiny, I got an idea for a second project while I was in the middle preparing for the first one. So you get a two-for-one today. Aren't you a lucky reader?

I started with my supplies, mostly purchased with coupons or hunted down from my craft stash:

-Black canvas bag from Hobby Lobby
-Old Tights (yes, I said "tights!")
-Buttons
-Pink Ruffled Trim (I am aware that you can make your own ruffles, but I tend to err on the side of laziness)
-Matching pink thread
-Bling (every girlie project should have some bling, right?)
-Pink fabric paint (optional...I ended up using my Silhouette instead of stenciling)

I started out by roughly measuring out how large I wanted the design for the center of the bag. I say "roughly" because I tend to eyeball things because Math gives me a headache. After I used my Silhouette machine to print my design onto heat transfer paper (you could totally stencil it yourself with the fabric paint!), I ironed it on and pinned my trim in place.

(I did the initial for our last name, so we can share the bag when we go to the library)

My sewing machine is a little wonky and persnickety when it comes to thick fabrics, so I hand stitched the ruffle in place while I watched The Nate Berkus Show. Good times.

The bag seemed a little plain, so I decided to take some leftover trim and create a little ruffle flower.

I eyeballed about how large a flower I wanted, wrapped the trim around itself and stitched it into place with the pink thread.

And because I couldn't stop with the embellishing, I layered some buttons and added a "diamond."

And Project 1 was complete!


Next, I decided to turn those old tights into a stretchy headband to coordinate with the bag!

I took a rotary trimmer and chopped the toes right off of those tights, and made another cut at the top of the tights to form one long tube.

I turned the unfinished seam inside one end of my tights tube and stuffed the other end of the tights tube inside that. Then, I ran the material through my sewing machine to make a headband. (The side with the seam goes at the base of your neck)
Um, kind of plain, huh?

I had plenty of trim left, so I gave it the ruffle treatment, and look what I ended up with!

I had to negotiate with Natalie to get her to change clothes and model for me, but she was willing to do it for two bites of ice cream (?!). Some people are such divas.


She insisted that the stickers on her hands added to the ambiance of the shot. I'm not so sure.

Thanks for hanging with me through a long tutorial today. I hope it was worth it since you got to see not one, but two projects!

If you have a Silhouette/Cricut/Stencil/Transfer project, I'd love for you to stop by this week's I {Heart} My Crafty Cutter link party.
I Heart My Crafty Cutter


{I hope your day is classy AND fabulous!}

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23 comments:

  1. Two bites of ice cream huh? She should have held out for at least three! Too cute!

    Great project and tutorial. What a great idea to use old tights for a headband. Who would have thought!?

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  2. UH All I can say is I wish I was one of your Divas! This is the cutest bag and matching headband. Who would have thunk of tights as a headband?!! TOO Cute! Great Job!

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  3. You are so creative! The bag is darling, and I love the headband. Cute model too!!

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  4. Oh, my gosh, this is too cute, and your model is adorable! I think the fee she charged (two bites of ice cream) was worth it. And I had to laugh about the stickers on her hands--totally something my daughter Lily would do. Love both the flower bag and the headband! :-)

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  5. Off the charts cuteness factor!!!

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  6. That bag is still SUPER cute! I love the ruffle flower you added!

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  7. Oh my gosh, the bag and the headband are darling! The tights were a great idea.
    This is what I missed out on by having only boys in the family. Now I have to wait for granddaughters.

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  8. Okay, I also err on the side of laziness in fabric crafts, so I love that you used ruffle trim to make flowers. I might have to try it! They look great!

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  9. LOVED this the 1st time I saw it. Looks great! I love how Natalie negotiated a bribe too, haha! At least it wasn't for jewelry...yet ;-D

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  10. SOOO cute. She's a great little model. I love your flower...probably because I love ruffles!

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  11. That's adorable. I am going to have to try to find those ruffles, that is a great time saver. BTW, I love that quote! Its going to have to go somewhere in my house.:)
    Amy

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  12. She's adorable with her head band! I love the embellishments on the bag...I think I could make a couple for girlfriends and their daughters!

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  13. I love that they're called tights in England. I hate the word 'panty' and so avoid 'pantyhose' in conversation. Must make note for future blog post.

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  14. Both projects are super cute. You are finding so many creative uses for your Silouette machine. It's been fun seeing your creations.

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  15. Very cute ideas! They both look great!

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  16. Very cute ideas! They both look great!

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  17. Getting two for the price of one is always a good thing. Love the bag and the headband. Great tutorial!!
    Easy to follow along
    Thanks
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  18. I love the color scheme. So pretty!

    Come on over and link up with Fun for Kids Friday. www.localfunforkids.com

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  19. Hey girl--I just caught up on reading several of your posts. I'm about to leave the computer, but I just had to leave a comment here! Your bag and headband are so cute! Natalie looks adorable in that headband, and it coordinates so well with her outfit! And weren't you smart to make the bag one that you could all use and enjoy? Something tells me, though, that your girls aren't going to want to let Mommy use it very much! :)

    Great post--not too long at all, in my opinion, considering all the great stuff in it!

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  20. I loved your tutorial and your diva model. I think I might buy some of that already made ruffle, good idea!

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  21. Amanda, Loved your message board,
    it is so awesome that you were on Tatertots and Jello. Awesome job!!

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  22. The bag and the headband are so cute! And your daughter is simply adorable! :)

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