Craft: Carmen Miranda Fruits & Flowers Headband & Hair Pins {DIY Flowers & Fruity Goodness with a Retro/Vintage/Rockabilly Flair!}

I’ve been crazy obsessed with fruit themed everything at the moment! I’ve been wearing fruity brooches & fruity clothes and I’ve been plotting fruity clothes & accessories. I even been decorating the house with fruit! I think I’m subconsciously wishing for Spring & Summer to come in all their fruity glory. 

A few months ago I decided I needed a fruity hair decoration. I searched eBay for mini faux fruit and found these and bought them. I only grabbed a small selection because I didn’t really have a plan. While I was waiting for them to arrive, I picked up some leaves and flowers. Once they arrived, I made a headband. I do love it but when I wore it, it gave me headache ! So when a week later, I saw a huge selection of mini faux fruit in my cheapy shop and bought up big! I knew I had to make some hair pins too.

You can buy pin curl clips on eBay but I really wanted to get started now! I called my local hairdressing supply (they don’t sell to the public) and asked if they would sell me some clips and they said yes! I used E6000 on the headband because is a flexible but strong hold. That worked because you need to glue a flat thing on the curved headband. I had used all of my E600 before I started on the hair pins, so I used Tarzan Grip for those. Yet again, it was me being impatient! I had Tarzan Grip at home. Some people swear by hot glue but I find it brittle and stringy. You do what works for you! I’ve combined the headband/hair clip instructions here because they’re almost the same process. That way you do which ever takes your fancy. 

You’ll need:

Fake flowers & leaves 

Mini fake fruits 

Felt (green would be ideal, I used pink)

Glue (I used E6000 for the headband & Tarzan Grip for the hair pins)

Wide plastic headband/pin curl clips

Sewing pins

Start by getting everything together having a play with the ingredients and thinking about how you want the arrangement to look. I put the headband on and held things up in the mirror for ideas. Cut out the felt in the sort of shape you want, remembering that the leaves will probably extend past the felt. I cut a sort of oval shape for the head band. 

For the hairpins, cut out a felt shape and then cut two slits to slide the pin into. Once the pin is in, generously glue the back and cover with a felt scrap. Let that set (at least for a few minutes) before adding other elements.

Grab some crappy scissors and start dissecting the leaves and flowers. Some will have wire in the stems, so definitely use crappy scissors or wire cutters. Mine were just plastic but still I wouldn’t use good scissors. Pin the leaves onto the felt and create a pleasing arrangement. The pins just keep things from shifting while you work it out but feel free to skip the pins and wing it. Sit some other elements on top, to check the placement of the leaves. I took a photo on my phone, just in case I forgot! You can see the headband in the top row and once of the hair pins in the bottom row.

Now take off the other elements, so you’re back to the pinned leaves. Carefully pin them and glue them down. Yeah, glueing sounds easy but remember, you are gluing this in a flat way. But if you’re making a headband, the felt will be curved around that headband. So the aim is to glue it firmly in the middle and use less (but enough) glue towards the edge of the felt. If you don’t glue the leave to the edge of the felt they’ll lift funny and show the felt.

So we are onto the fruits and flowers bit. Inspect the shape of your flowers and look for faults in the fruit. You’ll want to glue things so that any faults are hidden. Because you are gluing on the flat and the headband curves, what you put in the centre will end up further apart once curved. Glue and then hold in place until it sits by itself. Get some good contact between fruit, glue and felt.

Let that set overnight for the hair pins, they’re done! And for about half an hour for the headband. So your little garden should be firmly set but the felt should still be pliable. Put the headband on your head and hold the fruity, floral goodness over the top to determine the position. I used a black sharpie on the underside of my black headband to mark where each end should do. Yes, black on black but I could see the shine of the marker. I covered the headband with glue, between the points and stuck it to the middle of my felt.

I wore the headband for a book signing over at Junktion (see pics here). Never heard of Junktion? Read all about it and Pixi, who runs it right here. A coffee shop/op shop? That’s awesome! And if you have no idea why I’d be doing a book signing, find out about my book here. I felt so awesome and very Carmen Miranda, sporting this awesome headband. Even if my husband laughed! Mummy & Sister Ask loved it and on the day people complimented me.The hairpin came out wonderfully too!  I mean, who couldn’t love them!