Fabric Flower Hair Bobble

After I had made the crayon rolls for Boy 3’s nursery’ s Easter Fair, I had some small bits of fabric left over, so I decided to make some fabric flower hair bobbles. Having boys means this is something I don’t do very often! They were very easy to make, although I did have some trouble working out how long the fabric bits needed to be to have enough to gather into a circle, but not so much that the circle goes back on itself.

Anyway, 15 – 20 cm seems to be a good length and the strips were about 8 cm wide. I folded the strips in half lengthways, folding the short ends over, and sewed the long raw edges,  making a long narrow tube with neat ends. 🙂

Next I turned the tube the right way out. The easiest way to do this is by attaching a safety pin to one end and wiggling it through the tube. The safety pin pulls the rest of the tube behind it and you end up with it the right way out without tearing your hair out with frustration. Then I put in 2 rows of long stitches along on long edge to make the gathers and pulled them until the tube became a circle.

Lastly (almost!) I joined the open ends. I did this by slipping one end inside the other and sewing over them. It would probably have been neater to slip stitch the ends together, but it would also have taken longer. It’s neat enough for my liking.

All that was left to do was close the gap in the middle by handsewing across it a few times, add a button and sew the flower onto a hair elastic using strong thread.

I’m considering making some more of these. I’m a bit long in the tooth to wear a bobble but the flowers would probably work well on a bag or a purse, or maybe a skirt or a top. Watch this space!