Friday, October 28, 2011

Accessories from Vintage Ties (No Sew!)

The other day I was browsing through Goodwill on a hunt for a red and yellow striped tie for my son's Harry Potter Halloween costume.  I did not find one, but I did find a red one that I ended up painting yellow stripes on!  While digging around, several other vintage-y men's ties caught my eye because of their patterns, textures and colors.  I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with them, but knew that I wanted to try my hand at making some flowers for hair accessories.  At $1.37 a tie, it wasn't a huge investment to bring these home: 


Gathered some more supplies at a trip to Wal-Mart:  cheap headbands from the hair product section and alligator-type hair clips from the craft and bead department:


I started by ripping out the seam up the back of the tie.  Pretty easy work as many of the ties were a bit worn out!


Once it was opened up, the inside lining removed and laid out flat, I realized I could easily divide the tie into 4 long strips of fabric, by cutting down the length on the creases and then cutting up the middle:

Cool!  I could get 4 flowers - at least - out of one tie!

Starting at the narrower end of one strip, I tied a knot:


And started wrapping the fabric around the knot, twisting the fabric and hot gluing as I went, until I ended up with the size flower I wanted:


Most of the flowers I made required less than one strip of fabric!   After making several flowers, it was time to move on to a headband.  The key to wrapping the headband was to start with two small strips of fabric cut as narrow as the headband to fold over and glue to the tips of each end.  Then it was just a matter of wrapping around, gluing as I went:


I tried my headband on in the mirror, to see exactly where I wanted to glue my flowers, then glued them on, off-centered:


ta-da!


ta-da!


I also made some single flower hair clips.   For me, the alligator type clip was crucial, because I also wanted to be able to use the flowers to accessorize my scarves:


Gluing the clip on required me to work quickly:  I laid down some glue, adhered the clip, but kept it open so that the other side didn't get caught in the glue, then laid down a scrap of fabric to cover the glued side of the clip.  It made a very strong bond!

ta-da!


I love that this same type of clip works with my scarves too!


I spied this plain leather cuff at Goodwill, and added a flower to it too!


After some more flower making, I ended up with one strip from each tie leftover.  This gave me the idea to combine them into a braid.  I googled how to braid with 4 strands and after some experimenting, figured out how to incorporate the braiding around a headband.  I know this picture is not great, but it gives you an idea of how I staggered the strips when I glued them on.  I also made sure to have two strips on one side and two on the other to start my braiding.


For this braided headband, I wanted a different kind of flower that incorporated all of the different fabrics that I'd used in the braid.  I gathered some scraps from the wider ends of the ties and hot glued little gathers:


until I had a rough circle:


Added a slightly smaller one from another fabric:

 
And then added an even smaller flower of the "knot, wrap and twist" variety from above:


Trimmed it up a bit, then glued to my braided headband:
 

Ta-da!


Lastly, I decided to try my hand at some 'feathers.'


They were too flimsy as is, so I hot glued a smaller piece of the tie lining to the backs of the feathers to make them stiffer:


Here's what I ended up with:


Now I have a nice new collection of hair accessories!


Geesh!  Now don't get carried away!  Maybe just one at a time:


I'm contemplating making more to sell, but it was a lot of farting around!  I'm hoping that now that I'm done with the thinking and experimenting phase, the next batch would go quicker!

Do you think people would buy them?  I've been wearing mine around town this week and have gotten several compliments!



*linking this project to Flamingo ToesBe Different...Act NormalWhipperberry and Tater Tots and Jello.

26 comments:

  1. I like the flowers best...esp. the one with different colors..the gathered flowers are cute too! love the vintage-wooly look!
    thanks for the tutorial & give-away!

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  2. I want! I like the braided headband with the one super snazzy flower.

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  3. Love the braided headband. My girlie would adore it.

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  4. I would love to sport a flower on a clip! You did wonderful on all of them though! :)

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  5. they are all so adorable. I love that leaf headband! So cute! Maybe a winterish one would be cute too!

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  6. I love them all. I'm not sure my hairstyle can support a headband, but I'd LOVE to try :)

    I like the first pictured headband, with the 3 flowers. I also love that green tie (2nd from left?) in the first picture with the square pattern.

    TOO cute!! And you have a great hairstyle for headbands, Jill!

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  7. Fun! I think the braided headband is my favorite. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. The braided headband is pretty darn adorable! Good work!

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  9. Especially love the clip that can go with scarves! So creative. Nicely done.

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  10. I love the flower glued to the braided headband...would make a great pin, perhaps?

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  11. Oh Wow you rock! This is fantastic!

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  12. I agree, I love the vintage look, I like the first picture with the 3green/yellowish flowers on the headband. I love how you bought them b/c you were inspired and went from there :)

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  13. I like the clip! so versatile--on a scarf one day; on a bag the next. then of course in my hair, too! Could also be a cute accessory/surprise extra gift on vintage-y-looking Christmas gift. Clever!!

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  14. I know someone who would like the headband with the 3 offset flowers (gold). You'd have a great time with my husband's tie collection, if you could get any away from him.

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  15. I LOVE THESE IDEASyou are very creative. I would love to win one of your ingenious designs.

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  16. I can't choose! I like them all! Well, maybe the headband with all the different ties! Love it. Very creative. Can't believe we gave all my husband's old ties away.

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  17. I think they are all adorable - and I definitely think you should make more - I think they would totally sell. I personally love the first headband best!
    Jen Essington

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  18. They are all great, and I definitely think they would sell! My favorite is the first one....yellow/greens with 3 flowers. Thanks for sharing!

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  19. Fun Fun - I like ALL the flowers - probably the multi-colored flower and headband is my fav. -eva

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  20. I love these, especially from vintage ties! I have 2 large boxes of old ties and always thought I would use them for a quilt. I'm really not a quilty type of creative person, so I will try these! Thanks for all your inspirations, I love it!

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  21. love the head band. I don't do anything with my hair. that would be instant glam.

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  22. Great job on the flowers! Cute! I like the headband with the three flowers the best. I wish you had put a picture of the cuff...I bet it's cute on! Great job!

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  23. jill, i LOVE them! all of them! oh i could kick myself -- i just gave away a ton of the girls' old clothes at goodwill. i could have made flowers out of them! i am bookmarking this post so i can come back for inspiration once i get settled in our new place. thank you for sharing your talents and process!

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  24. The flowers are lovely, but I absolutely love that scarf in the photo! (and with the flower on it). That is an amazing scarf, one you could wear with just about anything. So colorful!

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  25. This is a great tutorial!! I love all the different accessories - and the ties are fabulous!! I featured you today - http://www.flamingotoes.com/2011/11/crush-of-the-week-think-pink-features-27/! Thanks for linking up!

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  26. Wow - this is so clever! I love that first one you posted - the yellow rosette one. Did you use any silk ties when making these? I have some old silk ties - I wonder if it would work as well. Great tutorials!
    Lindsay
    craftyladylindsay.blogspot.com

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