More Hedgies and other stuff

More hedgies.. shouldn't be a huge surprise there!  (For whoever actually reads this blog)  This time, they've been converted to hair accessories!  Aren't they cute?  I made these out of some scrap fabric from Ruthie's quilt fabric, a button-covering kit made by Dritz -which can be found at Joann's and various other places on the internet-, wool felt that I purchased from a local shop, and some snap hairclips I bought from Robert's -a local crafting supply store here in Utah and of course, plus my sewing machine, and a hand sewing needle and some thread, and a hot glue gun.. something I almost never use for anything.

The petals were actually made by me tracing the half circle template that's for the buttons; basically I just lined it up on the edge of my felt and just traced it with my water soluble pen and then cut them out.  The original tutorial tells you to use a full circle, cut them in half and go at it, but I cheated and just did half circles.  This project is particularly why I desire to buy a multi sized circle die for my cuttlebug, so I can make neater looking circles.

Anyway, once I had the petals situated and the buttons made -a tutorial can be found here; which incidentally is also how I found the petal tutorial-  I went ahead and warmed up my glue gun, and then I filled up the back part of the button with the hot glue, and then making sure I had them lined up properly, I put the  petals onto the back of the button.. you pretty much get one shot at it I think.  Because the buttons are basically made out of aluminum, they conduct heat quite well, so you kind of need to watch your fingers a bit so you don't get burned by the hot metal.  It's not give-you-a-blister-hot but I am aware that people may have a lower tolerance to heat than I do.. I'm famous for taking scalding hot showers after all.  Then, I used the white bottom of the button kit, and used that to trace a circle to cover up the center of the back of the button, and then I took a rectangular scrap and took that to my sewing machine to sew a cuff of sorts so I can change them from being lefties or righties.  What can I say? I'm cheap!  Anyways, after sewing the little cuff to the circle, I whip stitched that to the back of the flower and presto! It's done!

 The one thing I'm not entirely a fan of is you can see the shiny metal under the weave of the fabric.  I think I could probably double up the fabric.  However I haven't tried this yet, so I don't know how well it would work. If I do try this out, more than likely I'll do it with white fabric, to keep it from distorting the color of the top fabric.  Also, according to what I've read, using acrylic felt with this isn't ideal, because there's the possibility of the felt melting if you use the less-expensive stuff. I do know that the wool felt doesn't shed as much as the less-expensive stuff as well, which is another plus I think.  Nothing like felt flakes and fibers all over your hair to ruin your day, especially if the felt you're putting in your hair completely contrasts with your hair color. If you don't have a local shop that carries non acyrlic felt, Lollychops mentions this website as her source of good felt.  I cannot offer my opinion of them however, since I've never used them.  However, I have browsed their site and I can say they do have a nice selection of colors and types of felt, and the prices are what I'd consider to be fair.  And plus, it looks like they are now also offering felt in a bamboo/rayon blend so that's perfect for those who have allergies to sheep wool.  They don't have very many colors in the bamboo blend, however I'm sure more's to come.  And they also have eco-felt as well as another option; which is made from plastic bottles for those of you who are green-minded.