Mermaid Hairband

After making some unicorn hairbands the next logical step seemed to be a mermaid hairband! Of course!

Here's how I made it.

The first step had me so stumped that I almost gave up. I needed to build a structure on the hairband that I could stick all the shells on. I tried one piece of felt that folded around the hairband but it kept leaning with the curve of the band. I even tried putting a piece of card in between but I still couldn't get it to stick up straight.
Then I got the idea to build up the structure with multiple pieces of felt. I cut circles of white felt which folded around the hairband. I glued and sewed them in place then added some pairs of semi-circles which made a scalloped pattern. Very appropriate for a mermaid theme.

With the structure in place it was time to add the decoration.
I started with a string of small shells across the bottom which I was able to sew to the felt.

Then I picked out some larger shells which I attached using my glue gun.

Then I filled in the gaps with more little shells, pearl beads and blue plastic beads. I don't think I've ever used my glue gun so much!

I added some more colour by painting the shells with blue and purple nail varnish to get a shimmery look.

The hairband is a little heavy but I'm really pleased the felt is able to hold all shells and remain sticking up.