Oscar de la Renta's Jeweled Headband, a DIY

One of my fave things to see on the runway are interesting head pieces. This season was full of amazing hats (see my girl Kathryn's roundup of those here) and pretty freakin' lovely hair accessories (see previous hairy DIY with Rodarte here). I thought in keeping up with trends, I would try my hand at another fantastic accessory from the Fall 2012 runway, Oscar de la Renta's jeweled headband. Easy peasy, right?

Photo by ImaxTree

What you'll need:

- Half a yard to a yard (in length) of ribbon that is about 2 inches thick (note: I always grab extra in case of mistakes)
- A broach or something sparkly that you want to be your headband's "bling"( I grabbed mine at Joann's for $3)
- Pins
- A small piece of sewing elastic
- A hand sewing needle and matching thread
- Tacky Glue or if desperate, a hot glue gun

Step One:
Simple as this, measure your head using the ribbon. I put my hair in a pony tail beforehand and had the man help with this step. I made sure to leave a little extra slack (this is where I'll use the elastic in a couple of steps.) I always ere on the side of caution. Leave yourself a good amount of extra ribbon because if you don't need it, you can always trim the excess.













 
Step Two:
Not as simple as step one, but not too hard, attach one end of your small piece of elastic to one end of the ribbon, using a simple hand stitch with your needle and thread. I secured mine by going over it a couple of times. Don't want your biz falling apart, right?

Step Three:
We are going to hand sew a small length of the ribbon together (folding over then sewing together) which we will then bring the elastic through and attach either end to bring the headband full circle (aka stretchy). This is a little trick and will definitely take a little practice but once you have figured it out, you will not be disappointed!  Once you have your ribbon "tunnel", just run your elastic through and scrunch the ribbon over the elastic so you can secure the loose end. I left some of my tunnel open so that I could secure the end and the elastic at the same time in order to hide any loose end. Even if you don't decide to do this, this piece will be face down and you shouldn't be able to see it while wearing.

Note: Here is a nifty trick for your ribbon if it is fraying. Most ribbon is made from a synthetic fabric so can be melted with a slight run over with a lighter. I use this for the edges and for even parts that I have hand sewn but I want to secure in place or removed random frays for good. Be careful not to burn yourself. Be careful not to catch fire to your ribbon.

Step Four: The Pièce de résistance!
A broach would be the simplest to add but if you are feeling creative, you can create your "broach" right on the headband itself. I found the headband's center (makes sense, right?) and then got out my tacky glue. I chose not to use a glue gun because #1 I did not want the hot glue to possibly soak through the ribbon and #2 I have recently burned myself with a hot glue gun so chose to steer clear. Tacky glue takes a little longer to dry but I felt a better decision in the long run... anyway, enough about glue. Well, WAIT, one more thing about glue: Do not put this headband in your hair until the glue is dried. OK, done with glue.

Once the glue dried, my broach gave the option of adding a couple of stitches around some openings along the edge. I just added these for a little extra security and snugness. After all this work, you don't want your bling to fall off!

Voila! You have recreated a look straight off the runway. You can interpret it any way that you see fit, explore your options and switch things up... and you'll be happy you created it yourself!