An ombre array of baby headbands

Ok, so I know of all the sewing I have been doing these aren't exactly the most practical or useful things but they are pretty damn cute!

Will I actually put my baby in a headband? Am I that person? I don't know, but now I have the option to at least. I have a feeling that its just going to be more hassle than its worth to dress up a baby this much but I imagine they will go on for the odd posed photo ;)

These actually mark the last thing on my list of sewing projects for when baby arrives. I know we definitely didn't need these, but a baby in a headband is adorable and it was a really great use of some leftover jersey from some of my other more recent makes. Plus who can deny the value of a what would be free accessory? What is nice about them as well is that at least a couple of them are made out of fabrics which I used to make other outfits for her so they will even match.

I used a free online pattern from Coral & Co to make these. The pattern was a download but it was very minimal pages and included the pattern for both a thick and thin version as well as various sizes. Their website looks lovely and they have a fair few other free patterns, especially children's ones. There isn't much else to say about the pattern, it wasn't a difficult sew, but definitely a nice way to use up some leftover jersey you have, especially if you have already made a matching outfit and have some fabric spare.

Three of these fabrics are cotton jerseys and the plain pink one is a polyester jersey. The cotton ones have a lovely stiffness to them which helps to keep the bow in shape really well whereas the pink one is a little floppy and I feel might not be as practical on a little baby. Time will tell when I get to test it out practically.

Its lovely to have another use for those fabric scraps though. What is your favourite thing to do with fabric scraps? I'm terrible for not wanting to throw them away but also I really don't have the space to store them anymore. Its especially hard with having kids because every small piece could be a facing or a pocket lining for a tiny outfit! Argh! I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this plight though. 

DIY Pink Ombre Jar Candle Tutorial

I have been making these pink ombre candles in jars as part of the centre pieces for my wedding and wanted to share the tutorial with you. I hope I don't end up bombarding this place with tutorials, but hey who doesn't want to know how to make stuff right? I will try and keep the text brief and the pictures easy to follow.

Supplies:

You will need: 

Candle wax (mine came from the Norfolk Candle Company)

Candle wick (this normally come as a sort of 'string' which you cut to length)

Candle wick supports (little metal discs to hold the wick down)

Clean Jars

An old glass bowl/container

An old pan

An old plastic handles spoon

Wax crayons

Optional: Candle fragrance

Put your glass dish in a pan of hot water over the stove top. Be wary not to 'boil' the water you just want it to be simmering. Add some wax to your glass container and heat until all the solid wax has melted.

Whilst the wax is melting you can prepare your wicks. Wicks come in two forms, you can either buy them pre-cut with a metal disc on the bottom which can just be put straight inside the jars. These normally come dipped in wax so are pretty stiff and so no more support is required. The other format is wick which comes as a long string. With this type you will need to cut it to length, but make sure it is about 2cm longer than the height of the jar. Add the metal disc to the bottom and attach to the bottom of the jar. You can do this by dipping it in a bit of your melting wax. Then tie a not around a cocktail stick/pencil etc and lay across the top of the jar. This helps to keep the wick straight and centred until the wax dries. 

Once the wax has fully melted you can add your colour. You can see here I have two shades of pink crayon and a white one. Break a bit of the darkest crayon off and add it to the melted wax. You can also now add a small amount of fragrance if required. I used vanilla. Stir the crayon until fully melted. You should now have pretty pink wax.

Being careful and remembering this is hot wax sitting in hot water, lift the glass container out of the water and pour a layer of wax into each jar. How much you use it up to you and it does not need to be exact. 

Repeat these stages using lighter colours of crayon each batch (you can mix some with white to get pastel shades) until you have lovely ombre candles. Each layer should have dried sufficiently to add another by the time the next batch of wax has melted. 

HAZAA! You are left with a beautiful set of ombre candles. I can't wait to show off these bad boys at my wedding, they look so pretty with the light coming through them as well. 

You can of course do this in any colour, it doesn't have to be pink. You could also go for rainbow themed, or how about black and orange for a Halloween theme? If anyone has a go at this I would love to see a link to yours, please post a comment below and let me have a look.