London Dress with Fabric HairClip Tutorial!

Greetings friends!

The World Cup is coming! Now, I love the USA. But when the USA faces England in a World Cup match June 12th, I have to root for England. We'll be watching the game with a group of friends, and I have already started to talk smack to my husband about England winning. As the only Brit in the group watching the game, I may be in trouble.......

For the big game, I have ordered myself an official England Shirt. Since Delilah is a dual citizen, I am drafting her into being an England fan for the day so I have one other person on my side while we watch. Which means she needs an outfit for the occasion. With a matching hairclip of course! Here is the dress, followed by a tutorial on making the matching hairclip.





If you've been here before, you probably recognize the totally free and easy to sew Popover Dress pattern! (My tutorial to follow this awesome free pattern is here.) The fabric I found at Hancock Fabrics. Not exactly England World Cup material, but it definitely screams BRIT to me! (The England Flag is the St George's cross, the red cross in the center of the Union Jack. The Union Jack is made up to represent the flags of England, Ireland, and Scotland.) But although it isn't an "England" flag dress, it's still clearly a very British looking dress!

I made this last night, with this matching hairclip from a scrap of fabric. Delilah was sleeping so I modelled it for you. Blurry self pic - sorry about that. Come back sometime after June 12th and I'll have a pic of Delilah in the dress with the clip in!





This tutorial is not just for THIS fabric! Any scrap of fabric you have, that you think would be cute on a hairclip, can be put together this way.

Ok, to make the clip, I need supplies. Scrap of fabric, hairclip, small piece of stabilizer or facing.



And of course MOD PODGE! I won this sample pack of Mod Podge from Mod Podge Rocks! (Love that site!)

And oops, I also used a glue gun. Sorry, forgot to include it in the pic. But y'all know what a glue gun looks like, right?!!?

My first order of business was to attach a little piece of stabilizer to the back of the fabric to give it some body. I decided to sew mine on along the St George's cross lines of the flag. If I had iron on interfacing handy, that would be cool to iron on. It could also be lightly secured with a swipe of a glue stick, or a few hand stitches.

Here's the back so you can see where I stitched.

Here's the front, can you see the stitches on the cross of the flag?

Now it's time for Mod Podge! Rather than traipse down the stairs for a brush, I used a pencil eraser to apply the Podge. I like to improvise.

I folded each side of the fabric back onto a light coat of Podge.

Before podging down the other sides, I clipped the corners.

Once clipped, those sides get the same light podging treatment to glue down and Ta-Dah! I have a rectangle Union Jack! Not too stiff because it's fabric, but not flimsy thanks to the Podge and the stabilizer sewn in.

Hot glue to a hairclip.

And that's it!

Now I really wish I had stuck this in Delilah's hair this morning so I could share that with you. I promise to snap pictures when she wears the dress with the clip and show off her adorable Britishness.

Now I have to get started on something sweet and patriotic for Delilah to wear on the Fourth of July. I may be British in my heart, but I love America, and all the freedoms this dear country provides. I am proud my daughter is American. Decking her out in stars and stripes will be fun!

Thanks for stopping by! I am working on a bag tutorial and some painting projects - Be back soon!

- Janimal