Nylon Flower Hair Clip Tutorial $1.00 each!

 

Isn't this nylon hair clip adorable? 

I was a bridesmaid at my friend's wedding and she gave us this adorable clip to wear:

Every time I wear it I think: I could make this! Well, this week I decided to give it a try!

If you are anything like me, this project might frustrate you at first. But, it is well worth it. To try to make it easier, I have included a lot of pictures. The tutorial is made using the purple nylons, not the gray one above. Good luck making your own!

How to: Nylon Flower Hair Clip

Materials:

Old ripped nylons (or new ones)

Silver 22 or 24 gauge wire (found in the floral or bead section) $.60/5ft

Wire Cutters

Glue Gun

Needle Nose Pliers

Hair clips $.33/each

Button, jewel, or bead for center $0-$.20

Total Price=$0.93-$1.13

That's 5 for $5

To start off, we need to prep the nylons. I used old knee highs, but you could use regular nylons.

Cut off the top elastic band and save for later. Cut off the toe. Then, cut down to open up the nylon, creating a fabric like above.

Create 5 wire frames for the bottom petals

Cut a piece of wire 6 in long. Fold it in half to make the point. Next, slightly bend  the sides to make the wire into a diamond shape. Twist off at the bottom, it should be long, to finish of your triangle. Make 5. They should look like this:

Now that our 5 wire petals are ready, it's time to add the nylon. First, cut squares out of your nylon (about 2.5 in x 2 in) and a piece of wire 1in. long. Now you're ready to cover the petal:
Next poke the bottom of the fabric with the wire. Stretch it up and around and poke again. Pull the sides down. Then bunch it together (it's okay, it's going to look kind of weird)

Take the 1in. piece of wire and twist it around the bottom of the diamond. Use your needle nose pliers to twist the wire. Before it gets too snug, pull any bunching fabric down so it is nice and tight. Twist until secure. Clip off the extra wire and you have your petal.

Cut off the extra fabric a the bottom. Repeat 5 times and you'll end up with:

Now, make 3 more wire petals, but have them be slightly smaller. For my purple hair clip, I made the 3 petals a little too small, I like how the gray one turned out better. I suggest using a 4 in piece of wire, but play with it until you get a size you like.

Size comparison

Now that you have all 7 petals made, you are ready to start gluing! Plug in the hot glue gun. Start with the bottom 5. Before you glue the petals together, play with it in your hand to see how they should all fit together. Once you know how you want it to look, start gluing them together one at a time.

Cut off the extra wire after you glue the petal onto the group.

Ta-da! You should now have all 5 petals glued together. It's coming along and you're almost done!

When gluing the 3 top petals together, remember that they need more space apart than the bottom 5 had.

Glue the top 3 onto the bottom 5 and you're ready to start the back. Take the band of the nylon and cut a rectangle, fold it to be a size that will cover your mess in the back. Get your hair clip ready. Put the glue down middle, open the clip and glue on.

Once that has dried cover the back with glue and place on your flower.

Once that has dried, flip it over and add your button, jewel or bead to the center and it's finished!

I don't really like this button, so it's not actually glue on, I'm still on a quest for the perfect center piece.

Those weren't too hard to make! Now you know what to do with those old ripped nylons - turn them into a cute hair accessory! I love how the silver wire shines through. Let me know if you have any questions.

I'm entering this project:



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