Making a Hair Piece with Lace

Info about the We are going to be creating a hairpiece using lace. It is really simple, gives a great romantic feel and provides a softness to your face. So, if you are interested in this type of hairpiece, this may be the perfect video for you.

Supplies:

Lace trim, appliqués
or scraps of lace fabric
Scissors
Needle
Thread
Ruler
E6000 hair glue
Rhinestone strip
Elastic for headband
Hair clips or barrettes

Directions:

Choosing Your Materials

The first rule for choosing lace for your hairpiece is to think about the type of hairpiece you want. The type of hairpiece you want will determine the type of lace you choose. If your costume is made out of lace fabric, you could choose one of the designs in the fabric and carefully cut around it. If some of the cording around the design comes loose, glue it down with the E6000 glue. You may also want to dab a little bit of the glue lightly on other spots around the edge of the fabric to prevent the lace from unraveling. Make sure the glue is dry before you sew the lace piece to the elastic or hair clips.

Headband - For the headband, we chose a scalloped lace trim. One of the deciding factors in choosing this particular lace trim is that it already had pearls and sequins on it.

Side hairpieces – Find a large lace appliqué that you really like and that fits the way you want to use it. This is one place where cutouts from lace fabric might work especially well.

Small hairpiece - If you want just a small piece to clip at or near the top of your head, get a smaller lace appliqué .

Creating a lace hairpiece

Headband – Cut the length you want and trim the edges around the design at the ends so that the ends do not look chopped off. The lace trim we chose already had beads and sequins on it. Because cutting the lace trim to the size you want also cuts the thread that sews the beads and sequins down, you will need to sew those beads and sequins at the ends of the lace trim so that the pearls and sequins do not start falling off. Next, cut the elastic in half. Sew one of the elastic pieces to the back side of the lace at one end. Make sure that the end of the elastic is on the back side of the lace and then sew the width of the elastic to the lace making sure the knot is on the inside of the headband. Stitch through both the lace and the elastic with several small stitches so that they are invisible on the outside. Make sure the stitches go the width of the trim and that they are good and tight. Do the same to the other end of the lace. These elastic pieces will be used to tie the headband on to the dancer’s head. An alternate way of finishing the headband would be to use one small piece of elastic. You would sew one end of the elastic to one end of the headband and sew the other end of the elastic to the other end of the headband. This would create one big loop. The important thing to remember is you want the size of that loop to be the same as the circumference of your dancer’s head.

Side hairpiece – Sew hair clips at each end of the large lace appliqué. Usually the little hair clips have a hole in the widest end. If so, start sewing the clip to the appliqué at that point. Then, sew around the whole clip. Make the stitches are tight so the clip does not move and small so the stitches are less visible. You could glue the clip on but that often becomes messy. Also, the clip does not have much of a surface for the glue. Remember to make sure that the clips are open at the time you sew or glue them on or you may not be able to open them. Also, make sure that they are facing the same way.

Small lace hairpiece – When creating a small lace hairpiece, you could use a small lace appliqué or lace trim. If using a lace appliqué, make sure that the appliqué is large enough to cover the barrette. If using lace trim, cut off a little bit of the trim so that is long enough to cover the barrette and cut around the design at the end so that . Also, when using lace trim that has pearls or sequins, make sure you either sew the end pearls and sequins down at the end so that the thread does not unravel causing the pearls and sequins to come off. When creating this small hairpiece, it is easier to glue it to the barrette backing to the back of the lace. However, you could sew it if you wish. Either way, make sure that the barrette backing is glued to the trim in the direction that you want the lace trim to go. In other words, if the lace trim has a design that you think should go in one direction, make sure the barrette goes in that direction.