Accessories always make a costume look special, and what medieval lady would be without some sort of head gear? This is an easy to make medieval headdress that can be made from left over scraps of material – Great if you have made your own dress, you can use the off cuts to make a matching hat.To make this medieval headdress you will need…
Scraps of contracting material,
A plain plastic head band,
A clear plastic bottle without ridges,
Some organza – embroidered, sparkly, or diamonte can add more glamour.
Glue
And ribbon and beads to decorate.
You need to make yourself a pattern first on plain paper it will be a rectangle. Measure the out side of the hair band from where the teeth start to where they end. This is usually the right place for the top of the headdress to come around to. This is the length of the rectangle. The width is a matter of choice; you could have a look in the mirror and choose a width. Around 5.5cm is good.
Cut out two pieces of material using your pattern. Cut the material slightly bigger than the pattern to give yourself a seam allowance.
With right sides of the fabric together sew along the two width sides and one of the length sides. Turn right sides out.
Using your pattern again cut out a piece of clear plastic from the bottle. The plastic should be slightly smaller than the pattern. Insert the plastic into the ‘pocket’ you have just sewn. Work with the curl in the plastic, so that when you come to attach the headdress to the hair band, the curve goes the right way. Use a spot of glue to hold the plastic in place.
To make the veil, cut the organza double the length of the pattern and cut it to the length you require. Again this is personal taste. But for around shoulder length, cut to about 50cm. Round the corners on what will be the bottom edge. Edge the sides and bottom of the organza with ribbon.
Along the top edge of the organza, sew a row of running stitches and slightly gather up. Pin the gathered organza, to the pocket opening. You need to make sure that you have the top side of the pocket, and that you pin the right sides together, so that the raw edges of the organza and the pocket material are lined up. Add a couple of extra gathers at the two ends. Sew across the gathers.
Turn the raw edges of the pocket and the organza inside towards the plastic, leaving enough room to sew the opening closed. Sew across the opening.
Using glue, stick the plastic hair band to the inside of the headdress making sure that the fabric part is in the centre. It should start at the teeth on one side and end where the teeth end on the other side.
The hair band should be about 0.5 cms back from the front edge of the fabric part.
Use pegs to hold the hair band in place whilst the glue dries.
Sew a row of beads over the stitching when you closed the pocket. This covers up the sewing and embellishes the headdress.
