DIY Mickey Hairslides & a Tutorial

I'd like to start this post with a very special mention to a man I miss terribly.... my Dad. 
Sadly he isn't with us anymore but it would've been his 73rd birthday today. So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! Love your Little Girl xx



Thanks for letting me do that.
Hope you all had fabulous weekends? The weather wasn't really up to much was it?




Remember the Frugal Disney post with the fingerknitted Mickey Ears? Well, I have the tutorial here for you, you lucky people you! It was also Pinterest inspired although I followed my own method, this is the original tutorial if fancy having a look.


I love these little hairslides and they've given me so many ideas for other designs and little projects. Sophie will have a whole range of these to take to Disneyland Paris in November. And so will Rio, not the hairslide variety however.


Let's get to it shall we?
Now I must warn you there are quite a few pictures to go with this post and as I was trying to take them myself as well as carry out the task...well, some of them aren't the best so I apologize. 




First of all the things you will need are:
- Some wool, you don't need loads, about 2 metre's depending on how many 'ears' you want to make that is. (£1.49 for a large ball that'll last ages, The Range)


- Some scissors. Just for snipping the excess wool and cotton. (£0, from my sewing box)


- Cotton to match your wool. (£1.09 for a 1000m spool that will last ages, The Range)


- A sewing needle. (£0, my sewing box)


- Glue Gun (and glue sticks obviously). (£2.99 for the glue gun, £1.25 for 20 glue sticks, Home Bargains) An investment buy for me as I'll use it again and again.


- A pair of snappy hair slides. (£1.59 for 50, eBay)


- Old newspaper or other surface protector. (50p approx, local shop)




Are you all set to get started?
Ok, we need to start off the fingerknitting. Your first step is to drape the end of the wool over your index finger, (you can use whichever hand you feel most comfortable with, I'm right handed so I used my right hand).

Then, you wrap the wool around your index finger again. Use the other fingers on this hand to secure and tighten the wool.

Ok, now you need to pinch the first loop you made and carefully pull it over your second loop and off your finger. It will look like the picture below, make sure you keep hold of your wool.

Then, repeat all those steps. That's it...you're officially fingerknitting!! Your first chain will look like this;

Carry on repeating these steps until your chain is about 15cm in length. Cut the wool from the 'ball end' and thread the loose strand through the loop that was on your finger. 

I wish I'd taken a picture of this but I only have 2 hands, an extra pair would have been so useful for this!

Once you've knotted the end strands it's time to coil it up and sew it together. I find it easier to start as pictured below. Poke your threaded needle through the knot at one end of your chain and also through part of your chain to draw it together. This is the start of your circle. 

Carry on coiling it up and stitching it in place. 

In my opinion, overstitch or blanket stitch would work best. This is where you always thread your needle the same way through the circle so your stitches would wrap around the edges of your circle like in the picture below.

Once your coil is complete you need to knot your cotton so it doesn't unravel and undo all your stitching hard work! The best way to do this is to do your overstitch as normal but thread your needle through the loose cotton loop before it tightens, then pull tight. This is also known as casting off through your last loops. 

Congratulations, you just complete Mickey's Head, now you need his ears. 

As you might expect this is exactly the same process except your chain only needs to be about 7-8cm in length instead of 15cm. Everything else is exactly the same.

Once you have your 3 circles, you need to sew them together.  I always start behind one of the ears, I poke my needle up through the back of the bottom f the ear and back down through the top right hand side of the head, repeat this until the ear is completely secure. You need to cast off your thread now using the method mentioned above. 

Do the same for the other ear.

All you need to do now is make another one!

 When sewn together they should look like the image below. 

Now this is the bit I was looking forward to, I was a bit disappointed to discover it takes more time for the glue gun to heat up than to carry out the work needed! Oh well. 

Make sure you protect your work surface before turning on your glue gun.

OK.

When your glue gun is good and hot, squeeze a blob of glue onto the widest bit of your hairslide.

Press one of your completed Mickey's carefully but firmly onto the glue, mind your fingers as the glue is hot, you know this already I'm sure but I still don't want you ending up with burnt and stuck together digits!

Do the same with your other.

ALL DONE!! Wasn't that easy? Ok so a lot of it is fiddly but don't they look great? I can see these being on brooch pins and alice bands in a whole spectrum of colours. In fact I've recruited my mum to make me some chains in all different colours! Then all I have to do is coil them, sew them and stick them. 

I'm also going to try something a little different with them but I can't tell you yet.

I'll leave you with a picture of my little princess and her hairslides. She's wearing them for school today and she says she's going to tell her teacher that her Mummy made them for her. Bless her heart!!

That's it from me for today, there will be another post tomorrow though so please do pop back! 


It's Father's Day on Sunday isn't it? Hmmm, maybe tomorrow's post will be related.




Have a great Monday.


Love,
Kaye xx


PS - Good Luck To The England Squad Later!!!