DIY Nautical Hair Accessories

 Any outfit is made cuter with the perfect accessories, as any girl can tell you!  So whenever I design, I keep unique accessories in mind as well.   Antique lace rose barrettes and headband are obvious for vintage lace dresses, but what could possibly go with nautical?  When I saw the craft cord at Hobby Lobby, I knew the answer instantly - Nautical Knots!!  It took a few attempts, but I am in love with the results.
Here I'm sharing how to make nautical inspired nautical hair accessories of your own, but more than that, sharing the message that accessories can go beyond flowers and bows or whatever is trendy - unique, themed accessorizing can be as vast and diverse as imagination, and just as much fun!


Now, a sane person would have bought a wide enough headband to serve the purpose.  I, however, already had some cheap, thin headbands, so why purchase when I can just modify?  A little time and creativity, and VOILA!  a headband just the right shape to be the base for my nautical design.

After the headband is covered, the next part is the knot.  I looked up "nautical knots" and settled on the Carrick Bend for looks.  It takes two strands of rope, which twine around each other.  I learned to tie the knot from the excellent tutorial here http://www.animatedknots.com/indexboating.php.  It is important to skip the final step in that tutorial: tightening the knot!  It must be left loose to achieve the proper look.  Otherwise you end up with a super strong sailor hitch, but you probably wouldn't want to wear it :)

My first attempt at a knot for the headband wasn't very good.  I used the 2 largest ropes, hoping for a more dramatic knot with a high profile.  It looked really dumb.  She wore it on Easter, but I hated it and tore it apart the first chance I got.  It was too thick and inelegant.  I started over again with the thinest rope and LOVED the results!  The biggest difference was that with the thick rope, I was only able to lay the remaining ends side by side along the length of the headband on either side of the knot.  With the smaller rope, however, I was able to glue the extra ends in a sort of figure 8 pattern, reducing in size, until the end of the headband.  This was visually more interesting and elegant.  Bigger isn't always better :)

As for the barrette - I used the exact same knot - the Carrick Bend - and it is simply mounted to a barrette instead.  

I started with a simple alligator clip, and covered it in navy grosgrain ribbon using E6000 glue.

Using the small rope again, I tied the Carrick Bend knot, which left me with 4 dangling ends, as you can see.  With two on opposite corners, I tied knots in the ends, and left them dangling.  For the remaining two I looped them around and glued them underneath, forming an additional loop on either end of the Carrick Bend, making it a little longer and fancier looking while still maintaining the nautical knot theme.

 The final result is a complete themed look.  I could have just put a blue or yellow headband on, I guess - and it would have been just fine.  But how much fun I had doing these!  And now, though I live in a landlocked state and will likely never need the knowledge, I know ONE sailor knot!  Yay!