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!

After my post about Vintage lace Easter Dresses, I received some questions about the lace rose hair accessories I made to go along with the dresses.
I knew what I wanted my flower barrettes and headbands to look like, but was surprised to find very little by way of tutorials for DIY lace roses online when I went looking.  Lots of paper flowers, felt flowers, super cute stuff - but nothing with the vintage look I wanted.
So, by trial and error, I just figured it out myself based mostly on instructions to make fabric flowers to add to sashes on dresses.
Here is my tutorial to make vintage inspired roses that can be used for hair, or attached to clothing, or whatever creative ideas you can come up with.  I find them enchantingly sweet!

PREP:
1- Run a gathering stitch along edge of lace (I used a 40 inch length for the flower in this tutorial - about a yard is average, longer for larger roses, shorter for tiny lace)
2- Use the thread from the gathering stitch to thread your needle
3- Gather lace piece.  Doesn't need to be exact, you'll adjust as you go - it just gets it started

CENTER OF ROSE:
4- Weave needle in and out along one cut edge of lace to create a gathering stitch
5- Pull thread tight to gather and loop thread around and pass needle back through
6- Pull loop tight into a knot, tying off the rough edge into a teardrop shape
7- To form the center of the rose, hold the knot and wrap gathered lace around once.
8-Turn over onto the back side and pass the needle through all layers several times.

ROSE BUD:
9 - To form the part of the rose that stands up around the center like the bud of the rose, wrap tightly gathered lace around the center about three times.
10- Pass the needle and thread through all layers several times until it feels pretty solid.

OUTSIDE BLOOM OF THE ROSE:
11- Arrange the gathers of the remaining lace to be more loose.  Wrap around the center "bud" in a flat fan-like circle.
12- Pass needle and thread through outside layer toward the very center.
13- Continue all around the circle, sewing outside layers toward the center and finally folding the end flap over and sewing down into the center.  Knot the thread and clip any dangling strings.

FINISHING:
14- Once the rose is finished, sew or glue (I was lazy and just used fabric glue) a fabric base to the back of the lace rose, and then sew or glue the barrette, clip, or headband.  They would look prettier if I had covered the alligator clips with ribbon, but they tend to stay in my girls' hair better without, so...

These smaller flowers are made with tiny lace then joined on one shared fabric base and an alligator clip.  The pearl centers are both glued and sewn in place.

A dollar-store headband, covered in fabric, then covered in a beautiful antique lace, has two roses sewn on.  The rose from the tutorial is the one on this headband.  I opted for no pearls or gems in the centers on these roses, as the lace formed such lovely bud shapes that they were gorgeous all on their own. 

This biggest of the roses used a 45 inch piece of lace and three pearls sewn (and glued - I'm uptight sometimes) into the center.  Notice how the three sections of the rose form its shape - the center "nest", the "bud" section with the lace standing up, then the outside surrounding "bloom" laying flat.